20 Fun photo scavenger hunt concepts to fortify team ties | Surf Office (2024)

Looking for new ways to bring your team together and also have some fun? Look no further than a classic group game: the photo scavenger hunt. A picture scavenger hunt offers entertainment, exploration, and the opportunity to come together and unwind.

There’s one simple rule: find everything on the list, and do it before everyone else! Begin by giving everyone a list of things to find or see, and have them capture a picture as proof. Divide people up into small groups or pairs, and make sure everyone is comfortable capturing the pictures with their device. Give everyone instructions and make sure everyone is clear, and then let the games begin! The winning team will have checked off all of the suggested photo opps on the list, as well as pictures for proof. It’s the perfect activity for team building without any additional materials.

Ready to kick the fun into high gear with some creative once or twice picture scavenger hunts? Explore our favorite ideas here.

20 Photo scavenger hunt ideas

1. Team building challenge

Strengthen group trust and collaboration with this fun option. This is an inexpensive and easy way to bring people together. This can take place within one central building, or across a campus or even metro area. The point is that it helps people to learn more about the business they work for. For more team building activities for work or large group games, make sure to follow our blog.

Inspiration:

✅ Original office building

✅ CEO parking spot

✅ Most popular water cooler

✅ Company letterhead

✅ Company swag like a water bottle

✅ Item from the lunch room

✅ Unique office chair

✅ Newest colleague

✅ Most senior colleague

✅ Entire department

2. College campus hunt

College campuses are often beautiful with a lot to explore. If you are lucky enough to be located near one (or planning an event nearby), then plan a scavenger hunt for everyone. College campuses are bustling with activity, so they can be the perfect place to see lots of different things and get good sports who are happy to engage with your group and have some fun. You’re sure to find tons of fun photo opportunities to share, including historic buildings, mascot appearances, athletic souvenirs, and much more.

Inspiration:

✅ Oldest building on campus

✅ Unique art installation

✅ School mascot

✅ Professor

✅ Department classroom

✅ Oldest book in the library

✅ Student organization

✅ Something from the food court

✅ Students enjoying a campus tradition

✅ Students playing frisbee

3. New hire/employee refresher

A scavenger hunt can be a great way to get new people acclimated with important areas or facts, and for the same reasons, they can be helpful in reminding current staff of the great things about your company. Make the photo hunt a part of new hire orientation or celebratory events that current employees attend. Consider coming up with prompts that show everyone the wonderful things that set your business apart, as well as the unique locations or mementos that are special to your team. Follow up with a work happy hour where people can continue to socialize.

Inspiration:

✅ Team member from each department

✅ Break room

✅ Specific conference room

✅ Essential technology hardware

✅ Company culture (wellness program, clubs, etc.)

✅ Members of the leadership team

✅ Cross-functional group photo

✅ Fun fact about a teammate

✅ Timeline of company events

✅ Relevant training materials

4. Selfie challenge

The majority of people have gotten pretty good at taking selfies. Indulge this practice by coming up with an entire photo scavenger hunt based around pictures that people can take of themselves. This game is super straightforward and doesn’t require much prep or any kind of investment. You can put the list together quickly and whip up a fun last-minute event using this exercise. This hunt works no matter the size of the team, so it’s a good option for team building in large groups.

Inspiration:

✅ Next to a statue

✅ Next to a pet

✅ Next to a grandparent

✅ In a yoga pose

✅ On their head

✅ Next to water

✅ By something that is their favorite color

✅ In front of their favorite restaurant (or in the cafeteria)

✅ Making a silly face

✅ In a sunglass reflection

5. Your city scavenger

Sometimes it's fun to be a tourist in your own town, and many people don’t get the chance to do so. Help everyone by putting together a comprehensive scavenger hunt list that highlights landmarks, attractions, etc. This is particularly fun if your office is headquartered in a certain city, while employees work in other offices or remotely. Keep in mind the larger geographic area means everyone will need more time. You’ll probably want to ensure that you have a whole afternoon reserved and also that people are set up with Ubers or walking maps to get around.

