City Rally

Purpose

A City Rally sends teams on a timed adventure through a city, navigating between landmarks, solving challenges, answering trivia, and completing creative tasks. It combines exploration, strategy, physical movement, and team collaboration in a dynamic urban environment. It is excellent for conferences, onboarding events, or team offsites in unfamiliar cities.

At a glance

• Group size: 10–60 participants (teams of 4–6)
• Duration: 120 minutes
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Facilitation style: Briefing with autonomous exploration
• Setting: Urban environment; city centre or campus

How to run

1. Brief (10 min): Distribute rally packs with maps, challenge lists, and rules. Explain scoring and the firm return deadline.
2. Rally phase (90 min): Teams navigate the city, completing challenges in any order. Challenges include: find and photograph a landmark, solve a riddle about local history, perform a creative task (team dance video at a fountain), buy a specific local item.
3. Return and scoring (15 min): Verify challenge completions. Photo and video evidence required.
4. Celebration and debrief (5 min): Announce winners. Discuss: How did you prioritise? What surprised you? How did you handle disagreements about strategy?

Materials needed

• Rally packs: printed maps, challenge lists, scoring sheets (one per team)
• Smartphones for photo/video evidence and navigation backup
• Small budget per team for purchase challenges (optional)
• Prizes for winning team (optional)

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Challenges too spread out: Keep the rally area walkable within the time limit. Use public transport only if explicitly designed in.
• No return deadline enforcement: Teams that don't return on time disrupt the schedule. Impose point penalties.
• Safety in traffic: Brief teams on crossing streets safely, staying together, and knowing the emergency contact number.
• Weather contingency: Have indoor alternatives or shelter points identified.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Design the route to be accessible for all mobility levels (avoid stairs-only locations, steep hills).
• Provide public transport tickets if walking distances are challenging for some.
• Include a variety of challenge types (physical, creative, intellectual) so everyone contributes.

Variations

• App-based City Rally: Use a dedicated app with GPS check-ins and digital challenge submissions.
• Historical City Rally: All challenges relate to the city's history and culture. Educational focus.
• Photo and Video Rally: Every challenge requires creative visual documentation.

When NOT to use this

• In extreme heat, cold, or severe weather without shelter options.
• In unfamiliar cities without thorough route scouting.
• Without a safety plan and emergency contacts for every team.

Source & further reading

• Various corporate team-building and event planning resources.
• Urban orienteering and city exploration guides.