Game The City

TEAM-BUILDING AT ITS BEST

In one of the greatest walking cities in the world we've created a special event that's as clever and interesting as the people who live here.

SMART PEOPLE, SMART GAME

Game the City is a sophisticated alternative to typical trivia-based seek and find games. What sets us apart is our game design. We devised an ingenious method for generating the kinds of questions that force players to identify and use an unlimited number of lifelines. All for the purpose of creating real camaraderie. The process of solving witty and intelligent multi-layered clues that deliver players to unexpected and unique destinations fosters a "Hey, look what we did as a team!" sense of accomplishment.

BEST WALKING NEIGHBORHOODS

Game The City is played in New York's best walking neighborhoods, the areas people love to explore. Be they cobblestone streets or hidden alleyways. By the river or buried in the sidewalk. When teams come across what we want them to discover, it's a revelation. Even for lifelong New Yorkers.

HOW WE'RE GOAL-ORIENTED

Game The City was specifically created for companies, foundations and educational institutions (law school orientations, alumni groups, conferences, etc). The lion's share of our clients come from the financial world, law firms, tech firms, small and mid-sized companies and organizations as well as Fortune 500 companies.

Unlike almost all "entertainment" companies that create a fun event and then offer it to the general public, we designed Game The City backwards, starting with the end goals companies and groups want to get out of their team-building special event.

THE HUMAN RESOURCE GAME

Like "We'd like our summer interns to bond as teams as well as welcome them with an orientation event." Or "The firm is so big now, all the different divisions don't really know each other. So we'd like to do a partner event that addresses that." From that research and more, we created Game the City so that it would achieve those kind of HR and recruiting goals. Getting co-workers to show each other what they're about, revealing more of who they are.

HOW ORGANIZATIONS USE US FOR TEAM-BUILDING

Groups bring us in for orientation events, team-building events, leadership identification events. They use Game the City for summer intern events for undergraduates, MBA candidates, first year analysts, summer associates, management and partner events. One of our favorites, UBS brought us in to create a fantastic Game The City retreat on Martha's Vineyard in Edgartown (which we keep recreating and updating).

So explore our site and find out more about Game The City and why so many people have found it to be such a special Special Event.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT (917) 991-1963

Game Grids

WHERE TEAM-BUILDING HAPPENS

From the Hudson River to the East Village. From Chelsea to Tribecca. Soho, Noho, Union Square, Little Italy, the West Village and more. Game The City is played in the neighborhoods people love to explore, ones we call the "target rich" parts of New York. When teams come across what we want them to discover, oftentimes it raises their eyebrows. Even for lifelong New Yorkers.

These are just a few of our favorite GAME THE CITY grids.

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How To Play

The way Game The City works is we meet at a restaurant (either in a private space or we take over the whole restaurant) in the game grid you've chosen to play in.

We work with groups as small as 20 and as large as 350-400.

We brief your teams (usually 8-10 people on a team) on the rules of the game. Then we send them out for two hours to identify and go to 10 different destinations. Scoring is 10 points per destination. 100 points for a perfect score. First team back to the restaurant with the highest score wins.

DIFFERENT PLAYERS, DIFFERENT GAME

Every group that plays Game The City plays it differently based on who they are, what they know and how they figure out what they don't know.
Each and every game that we put together is tailored for every specific group who plays Game The City. Undergraduate summer interns have a very different knowledge base and skill set than people twice their age who are partners in a law firm or a hedge fund or a senior programmer at AppNexus.

DEEPER PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

Another rule of the game. Players can use their phones. To make phone calls. That's it. Rarely do we allow groups to use the internet to solve clues. That's intentional and also part of our game design. When people take a breather from being on the internet, glued to their phones, they make deeper personal connections, which is what real team-building is all about. Just ask Google. They're one of our favorite clients and they love playing Game The City without being able to Google anything.

IN TEAM-BUILDING, YOU ARE THE GAME

Most of the teams that win this game don't know the answers to our hardest questions. So why do they get perfect scores?

Because the team is the thing, not knowing the answer. By design, it's highly unlikely any player on a team will know the answers to some of the questions in Game The City. But that doesn't mean teams can't solve them. The real game is how they go about doing it.

INSPIRED BY THE CHALLENGE

Without even realizing it, when teams play Game The City they start communicating and collaborating in new and unusual ways. The kinds of questions we come up with lead players to be strategic, resourceful and clever. Efficient and adaptable, too. Once we tell groups they're not expected to know some of the answers, they aren't thrown by what they don't know. They're inspired by the challenge. They spark each other because Game The City sparks them.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT (917) 991-1963

Real Team-Building

Going as a group to a baseball game or a Broadway show is a lovely thing to do. But it' not an interactive experience. It's a sitting and watching experience. Which is not team-building. That's not to say it isn't fun. It's just a static, short-lived experience.

