Client Profile and the Brief
Spotify needed one afternoon that would take 35 people out of the meeting room and give them a reason to actually talk. That was the brief everything else followed from.
Spotify’s Stockholm office is one of the company’s key hubs — and also the backdrop for their product area core weeks: focused multi-day sessions where a product team comes together for planning, workshops and the conversations that work best in person. One such core week had a slot set aside for something different. The enquiry arrived simply: “We’d like a quote for a treasure hunt team building event — it would be great to have an indication of cost.”
Thirty-five people who collaborate on the same product but spend most of their year on different continents or video calls. An afternoon format that would mix them naturally, get them moving, and not feel like a forced exercise. A Treasure Hunt through the historic centre of Stockholm was the answer.
Event Walkthrough Step by Step
Nobel Museum, two hours through Stockholm’s old town, and a finish at the Spotify office — three phases that built momentum from the first checkpoint to the final award.
Briefing: Nobel Museum at Stortorget
The group assembled at Nobel Museum on Stortorget — one of the most striking squares in Gamla Stan, and a starting point that sets the tone before the game master says a word. Elias welcomed the group, divided participants into seven teams and walked through the rules. The briefing took around fifteen minutes. Then the teams scattered into Stockholm’s old town streets.
Deliberately mixed teams — so that colleagues who don’t normally sit near each other ended up solving a puzzle together. That decision pays off within the first checkpoint.
The Hunt: Two Hours through Gamla Stan and Beyond
The route wound through Gamla Stan’s narrow lanes and on into central Stockholm. Different types of tasks at each stop: observation, logic, group challenges where every team member needed to contribute. No app to install — all materials were physical, all checkpoints managed by Elias on the ground.
Teams could set their own pace within the shared time limit. That freedom creates the conversations a schedule cannot: two people from different parts of the organisation arguing about the right answer to a puzzle, then laughing about it, then discovering they worked on the same project three years ago and never knew.
Finish: Back at the Spotify Office
Unlike hunts that finish in a park or a restaurant, this one ended at Spotify’s own office. Teams arrived one by one, checking in their scores. The energy from the streets — movement, competition, laughter — carried straight back through the door. The office, normally the setting for focused work, was suddenly a venue for celebration.
Awards Ceremony
Results were announced in front of the whole group. The winning team was congratulated, and the afternoon’s shared experience became the natural conversation that carried the core week into its final days. As Inger Marshall, who organised the event, put it afterwards: “We had a good time and were lucky with the weather too. Thanks again to Elias (guide).”
Why It Worked — 4 Things That Made the Difference
The right group size, the right starting point, finishing at their own office, and the timing within a core week — four factors that turned this into more than just an afternoon out.
- 35 people is a well-suited size for seven teams of five. Everyone needs to contribute. There’s nowhere to coast. The competitive element stays genuine without becoming stressful. This is the size range where treasure hunts work at their best.
- Starting at Nobel Museum raises the bar from the first minute. Stortorget in Gamla Stan is not just a meeting point — it’s an environment that makes people curious before the game even begins. That curiosity is contagious, and it carries through the whole route.
- Finishing at the Spotify office was the right call. The hunt became part of the core week story, not something separate from it. Participants walked back in carrying the shared experience with them — which made the days that followed feel different.
- Core week timing works in your favour. When a team is already in “we’re here to connect” mode, a treasure hunt lands with more impact than it would mid-quarter. People are primed to engage. The switch from workshop to game is easy, and the effect lasts longer.
Thinking about something similar for your team? See how the whole hunt works step by step, or read our guide to planning corporate team building.
