Community Service Game: A client wrote to us and requested an "Amazing Race" style adventure where the players would visit multiple locations and perform acts of community service. The company is doing well and wanted to give their players an enjoyable day away from work but at the same time give back to the community that has allowed them to prosper. This challenge seemed right up our alley: after all, our motto is "play like it's your job," and we were eager for the opportunity to bring that philosophy to volunteerism. We worked with the city of Santa Monica and individual agencies to find spots near our existing game zone where the teams could do some hit-and-run do-gooding, Go Game style, and we came up with a bunch.
This being a Go Game, of course, we also had our players stop along the way and answer our off-the-wall location based puzzles, perform hilarious camera challenges, and all the while work to elude the VP with the squirtgun, who was lurking around corners sharpshooter style trying to soak the team captain. Who says community service has to feel like a chore?
We took our classic Santa Monica game (our most popular offering in Southern CA) and added to it Charity Zones where players would perform a volunteer act in order to get the clue that would allow them to move on. Teams earned points for cleaning up the most garbage on the beach, being the most help in the kitchen at the shelter, scoring the most points in Boggle against the gray-haired ladies at the Senior Center, and delivering the foodbank care packages the fastest. In the end, everybody won: the teams had a great day, the volunteer organizations got a crew of eager, zesty helpers, and the Go Game once again delivered an entertaining, fast-paced, opportunity to play-- like it's your job!
Sample Missions
Eco Friendly
CHALLENGE
Your destination is Broadway between the Promenade and 4th St. There's a parking lot right there; somewhere on the first level you'll find a red Prius. An agent will be waiting for you there; find this agent and say to him, "Deliver us from evil!" When you do, you'll receive your next set of instructions. Got it? Find the agent by the red Prius, speak the secret phrase and then... tell us how many digits he shows you.
RESULT
After searching the garage and delivering the secret phrase to our agent-- who flashed a double thumbs-up-- teams received a delivery address and a care package from Santa Monica's Westside Foodbank. The recipient of the package gave teams a password that directed them to their next location.
CHALLENGE
Green Party at my place!: They love us at the NRDC at 1314 2nd Street: that's because The Go Game is a carbon neutral company. (Having you guys walk all over town is incredibly emissions free.) This building is home to a bunch of Gore-voting earth lovers, the whole building is made using environmentally sound materials, solar energy, and water conservation technology. Find the agent there wearing orange; tell her you want to save the world and she'll tell you when to start. Enter her answer below.
RESULT
This environmental campaigning organization asked us to help by doing the job none of their volunteers wanted: data entry. Players added names to their mailing list database but, because this is the Go Game, there was a twist: they did it while catching ping-pong balls in baskets on their heads
Apples to Apples
CHALLENGE
The Apple Store on the Promenade between Arizona and Wilshire is your next destination. Don't get your hopes up: we don't have a community service task for you that involves testing out cool new iPhone apps. There is an online component to your challenge, however: go find a free connection on one of those laptops and use iChat to send an AIM message to our friend HurtyGurty. When she gives you a password, enter it for your next instructions.
RESULT
The AIM agent told teams there was a packet taped under the bench outside: it comprised leaflets of missing kids and families from Find the Children. Teams handed these leaflets out to passers-by. Sharp-eyed teams, however, noticed that one of the people who took a leaflet was actually pictured on one of the posters! She was one of our agents, and if the teams recognized her and declared her "found," they got a bonus. The other leaflets were all real, though.