BEING REAL

Letting co-workers show each other what they've got, revealing more of who they are, what they think, how they think, that's real team-building. ("I had no idea your mother was a jazz musician," said one participant when another person on his team solved a music question by calling her sax-playing mom.)

FACE TO FACE

As you can see from these photos, participants literally put their heads together (part of the game design). Which is yet another fun part of the game.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT (917) 991-1963

Targets | Destinations

They are glorious. The Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Time Square. The thing is, everybody already knows about them. But there are surprising things that make New York the greatest city in the world. Things off the beaten tourist path. There is hidden history, fleeting surprises that come and go over the course of weeks.

SO MANY THINGS

Classic and pop culture, two hundred years and ten minutes old. Serious. Sexy. Ridiculous. Eccentric. The gallery show in Chelsea that featured films projected onto sculptures. The best spy store in the city. The hidden-away neighborhood drag club, the amazing frieze that you've got to look way up to discover. Owls. Pigs. Puppies. Architecture, commerce, culture, food. It's endless.

NEW YORK CITY OF WONDERS

These are the kind of things that bring out the wonder in us. The "I had no idea this was here!" So to give you a taste, here are some of our past favorites that people have discovered when they played our game.

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Who Plays With Us

TEAM-BUILDING IN ACTION

The proof is in the picture. Want to see what Game The City feels like for the people who experience it? Take a look.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT (917) 991-1963

The Party After The Game

A key part of Game The City happens at the restaurant where the game starts and finishes. The dinner or cocktail party that follows the game is a big part of the experience.

FINDING THE RIGHT VENUE

We have relationships with dozens of venues that are strategically located in our game grids, where we get preferential treatment and better deals no matter what the price point you're working with in your budget. This also involves finding the kind of restaurant that matches a client's style and taste level.

So venue searches is part of what we offer as well as the game. The photos in this section are just a sampling of some of our favorite places to hold your events.

THE BUZZ AFTER THE GAME

Everybody who plays Game The City always talks to all the other teams, excitedly comparing notes about how they played the game and solved the puzzle. Typically, this goes on for quite awhile, greatly adding to the team-building, camaraderie building experience - where ALL the teams connect and bond with each other. Which is the whole point (the end goal) of the whole experience.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT (917) 991-1963

Clients | Testimonials

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT (917) 991-1963

"Thank you so much for all of your support and just everything you guys did. It was a pleasure working directly with you and Sasha for this event - it was definitely a blast and everyone is talking about it today! I am going to spread the word about how awesome the game is. I hope to work with you guys again on my next event because I think we make a great team.

Megan Rheume | Senior Learning and Engagement Analyst | Everyday Health

"Everyone had such a great time. I left at 11 pm and they were still going strong. I heard they stayed talking about the game until 12:30! Incredible. Thank you both for everything once again!"

Joanna Burlew | Legal Recruiting Coordinator | Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

“THE BEST TEAM-BUILDING ACTIVITY IN NEW YORK CITY THAT WE’VE EVER DONE.”

"I have been on several team-building exercises over the years and I can say that Game The City really did it right on every level. It was well organized, fun, and most importantly, really drew the team members together by calling on different skills from each of the participants. I would give them an unqualified recommendation."

--Ellen Schubert | Managing Partner | UBS FX

"It was such a pleasure meeting you both yesterday. Thank you SO much for the awesomely fun event. My team had the best time, we couldn't stop talking about it at dinner! We especially loved hearing about the location choices and historical significance.

I will definitely be recommending Game The City to my colleagues as a suggestion for their team events. Thank you for making everything so easy and smooth!"

Ellen Matthews | Administrative Business Partner II, Large Customer Sales and Sales Finance | Google

"The event was a complete success. Everyone had a blast and you all delivered."

Harry Burnett | Managing Partner | Crowell Morning

“BY THE END OF THE DAY, YOUR TEAM-BUILDING GAME ACTUALLY STRENGTHENED THE BONDS OF OUR TEAM.”

"The night was so much fun and so enjoyable! I've been raving about it to all my city friends and hoping they reach out to have you organize a game for them!"

Stacy Canias | HelloFresh

"I wanted to say that I've heard nothing but great feedback from the interns about last week's event. It really turned out very well and it was a pleasure working with your team. We will definitely keep you in mind for future activities!"

Suzanne Jean | Sr. Project Manager, Employee Experience | AXA US

"Thank you so much for all your hard work. We had a great time and received excellent feedback on both games. I would love it if we were able to do other games with you, so I will definitely keep you in mind for any future networking events that we will be hosting."

