How to Organize a Company Christmas Challenge Between Departments: A Step-by-Step Guide

A well-designed company Christmas challenge does more for cohesion than a year-end party: it runs for several weeks, it sparks conversations between departments, and it ends with a high point. Here is how to organize it, step by step.

1. Set the goal

Do you want to bring together sites that never cross paths, welcome the year's new hires, or simply thank your teams? The goal drives everything else: team composition, format and communication.

2. Build the teams

• By department: the simplest option, which creates instant friendly competition.
• By site or by country: ideal for companies with several locations.
• Mixed: to get colleagues who never work together to meet.

Aim for teams of similar size, or compare averages rather than totals so that smaller teams keep their chances.

3. Choose a format that works remotely

If part of your workforce works remotely, choose a format that everyone can play whenever they want, with a shared leaderboard. An online Christmas escape game made of several episodes is particularly well suited: each player solves the puzzles at their own pace, and their time counts for their team.

4. Set simple and fair rules

• A team leaderboard, possibly complemented by an individual one.
• Clear penalties (for example, one minute added for each hint used).
• The possibility to catch up, so that nobody gets discouraged.
• If needed, a hidden individual leaderboard, so that nobody feels uncomfortable.

5. Build the schedule

One appointment per week works very well: for example every Monday, from late November until the week before the holidays. Three or four stages are enough to build suspense without wearing people out.

6. Communicate at every stage

1. The teaser, one week before: a poster, a mysterious message.
2. The launch: the single link and the rules in three lines.
3. The weekly reminders: the provisional leaderboard, an anecdote, the opening of the next episode.
4. The finale: the announcement of the winners, ideally during the management's season's greetings.

7. Plan the prize ceremony

You do not need a big budget: a traveling trophy, a free breakfast for the winning team, or a donation to a charity chosen by the winners. What matters is to celebrate publicly.

8. Measure and share the results

Participation rate, number of players per team, ratings and feedback: these figures help you thank the teams and defend the budget the following year. With our Christmas game, these indicators are visible in real time in the organizer dashboard.

The turnkey Christmas challenge

Our Christmas challenge for companies follows all these principles: customized teams, 3 or 4 weekly episodes, live leaderboards by player, by team and by puzzle, and a dashboard to track participation. You can try the first episode for free.

Also read: 10 ideas for remote corporate Christmas activities and the budget for a year-end activity.

Try our Christmas escape game

3 or 4 episodes of 15 minutes, a leaderboard between departments, in the office or working from home. The first episode is free to play.

→ Discover the corporate Christmas activity

Going further

• Year-end team building: remote, on-site or hybrid, which format should you choose?
• Year-end party with remote or hybrid teams: what can you do?
• Year-end team building for multi-site and multi-agency companies