A group of people smiling and reading a book together while holding ice cream.

In-Person Teambuilding

Like Nothing else

The Great Gotham Challenge is an immersive puzzle adventure that combines mind-bending puzzles, food, live theater, history, and technology to create unforgettable team building experiences on city streets. It's like nothing else out there.

As the clock ticks, competing teams race to find and decode a series of interactive clues that engage the rich culture and history of the city around us.

Our two-to-four-hour experiences are designed to build cooperation, encourage out-of-the-box thinking, reveal hidden or unused talents, and explore the city as you’ve never seen it before.

Get in touch
Two players sprint through New York City while doing The Great Gotham Challenge.

HOW IT WORKS

Flexible enough to accommodate teams from four to 4000, large groups are divided into smaller teams that compete to find and decode a series of interactive clues cleverly embedded into the city's landscape. 

Our state-of-the-art web app delivers visual, auditory, and tactile clues that prompt challengers to race between secret locations and perform interactive tasks to advance to the next clue. This might mean tasting a dessert to find the puzzle hidden within, retrieving a burner phone from under a park bench, receiving a keyword on a napkin in a speakeasy, or striking up a conversation with a seeming passer-by. Once they’ve solved all the clues, teams join each other again at the finish line to share food, drink, and tales of their experiences.

A screenshot of the GGC App

Our Challenges

Have you ever seen a clue baked into a knish at a generations-old Jewish bakery? Ever gotten a secret hand-off in a bar that George Washington frequented? In our in-person experiences, you can expect to uncover clues through anything-but-obvious challenges, like creating rubbings of famous plaques that reveal hidden meanings, visiting stores that seem to have been lost to time, or even tracking down a clue hidden on a 10-story-tall Times Square video billboard. Check out our games below to get the lowdown on all the adventures.

  • Four women solve a clue together Vanguards of the Village
  • Two men search the woods in central park. Central Park Sprint
  • A wall street photo from 1920 is held by hand to align perfectly with its modern setting. New Amsterdam Scramble
  • Two people solve a clue together while skyscrapers loom in the background. 42nd Street Dash
  • A woman solves a clue in a speakeasy. Mystery in the Mighty Metropolis
Four women solve a clue together

Vanguards of the Village

Our most popular offering! Weave through the village haunts of the captivating cadres of artists, hippies, and musicians that became inseparable from the city’s identity.

Two men search the woods in central park.

Central Park Sprint

Our shortest challenge, set entirely in the Crown Jewel of NYC - Central Park - great for teams who wish to spend time outside the gridlock.

A wall street photo from 1920 is held by hand to align perfectly with its modern setting.

New Amsterdam Scramble

High stakes in lower Manhattan! Dart in and out of back alleys, curious shops, and little-known locations in the oldest parts of the island, all while competing against your group in this test of wits, will, and googling.

Two people solve a clue together while skyscrapers loom in the background.

42nd Street Dash

A race through the corporate canyons of midtown, prompting you to "look up" and see the lights and buildings that make Midtown great. Especially fun after dark!

A woman solves a clue in a speakeasy.

Mystery in the Mighty Metropolis

Our twist on a murder mystery party, this year-round offering takes place indoors, and will have your team conversing with character actors, puzzling, and eating and drinking their way to the solution of a dramatic and dastardly deed.

Full width background image with a green overlay of a person holding a puzzle piece.

GET IN TOUCH WITH OUR BESPOKESPERSON TO PLAN YOUR TEAM’S NEXT ADVENTURE

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Great Gotham Challenge a scavenger hunt? GGC is more than a typical scavenger hunt. We call it an immersive urban puzzle adventure. It combines mind- bending puzzles, live theater, premium & historical locations, and embedded technology. Think of it as The Amazing Race combined with Sleep No More and Pub Trivia, all on the streets of NYC!

How much does a Great Gotham Challenge Cost? Our smallest, most basic, 2 hour, in-person challenges start at $2,000. However, most of our events are several times that scale - If you're dreaming big for a custom event, so are we!

What group size is ideal? You can play with as few as 3 players working together, or up to 1000. To get that "competive" feel, group sizes of 30+ are ideal. 150+ we begin releasing participants in "waves", or doing other custom crowd-control elements to disperse players and ensure all have a fun, unique experience.

Do you offer challenges outside of New York City? Yes! We can custom-build courses in any city around the world. We also offer virtual challenges that can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Learn more about virtual options here: https://info.ggc.nyc/virtual-teambuilding.

How long are the events? Each Great Gotham Challenge lasts between 2 and 3.5 hours. We recommend allocating 3-4+ hours to the event to ensure everyone can celebrate at the finish line!

Where in New York City do your challenges go? We have several different "off the rack" courses in New York City, covering a unique area such as the Financial District (FiDi), Greenwitch Village, Central Park, and Midtown (Times Square / 42nd St). Our cutom challenges can be routed anywhere you please!

Custom Events

Our “off-the-shelf” challenges are available to run on pre-set courses. However, what if you want something more bespoke?

Our custom challenges give our clients complete freedom to shape the experience as they see fit, from format to difficulty to theme - we add special details like inside jokes, product or industry themes, or company history, mission and vision elements.

We can build in premium experiences (like buzzing down the river in a speedboat;) luxurious, private locations; or even build bespoke challenges in a completely new city for your special event. If a custom event sounds like a good match for your team and fits within your budget, we’d love to help. Just ask!


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A group in custom scavenger hunt in London.

WHAT PLAYERS SAY

"We had high expectations and they were far exceeded. The challenges were difficult, extremely creative, and completely customized to our group. Suffice it to say our group couldn't have possibly had more fun. Thank you for making me look great!"

Robin Manager, Hedge fund office

"I'm always very skeptical of these "team-building" events, but this one was over the top. They successfully handled our 120-person team, with puzzles that were really challenging. The whole experience couldn't have been more engaging!"

Grace Lab manager, IBM Quantum Computing

"One of our directors told me it was one of the best organized online challenges they've done."

Mike Team Lead, Google

"[The challenge] shattered any expectations I had. For a fully remote event, I expected a bit of cheesy fun, but the production quality is unbelievable. I absolutely recommend everyone to try it."

Raj Tech Team Member, Meta

"To quote one of my teammates: "This [challenge] was mean and hard, and resultantly perfect." Thank you for the stellar experience, service, and fun."

Danica Team Lead, Software engineering company

"For a few hours, you get to feel like a secret agent as you traverse the mundane real world with a VIP pass for curated wonder."

Room Escape Artist Industry Review,

"A mixture of live actors, custom puzzles, and clues built around pre-existing and famous structures in lends the event a sort of glam DaVinci Code energy."

No Proscenium Industry Review,

GET IN TOUCH

Great Gotham Challenge is like nothing your team has ever experienced. It's challenging, takes mental grit to complete, and starts at $2000 for our most basic, 2-hour in-person experience. If you are looking for something short, simple, and inexpensive, this may not be for you. However, if this sounds intriguing, we can't wait to hear from you via the contact form below.

To get in touch with one of our Bespokespeople, enter your information below, including any helpful details about date, number of participants, and budget.

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