Thinkabara

🗂️ Escape room: Team Building at the Office

Google Classroom

An office team-building escape room: seating logic, a letter-value code, a lateral riddle and an email chain unlock the coffee machine.

The story

On Monday morning the whole team arrives at the office, and finds the coffee machine locked with a code lock. The office manager left a series of puzzles, and the coffee will be released only when the team solves them all together.

No coffee, no team meeting. No team meeting, no project. You see the pressure.

Run it at home or in class

What to prepare

  • Printed station sheets
  • A printed alphabet-value chart (A=1 … Z=26)
  • A whiteboard and markers
  • A coffee machine or a box with a 6-digit code lock

Tips for the facilitator

  • Mix teams across departments so people get to know each other.
  • Limit the time to 40 minutes and put a timer on the screen.
  • Finish with a short round: what helped the team succeed, and what can we take back to everyday work?

Difficulty level

The story clues stay the same on every level; harder levels add more locks in between. You can ask for a hint at every stage.

0 of 6 stages solved · Easy · 15–25 minutes

Stage 1: Who sits where

1/6

Four employees, Alan, Beth, Greg and Dana, sit on four different floors of the building (1 to 4). Alan sits exactly one floor above Dana. Greg sits on floor 1. Beth does not sit on floor 4.

Run it in real life too

Print a facilitator kit for the easy level: a sheet with the opening story, the setup and every answer, plus a big card for each of the 6 stages.

🗂️ Team Building at the Office: facilitator kit

Adults and work teams · 15–25 minutes · Level: Easy · 6 stages

Opening story: On Monday morning the whole team arrives at the office, and finds the coffee machine locked with a code lock. The office manager left a series of puzzles, and the coffee will be released only when the team solves them all together. No coffee, no team meeting. No team meeting, no project. You see the pressure.

Setup

  1. Printed station sheets
  2. A printed alphabet-value chart (A=1 … Z=26)
  3. A whiteboard and markers
  4. A coffee machine or a box with a 6-digit code lock
  5. Print the 6 stage cards and put them in order, or hide each card around the room so every answer leads to the next one.
  6. Read the opening story to the group and start a timer.
  7. When the group gets stuck, give one hint from the table, one at a time.
  8. Mix teams across departments so people get to know each other.
  9. Limit the time to 40 minutes and put a timer on the screen.
  10. Finish with a short round: what helped the team succeed, and what can we take back to everyday work?

Answers and hints (facilitator only)

StageAnswer / codeHints
1. Who sits where4Greg takes floor 1. · Try both options for the Dana–Alan pair on floors 2 to 4, and see where Beth ends up.
2. The team value106T=20, E=5, A=1, M=13, W=23, O=15, R=18, K=11. · Add them in pairs to keep it tidy.
3. The storeroom riddleholeThink about digging in the ground.
4. The email chain13Add the last two numbers.
5. Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock4Every symbol is a number. What is one symbol worth? · Add: 2 plus 2.
6. Freeing the coffee machine413106Watch the order: station 1 first, then station 4, and station 2 last.

Read at the end: The machine hums, and the smell of coffee fills the office. The office manager appears with a cake: “I wanted to see if you really work well together, and you passed with flying colors.”

🗂️ Team Building at the Office · Stage 1 of 6

Who sits where

Four employees, Alan, Beth, Greg and Dana, sit on four different floors of the building (1 to 4). Alan sits exactly one floor above Dana. Greg sits on floor 1. Beth does not sit on floor 4.

Which floor does Alan sit on?

✍️ Our answer:

🗂️ Team Building at the Office · Stage 2 of 6

The team value

A sheet is stuck in the printer with the word TEAMWORK and underneath: “Work out its value.” Every letter is worth its place in the alphabet: A=1, B=2, C=3 … Z=26. Add up the values of all the letters.

T E A M W O R K

What is the value of TEAMWORK?

✍️ Our answer:

🗂️ Team Building at the Office · Stage 3 of 6

The storeroom riddle

A note hangs on the storeroom door: “The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. What am I?”

What is the answer? (One word)

✍️ Our answer:

🗂️ Team Building at the Office · Stage 4 of 6

The email chain

Someone hit “Reply all”, and the emails started multiplying. The number of emails each hour: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, … Every number is the sum of the two before it.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ?

How many emails will arrive in the next hour?

✍️ Our answer:

🗂️ Team Building at the Office · Stage 5 of 6

Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock

On the way to the last clue of “Team Building at the Office” you find another corridor of locks. Every 🗂️ is worth 2. Add two symbols.

🗂️ + 🗂️ = ?

Which number opens the lock?

✍️ Our answer:

🗂️ Team Building at the Office · Stage 6 of 6

Freeing the coffee machine

The coffee machine has a 6-digit lock. The note says: “The code is the answer from station 1, then the answer from station 4, then the answer from station 2.” For example, if the answers were 2, 21 and 300, the code would be 221300.

What is the code?

✍️ Our answer:

Facilitator guide: 🗂️ Team Building at the Office

What the room practices

Elimination logic, letter values, a lateral riddle and the Fibonacci sequence.

The 5 stations (without the answers)
  1. Who sits where: Which floor does Alan sit on?
  2. The team value: What is the value of TEAMWORK?
  3. The storeroom riddle: What is the answer? (One word)
  4. The email chain: How many emails will arrive in the next hour?
  5. Freeing the coffee machine: What is the code?

Age and group size

Best with teams of 4–6 players. With more people, split into two teams racing the clock, each with its own kit.

Giving hints in this room

Online the hints open one at a time; in the printed kit they sit in the facilitator table next to each answer. Give the first hint after a couple of minutes of silence, not at the first wrong guess.

Questions and answers

What age is “Team Building at the Office” for, and how long does it take?

It was written for adults and work teams, at medium difficulty, and usually takes 30–40 minutes. It has 5 story stations, and online you can choose between three difficulty levels that add more locks.

What do I need to run “Team Building at the Office”?

A printer and these props: Printed station sheets; A printed alphabet-value chart (A=1 … Z=26); A whiteboard and markers; A coffee machine or a box with a 6-digit code lock. The printable kit includes a facilitator sheet with every answer and a card for each stage.

What if the players get stuck?

Every stage has graded hints. Online they open one at a time; in the printed kit they sit next to each answer on the facilitator sheet. The first hint never gives the answer away.

Rooms like Team Building at the Office

The Secret Detective FileA classic riddle, three suspects (one always lies) and a safe that opens only to clear logic.Teens and adults · also for team buildingThe Locked Recording StudioMetronome beats, an instrument riddle and a mixing-desk code before the recording starts.Teens and adults · also for team buildingThe Party with the Secret CodeCount the cups, crack a music clue and unlock the night’s playlist, with plenty of laughs.Adults · also for team buildingThe Lost Travel MapCompass points, steps on a grid and a quarter turn lead to the journey’s end.Teens and adults · also for team buildingThe Secret Team ChallengeShare the clues, find who tells the truth, order the colors and open the box together.Classes, teams and adult parties · also for team buildingThe Hacker Who Locked the ServerBinary numbers, a Caesar cipher and a Mastermind-style code free a locked server.Teens 13+ and adults · also for team building