I'm looking for something we can do at work part of a 6 station teambuilding race, complete a station move to the next one. For one station I wanted to build something with cups, pipecleaners etc.like a tower but the problem is its a timed race and you could build something crappy to finish quickly. I want something that some teams can finish quickly in a 2-3 minutes but most will take like 6-7 minutes or more?

Also I have considered instead of trying to build something maybe have some kind of problem solving brain teasers.

Been searching the internet but just not finding the right ideas.

I appreciate any suggestions.

-Answering RFIs where the Contractor completely screws up the construction of a concrete wall and wants you to fix their mistake

-Review Contractor's change order for costs you feel are exorbitant

-Make an argument against the Owner's representative's E&O claim

-Rediscover Newton's laws by throwing a ping pong ball into a cup of beer (or water)

Build a gumdrop and toothpick tower that is at least 7 toothpicks tall.

Build a foil boat that will hold at least 100 pennies

Egg drop container out of newspaper that preserves the egg from an 8-foot drop

sudoku puzzle

span a 3 foot gap with a straws-and-tape bridge

Train A leaves Boston at 7:23am...

Thanks, Good suggestions. Suspension bridge has been high on our list. I actually thought about a math one like the trains but I don't want them to hate me...

Logic problems might work.

Example:
Three missionaries and three cannibals want to get to the other side of a river. There is a small boat, which can fit only two. To prevent a tragedy, there can never be more cannibals than missionaries together.

tk for tu juan said:

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-Answering RFIs where the Contractor completely screws up the construction of a concrete wall and wants you to fix their mistake

-Review Contractor's change order for costs you feel are exorbitant

-Make an argument against the Owner's representative's E&O claim

-Rediscover Newton's laws by throwing a ping pong ball into a cup of beer (or water)

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How about review a contractor's change order for coordinating your crappy, incomplete, behind schedule, and inconstructable designs so they don't turn into a **** show off RFI's, redesigns, and delays in 6 months?

More realistically, have them build things that will be tested after all teams complete the race. Weight the performance of their time with the performance of their creations.

For example, build a tower out of straws and marshmallows that is 2' high. The score could be (weight held)/(seconds to complete) using predetermined weights (quarters, fishing weights, etc)

This means the quality of their build is penalized by the time it takes to make it. Showing through refugees the penalty, but maybe a quality build reducers the effect of the penalty. They must not only balance speed and quality, but do so without knowing what the minimal balance (their competition's) is.

ETA: In the marshmallow tower example, you could try to find a way to split it into 6 steps, telling them about the scoring only at the end. That way, poor initial designs for speed only will require rework and get penalized for placing an importance on speed over quality. It might be a good life lesson.

Best one we ever did was Blazer Tag. A bunch of grumpy old engineers went in, a bunch of wide eyed Kids came out.

Pretty much all the rest not involving a margarita machine were lame.

ntxVOL said:

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Logic problems might work.

Example:
Three missionaries and three cannibals want to get to the other side of a river. There is a small boat, which can fit only two. To prevent a tragedy, there can never be more cannibals than missionaries together.

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In other words, Towers of Hanoi - Great idea.