Inspiration:

✅ Historical landmark

✅ Locals-only restaurant or bar

✅ Most delicious dessert

✅ Vibrant street art

✅ Scenic overlook

✅ Famous statue

✅ Local legend

✅ Most popular exhibit in the museum

✅ Natural park or green space

✅ Oldest building

6. Twelve days of Christmas

For this game, everyone will recreate the various 12 days of Christmas for photos. For instance, things like two turtle doves, five golden rings, etc. The pictures don’t need to be completely literal and people should be encouraged to get creative with their iterations. Participants could act out the behavior in the song or dress up or improvise with props. This is the perfect game for bringing out everyone’s seasonal spirit around the holidays.

Inspiration:

✅ Partridge in a pear tree

✅ Two turtle doves

✅ 3 French hens

✅ 4 calling birds

✅ 5 golden rings

✅ 6 geese a-laying

✅ 7 swans a swimming

✅ 8 maids a-milking

✅ 9 ladies dancing

✅ 10 lords a-leaping

✅ 11 pipers piping

✅ 12 drummers drumming

7. Special moments re-enactment

This scavenger hunt is one of the best for bringing out everyone’s creative side. This hunt requires dressing up and re-enacting important milestones throughout their life. Have people submit photos of a special moment in advance, and then use it to build the list of photo opportunities. Players can choose to recreate their own events or pick one of their teammates’. At the end of the activity, collect the “before and after” pictures. Then you can compile them into a slideshow or share the results and have everyone vote on the funniest one. You can judge on which photos are the most convincing, creative, or moving.

Inspiration:

✅ Baby photo

✅ Kindergarten photo

✅ Dance recital

✅ High school dance

✅ First sporting event

✅ Graduation

✅ Wedding

✅ Recreating funniest childhood photo

✅ Favorite holiday photo

✅ First home photo

8. Hometown showdown

Understanding someone’s history is an important part of knowing who they are. It’s not often that people get to learn about the pasts of their colleagues, but this photo scavenger hunt is a good start. For this exercise, people can compare their current cities and childhood homes. Participants will get a series of prompts and need to produce a photo that fits each category. This option is a smart choice for an ongoing activity. You may want to hand out the prompt list a week before everyone gets together. Give people plenty of time to collect their images and then share them at your group event.

Inspiration:

✅ Most delicious sandwich

✅ A local-only spot

✅ Local wildlife

✅ Sports stadium

✅ Person wearing the local sport’s team jersey

✅ Office of the largest company in town

✅ Famous statue

✅ Park bench in a local park

✅ Building mural

✅ Cup of coffee from local cafe

9. Social media hunt

Social media scavenger hunts are a good “get to know you” exercise and kick off ongoing team bonding. To begin with, you’ll need people to opt in. Not everyone will be comfortable sharing social media or other online information, so this exercise needs to be completely voluntary. The hunt will involve browsing people’s profiles and looking for standout posts or photos. Allow everyone to spend time looking through socials to find the proper images and share answers. This activity lends itself nicely to virtual teams, too.

Inspiration:

✅ Selfie

✅ Random act of kindness

✅ Holiday celebration

✅ Specific hashtags

✅ From the office

✅ Best caption

✅ Influencer that people have in common

✅ Grand Canyon

✅ With a celebrity

✅ DIY project

10. Past trips and travel

Lots of people share a love of travel. If that sounds like your team, you can encourage this hobby by having participants share photos from past trips. At the end of the activity, have everyone choose their favorite photo to share with the group and describe the moment. This is a fun way for everyone to share the most powerful moments from trips that are special to them.

Inspiration:

✅ Exotic animal

✅ Creepy hostel

✅ 5-star hotel

✅ Meal from a different country

✅ Zip-lining

✅ Top of a mountain

✅ Championship sporting event

✅ At the airport

✅ In a limo

✅ In the ocean

11. Bucket list

It’s never a bad idea to encourage life goals! This is an exercise that can help everyone to get in a positive state of mind, while also learning more about each other. Get everyone’s wheels turning thinking about what they hope to achieve one day. Participants can choose a photo of themselves doing the particular activity, or they can take a photo of them doing it in real time. This is a great way to encourage people to try something new. For that reason, it’s good to make this an ongoing effort that spans weeks or months. If you want to boost participation, you may also want to provide a small stipend so that people have the funds to make arrangements. Additionally, since there are sure to be some cool experiences captured, you may want to allow video instead of just still photos. This is an excellent exercise for helping your coworkers to achieve their dreams, which shows that you really care about them and makes it the perfect team building activity for work.