Camille Pennycooke | Program Manager, Investment Banking Division | Morgan Stanley

"I've had the pleasure of working with Game The City for over 10 years now and I can't imagine creating a training program for our new entry-level hires without using this as our marquis event.

In an Investment Banking arena, we are always looks for events that are fun, challenging and focus on team-building. Game The City does all of that and then some. Our new hires get to know their peers in a fun, active way, and the event becomes something they remember fondly for years to come. I still speak with these employees who've long since departed the firm and they always recall the great time they had at this event.

As any recruiter or training lead knows, reliability and organization are paramount in working with any outside group. I've been fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time with Sasha and Anders, and am thrilled to know that not only will they take care of the whole event and ease the burden, but they will treat you like you're part of their family. Not only do I enjoy how much my new hires appredciate the experience, but I personally look forward to the opportunity to spend time with Sasha and Anders. It is without reservation that I would recommend Game the City to anyone looking for a fun and challenging experience for their own groups."

Kristen Borland | Vice President | Analyst Program Manager for US Investment Banking | Lazard Freres

"Deutsche Bank's summer associates had a blast with Game The City. The clues were extremely challenging but somehow we managed to figure things out. Great team-building event!"

Mari Pagliughi | Head of MBA Recruiting | Deutsche Bank

"Thanks so much for helping us put together such a great event! Since Fried Frank has never done anything like this before, everyone loved it and really enjoyed themselves! It was such a pleasure to meet both of you. You are both such wonderful people!"

Amy Schubert | Attorney Development Coordinator | Fried Frank LLP

"Thanks to you and Sasha for an incredible game! The interns loved it and I know the HR team felt the same way."

Mary Garofalow | Director, HR Project Manager-Business Analyst | UBS

"First, thank you so much for all of your help with making our event a grand success. All our employees had a fantastic time and we greatly appreciated everything!"

Sarah Pacitti | Learning and Development Associative | AppNexus

"We had such a great time and thought the event was fantastic. Just the right mix of culture, history and intellectual stimulation. We look forward to working with you in the future. Please thank Anders for all of his time and effort."

Rickie P. Abrams | Legal Administrator | Vedder Price

"Thank you so much, Sasha. Everyone loved it! I got a lot of compliments on Friday about what a fun time it was. Thank you for everything."

Jennifer Accornero | Office Manager | Scopus Fund

"I'm so happy that you enjoyed working with us. We loved it and hopefully we can do it again in another part of the city! I'll wear the right shoes this time:)"

Katie Francis | Office Coordinator | HelloFresh

"Thank you Anders and thanks for putting everything together tonight, Sasha. It was so nice to meet you both. The interns had such wonderful time. Last night went so smoothly. Please thank your team also!"

Devin Graham | Associate Wealth Management Campus Recruiter | JP Morgan Chase & Co

"Thank you both so much! Despite the hot weather, everyone had such a blast! And the venue could not have been better. Thank you as always for all your hard work with this."

Monika Kloslewicz | Legal Recruiting Manager | Chadbourne & Parke

"Sasha, we had a great time. It was so nice to spend time with you. I can see why my team is ALWAYS talking about how great you and Anders are!"

Bree Graber | Recruiting Coordinator | Shearman & Sterling

"It was a fabulous event. Our summer associates had a great time. Thanks for another successful and quite smoothly run event. We look forward to working with you again soon. Have a great summer!"

Michelle C. Lass | Legal Recuriing Coordinator | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

"It was such a wonderful event and you are right, people are still talking about it. Thank you again and I look forward to working with you in the future"

Sima J. Honig | Attorney Recruitment Coordinator | Winston & Strawn LLP

"We had a great time and the team from Game The City did a wonderful job of coming up with creative and fun activities for us. The game they created for us in Edgartown [Martha's Vineyard] was a blast and was a terrific team-building event. I laughed. I cried. Two thumbs up."

Ed Hulina | Managing Director | Foreign Exchange | UBS

"It was a great experience and the group talked about the game for quite some time. It was so much more than we all expected!@"

Helene A. Reda | Director | FX Distribution- Business Management | UBS

"Thanks so much! The summers seemed to have wonderful time! Thanks so much for everything, I really appreciated how well organized everything is and how great your team and you are to work with."

Tina Clarizio | Manager of Recruiting operations | McKinsey & Company

"It was a pleasure to work with you and your team. You are such lovely people. Your graciousness and kindness is so appreciated and we hope that we can work together in the future."

Jaqueline Bauer | Assistant Vice President Human Resources | BGC Partners (Cantor Fitzgerald)

"Everyone had a blast last night and I know they all really enjoyed the game. It was such a pleasure working with you and i hope to do more in the future.

Alexandra Perrotta | Coordinator, Talent Acquisition & Development | Paul Hastings