The Hike — A "Choose Your Own Adventure" Zoom game for remote teams

@ejsnowdon could be something fun towards the end of the year!

If you're working remotely, it's sometimes hard to connect with your whole team. Our team knows firsthand that bonding over your screen and across timezones can be a challenge. So we wanted to try building a game that we could play with our entire 35-person team using only basic tools like Zoom, Slack, and Google Slides. And that's how The Hike was born, and our team loved it. So now, we decided to make this game freely available for distributed teams everywhere who might be looking for more ways to connect remotely. While we're certainly not professional game creators (we actually connect companies with world-class remote developers), we do hope you'll find this game fun and useful. Let us know what you think!

that's awesome, will check it out with the team :) thanks for making it free.

It all started with a virtual campfire event for the Arc team. We sent mini s'more-making kits to everyone in the team, had ghost stories planned, and our campfire backgrounds were on lock... but we had yet to find the right game to play together online. We needed a game that: - Could be played remotely without special software (just everyday video call and messaging apps like Zoom and Slack) - Had deeper discussion potential than icebreaker questions, yet cheaper than some of the $$/person full experience game options - Allowed multiple teams to make decisions independently - Included both cross-team and full-company interaction to ensure multiple points of connection were made - Could handle lots of players at the same time - Had plenty of banter potential 😏 The result? The Hike. We built this (admittedly slightly evil) pick-your-path adventure game for our own use, and our post-game survey told us that people loved it even more than expected. In fact, 85% of our team also reported major increases in getting to know their colleagues in other teams as a result of playing together. With Halloween approaching, we thought: why not make it available for everyone else to play? (We suggest BYO candy and costumes.) Good luck... and try to survive. We look forward to your feedback and seeing your game screenshots!

Hi @weitingliu , quick question: how long is the session supposed to last? I wanted to try it out this week and just needed to plan the time accordingly. Thanks.

I had no idea what to expect when I heard that our team was going to go camping virtually. At first, we toasted marshmallows over tealight candles and listened to a few ghost stories over our Zoom call. Then, we started playing The Hike. It brought back memories of the Choose Your Own Adventure books I loved as a kid. But then, The Hike got a bit crazier as we had to make decisions at each part of the journey to make it to the end alive. If you're up for an adventure that you can easily play with a big team, then definitely check this out!

This looks awesome! My team is just of 8 people... maybe can we play it? In a whole team of 7? (1 of us must be the host) Pleeeeease, say yes!

Absolutely love Choose your own adventure books. This is such a brilliant idea. Dismal all team meeting today makes me realise why we need this

Thank you guys - I love zoom games! Looks ace!

This was really fun! Thanks for making and sharing this for the world! I died at the beginning but still hilarious to follow along. The graphics were great. My partner cued up a spooky soundboard to play in the background while he narrated. That could be linked or suggested as a setup option. Our group is hoping you'll make another one like this! Loved it!

Super excited that this has finally launched so that other teams can play! Tip: This game goes great with DIY s’mores 🤤

Love it :D Can wait to take my teammates on a trip!

Looking forward to trying this with my team!

I love this idea, I have a couple questions: I'm wondering if there are other options besides Slack, would Zoom Breakout Rooms work? Or Discord? Or Microsoft Teams? Aiming for less grumbling about yet another app to learn. :) Would this be a good fit for middle school students or only adults?

I played this with my Grade 6/7 class and they absolutely loved it! We divided it up over two 40 minute periods and it worked out perfectly! What a great virtual experience to end the year!