Scavenger Trail

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Examine how small groups delegate tasks, communicate under time pressure, and track shared goals.

Use it when: Use during onboarding, team kickoffs, or mid-day training sessions to build familiarity with a venue, team roles, and time management.

Skip it when: Skip when venue mobility is restricted, when quiet is required by neighboring workspaces, or when participants cannot leave the training room.

Group arrangement: Teams of 3 to 4 participants (a team of 5 is permitted if group size requires it, such as 13 or 17 people)

Timing: UWT plan allocates 25 minutes total to accommodate TrainerBubble's 15-minute core hunt plus briefing, peer scoring, and debrief.

Materials and tools

• One printed Scavenger Trail List per team
• One pen per team
• Countdown timer displayed for all to see
• Optional modest token prizes for the highest scoring team

Before participants arrive

1. Print one Scavenger Trail List per team
2. Confirm boundaries of accessible areas in the venue and identify off-limit zones

Say this to open

We are going to run a 15-minute scavenger trail. In your teams, your task is to gather as many items on your trail sheet as possible and have all team members back in this room before the timer hits zero. Each valid item is worth one point. Any team that is late loses five points. Plan your strategy before you disperse.

How to run it

1. Introduce rules and assign teams 3 minutes

   Explain the rules, boundary limits, safety guidelines, and scoring criteria. Form teams of 3 to 4 participants (allowing a group of 5 if total numbers leave an uneven remainder). Hand exactly one Scavenger Trail List to each group. Deliver the opening script.

2. Hunt for items 15 minutes

   Start the 15-minute countdown clock. Teams plan their strategy and disperse to find items. The facilitator remains in the central room to track base operations and sounds a 2-minute warning.

3. Verify scores 4 minutes

   Teams return to the main room. Any team returning after zero marks a 5-point deduction. Groups swap materials and sheets with an adjacent team. The facilitator reads the items aloud while peer teams inspect the collected objects, tally points, and record verifier initials.

4. Facilitate debrief 3 minutes

   Gather whole-room attention and announce final scores. Ask the debrief questions, taking 2 to 3 voluntary responses from across the room.

Debrief questions

• What tactics did your team use to coordinate who retrieved what?
• How did having only one list per group affect your communication?
• If you ran this again with the same group, what would you change about your workflow?

Finished output: Completed scavenger trail sheets with verified collected items and a recorded score per team.

Remote

Teams join separate breakout rooms for 15 minutes. Items are collected from participants' immediate home offices or online company directories. Breakout groups paste photos or links into a shared team slide. Teams reconvene in the main room where another breakout group verifies the slide and tallies points.

Hybrid

Form mixed pairs or hybrid squads where remote participants locate digital documents or online company assets while on-site members locate physical items in the venue, communicating via a designated team video channel.

Access and participation choices

• Participants can opt out of moving through the building by serving as team base coordinator, list keeper, or score verifier in the central room
• Items can be brought back physically or documented via smartphone photograph if physical transport or mobility is difficult
• Teams may skip any prompt without penalty, scoring only what they successfully produce

If the session gets stuck

A team divides and some members return late while others are on time.

Enforce the rule consistently: the entire team must be across the threshold before zero to avoid the five-point penalty.

Participants enter restricted or private office areas during the hunt.

State clearly during the briefing which rooms, desks, and floors are strictly out of bounds.

Terms used here

• Energiser: An active group activity designed to increase alertness and break up static sitting periods.