Team building for IT teams

The best team building for an IT team fits around change freezes, patch week and the on-call rotation: a 60-minute hosted puzzle or trivia game on video, run twice so the help desk stays covered and whoever holds the pager still plays. Cameras are optional, and every site joins from its own screens.

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An IT team laughing over a stacking-block game at a desk beside a server room, with remote coworkers on a laptop video call

IT department team building activities

Built for help desk, infrastructure, network and security staff. Each runs about 60 minutes with a live host on your video call, and prices are live from our catalog.

Puzzle games for people who troubleshoot for a living

Small teams, a clock and a problem nobody has seen before. The help desk and the network team finally work the same ticket.

Trivia where nobody is put on the spot

Answers go in from each person's own screen or phone. The quiet sysadmin who knows every answer gets to win without a speech.

Kits for the quiet weeks of a change freeze

A box ships to each desk or home, and an instructor builds along with everyone on the call. Hands busy, nothing to deploy.

Software developers rather than IT staff? See team building for engineers. More puzzles in every virtual escape room, or browse all team building kits.

Plan it around the change calendar

IT's busy weeks are set by patches, maintenance windows and the holiday freeze, not the company calendar. Here is where the hour fits.

  1. Patch week

    Skip the days after Patch Tuesday

    Microsoft ships its monthly security update on the second Tuesday of each month (Microsoft's Windows update release cycle). Book the week after your rollout settles, not the week it lands.

  2. Early December

    The week before your holiday change freeze

    Many IT departments freeze production changes over the holidays. The week before it starts is busy; the first days inside it are quiet.

  3. Inside the freeze

    The slow week, for whoever is still on duty

    With no changes going out, the people covering the holidays have time. A short game or a kit gives them an hour together.

  4. January

    After the freeze lifts and the backlog clears

    Give the team two weeks to ship what waited, then book a kickoff game for the new year.

  5. After a cutover

    A few days after a migration or a big rollout

    Once the tickets from a new laptop fleet or an email migration slow down, the team has earned an hour.

  6. Skip

    Maintenance windows, audits and incident weeks

    Nobody relaxes while a rollback is possible or an auditor is waiting on evidence.

Example dates and when to book them

Hosted games book about 2 weeks ahead and kits about 3 weeks for US addresses. Your own freeze dates come from your change calendar.

Example IT team event dates with book-by dates
Event dateHosted gameKit, US addresses
Thu, Dec 10, 2026Before a mid-December freezeWed, Nov 25Thu, Nov 19
Thu, Jan 21, 2027After the freeze, backlog clearedThu, Jan 7Thu, Dec 31
Thu, Feb 18, 2027Away from February patch weekThu, Feb 4Thu, Jan 28
Thu, Mar 18, 2027Away from March patch weekThu, Mar 4Thu, Feb 25

With anyone in Canada or abroad, book a kit about 5 weeks ahead. Kit shipping regions and add-on prices are on each kit's page and on global kit shipping.

Keep the help desk answered and the pager covered

IT can't close for an hour. Two sessions of the same game solve it without leaving anyone out.

Support teams outside IT have the same problem. See team building for support teams.

  • Book the same game twice. Half the help desk plays the first session and covers the queue during the second, then they swap.
  • Whoever holds the pager plays the second session. Nobody plays with one eye on an alert.
  • Give night and weekend staff their own slot. A data center or security operations shift can play at the start of its shift instead of being left out.
  • Tell the business first. A short note that the help desk answers slower for an hour stops the escalations.
  • Each session is its own booking with its own live price. Ask for one quote that covers both.

One IT department, many groups and sites

An IT department is a help desk, a few specialist teams and techs at other sites. What works for each, and for all of them together.

  • Help desk and service desk

    The biggest group and the one tied to a queue. Run it twice and keep it to 60 minutes.

  • Desktop support at other sites

    Techs at branches, plants or campuses join the same call from their own screens, so every site plays together.

  • Infrastructure and network

    They work nights and weekends during maintenance windows. Book a weekday afternoon after one, never before.

  • Security

    Often on a rotation of its own. A puzzle game suits people who spend the day looking for what doesn't fit.

  • IT leadership

    The CIO or IT director plays as one more player. The host runs the game, so nobody has to emcee.

  • The whole IT department

    Mix help desk, infrastructure and security on each team. People meet the names they only see in ticket notes.

A quieter crowd? See team building for introverts for formats with no spotlight moments.

What it costs for a help desk or a whole IT department

Hosted games are a package for the group that grows in steps, so the price per person falls as more people join. Kits are a base fee plus a price for each kit.

Total price for one session, by headcount
Beach Vacate-tion Escape RoomHosted escape room12 people$87525 people$87540 people$1,095
Trivia with a Twist!Hosted trivia game12 people$97525 people$97540 people$1,195
Clue with a Twist: Winter Fun!Hosted murder mystery game12 people$97525 people$97540 people$1,195
Terrarium MakingKit workshop, shipped to each person12 people$1,38725 people$2,47940 people$3,739

Totals for one session from our live catalog prices, with continental US kit shipping included. Running it twice for coverage? Get a free quote for both sessions.

Team building for IT teams: questions

What is good team building for an IT team?

A 60-minute hosted puzzle or trivia game on video, booked around your change calendar and run twice so the help desk and whoever is on call both get to play. Everyone answers from their own screen, cameras are optional and nobody has to share personal stories. For a slower week, a kit workshop ships a box to every desk.

What are good IT department team building activities?

Virtual escape rooms and murder mystery games for the troubleshooters, trivia and music quizzes answered from each person's screen for a quieter crowd, and kit workshops like terrarium or candle making for the slow weeks of a holiday change freeze.

How do we keep the help desk covered during team building?

Book the same game twice on the same day. Half the team plays while the other half covers the queue, then they swap. Whoever is on call plays the second session, and night or weekend staff can get a slot of their own.

When should an IT department schedule team building?

Avoid patch week, maintenance windows and audits. Microsoft publishes its monthly security update on the second Tuesday of each month (Tuesday, January 12, 2027, for example), so book a week after your rollout. The week before a holiday change freeze, the quiet days inside it, and a few weeks after it lifts in January all work well.

Our IT team is spread across several sites. Can everyone join?

Yes. Every game runs on a video call, on Zoom by default or on Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request. Techs at branches, plants and campuses join from their own screens, and kits ship to each address.

How much does team building for an IT team cost?

Hosted games are a package for the group, and kit workshops are a base fee plus a price per kit. Beach Vacate-tion Escape Room is $35 a person for a group of 25 ($875 package). Terrarium Making is $84 a person plus a $379 base fee. Running it twice for coverage means two bookings, each at its own live price. Every card on this page shows its price, and you see the total before you book.

How far ahead should we book?

About 2 weeks for a hosted game and about 3 weeks for a kit workshop with US addresses. With anyone in Canada or abroad, book a kit about 5 weeks ahead.

Keep planning

Give your IT team an hour off the queue

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