Inspiration:

✅ Bake a cake

✅ Go skydiving

✅ Swim in the ocean

✅ Sing in front of a crowd

✅ Take a martial arts class

✅ Compete in chess

✅ Learn to play the piano

✅ Visit [a certain place]

✅ Renew wedding vows

✅ Ride a motorcycle

12. Nature hike hunt

Get outside and enjoy some fresh air! Get people to exercise, bond with teammates, and hone powers of observation. Plan a nature walk and then stroll as a group looking for clues. The nice thing about an outdoor environment is that there are so many chances to capture cool pictures. Include this game as part of a company picnic or other outdoor team building activities.

Inspiration:

✅ Acorn

✅ Interesting shape tree

✅ Wooden bridge

✅ Animal footprint

✅ Feather

✅ Painted rock

✅ Frog on a lily pad

✅ The state bird

✅ Deer tracks

✅ 4-leaf clover

13. Conference or seminar scavenger

Up the ante on your event investment by creating a game out of common things at trade shows or corporate events. This gives people a chance to step out of their comfort zone and also be more observant during the sessions. There will probably be a lot of opportunities for photos with strangers, so make sure to remind everyone to ask permission before snapping away. This adds another fun layer to a training or conference that might be mandatory.

Inspiration:

✅ A person you used to work with

✅ A person you always wanted to meet

✅ Guest speaker

✅ Misspelled name tag

✅ PowerPoint presentation

✅ Company swag of a certain color

✅ Tie with a national flag

✅ Lapel pin

✅ Microphone that doesn’t work

✅ Event hashtag

14. Photo filter pictures

Today’s photo apps are innovative and intuitive. Many people use filters to touch up their images, and you can make a scavenger hunt out of them. These images will focus on style over content, using special effects to create photos with filters.

Inspiration:

✅ Mirrored image

✅ Black and white

✅ Artistic blur

✅ Before and after

✅ Vintage

✅ “Supermodel” filter

✅ Panoramic

✅ SnapChat filter

✅ Sepia filter

✅ HDR filter

15. Beach photo hunt

Who would turn down a day at the beach? Turns out, very few people. You can be a hero by planning this hunt and making the beach part of your team’s gathering. If time (and weather) allows, try snapping photos of everyone soaking up the sun. Think about things you only typically see at the beach, and put a list together that encourages everyone to work together and have some fun.

Inspiration:

✅ Starfish

✅ Seashell bigger than your fist

✅ Sand castle

✅ Sand mermaid tail

✅ Beach bucket

✅ Feather

✅ Dog footprints

✅ Beach ball

✅ Someone applying sunscreen

✅ People playing volleyball

16. Museum moments

If you are planning an event at or near a museum or historic site, try incorporating the surroundings into the games you arrange. You can make the game educational by providing riddles or cryptic clues instead of straightforward prompts. For example, “The artist painted this picture as a gift for his mother” or “This sculpture was created in 1850 in the heart of London”. Have everyone figure out the clues and then take pictures of the appropriate exhibits or art pieces. Or, you can keep things straightforward and supply simple clues like those below.

Inspiration:

✅ Historical document

✅ Famous painting

✅ Sculpture bigger than you

✅ Interactive exhibit

✅ A piece displaying an animal

✅ A piece displaying a musical instrument

✅ The curator’s favorite piece

✅ The oldest piece

✅ The newest piece

✅ Rare book

17. Phone photo album

This scavenger hunt is one of the most humorous, and also one of the fastest and easiest to run through. For this one, people use photos that are already on their phone. Players are not allowed to take new photos, but instead should browse the photos they already have in their library. This can be an independent scavenger hunt, or teams can work together to gather from their collective group. This is also a good option for virtual teams.

Inspiration:

✅ Receipt

✅ Homemade meal

✅ Famous landmark

✅ Their reflection in sunglasses

✅ At a concert

✅ Last Saturday

✅ With a grandparent

✅ Flowers

✅ Kid’s toy

✅ Wearing a winter hat

18. Day at the Zoo

If you are planning an event at or near your local zoo, try including the venue in your planning. Set everyone free in the park with a list of photos to take. They can be focused on animals, or other people or scenarios. For example “Eating a corn dog on a stick” or “a child with a balloon”. For more outdoor team building activities or company picnic ideas, make sure to follow our blog.

Inspiration:

✅ Animal footprint

✅ Peaco*ck

✅ An animal eating

✅ Two animals playing

✅ A toy in a habitat

✅ A conservation message

✅ Zookeeper interacting with an animal

✅ A toy from the gift shop

✅ Animal mask

✅ Zoo brochure

19. Furry loved ones

This one is a great group option for virtual teams. Simply have everyone share their favorite picture of their pet (if they have one). No pets? Share an image of your ideal “someday” pet for all to see.

20. Gratitude focus

Feeling thankful is incredibly productive and good for cultivating a positive attitude. Have people take pictures of five or ten things they are thankful for. This is another good option for a virtual event where people don’t need to be in the same place to participate. It’s also a simple way to start a larger event - either in person or virtual - and helps to set the best mental and emotional tone for the group. It will be personal to everyone, and everyone’s will be different.

Top tips for an effective scavenger hunt

1. Focus on interaction - Engagement and interaction are key for a successful photo scavenger hunt. Everything should be set up in a way where participants can focus on each other as well as the photos being taken.

2. Make people an important element - The more that people interact, the better! Make a point to set up some photo opportunities for entire groups, or pairs. Try to make the event a team effort or at least small groups to make things more fun.

3. See some landmarks and enjoy your surroundings - A scavenger hunt is a great opportunity for enjoying your hometown or current location. Scope out some landmarks and see what makes the area unique. This also gives people a chance to stretch their legs and learn new things. In short, make the location a key part of the photo hunt!

4. Make rules clear - Everyone needs to know how photos will be used and judged, what’s allowed, time limits, etc. Make sure to cover all of this information before everyone heads out on their hunt, to keep things fair. You don’t want any disputes after the fact about who the real winner is.

5. Give everyone the right equipment - Players don’t need professional cameras, but they do need to be able to properly take the photos. You don’t want to assume that everyone has a smartphone with a good camera, so once you have people in teams, check to make sure that someone on the team can capture the photos. It's unlikely, but a photo taking tutorial might be necessary to level the playing field before beginning.

6. Use an app - There are a variety of apps that can streamline this process and make it simple for everyone. Try to find a mobile app ahead of time to plan and deploy your hunt, and make sure everyone has downloaded the app. Check before the scavenger hunt begins that everyone has the chosen app installed properly and that they all feel comfortable using it.

7. Ask permission from strangers - Some prompts may encourage players to take pictures of or with other people, including strangers. You can imagine this won’t go over well with some people. Make sure that people know to ask permission before they start snapping pics. Simply letting strangers know they are part of a scavenger hunt is a respectful gesture.

8. Include a scavenger hunt in team-building activities - Photo scavenger hunts are a great way to close out a team event or add a more interactive element to meetings. If you’re looking for a way to get people moving, socializing, and learning new things, then look no further. Carve out some space in your next event agenda for a photo scavenger hunt or other team-building exercise.

9. Share photos as a group for extra laughs - Don’t let these great photo opps go to waste! Part of the fun is to share the pictures as a group. Make sure to allow some time for groups to share their images, maybe even choosing their favorite to share with the larger team. Some companies create a contest where each team can share their best photo and then a judge or panel can announce a winner for most creative photo.

10. Use the best photos in a final memento project - Up the impact of your team building activity by turning the photos into a project. Consider making things like t-shirts for the group, backgrounds for Zoom or Slack, physical photo books to hand out, etc. At a minimum, create an online photo album where everyone can share their images and revisit them easily from a central location.

Photo scavenger hunts are a great addition to team-building events

As we mentioned, scavenger hunts are perfect for adding some lightness to the team events you put together. Rather than planning them as a standalone event, try incorporating them into the agenda of your next team-building retreat or all-company meeting. Since these exercises are a great way to get to know each other, as well as explore a new location, they are perfect for bringing together various groups that may not work together often.

We suggest planning such a team-building retreat at least once and preferably twice a year, and include time for training, leadership updates, socializing, and peer recognition. If you need some assistance pulling together a great agenda, let Surf Office help. Reach out to us to get some innovative ideas on executing the perfect team-building retreat for your group.