Whether you’re looking to bring together a group of friends, family members, or coworkers, NYC is packed with team building activities. From black-light bowling and escape rooms to painting tutorials and pizza-making classes, these 12 locations below provide the ideal environment for both large and small groups, creating memories that they won’t ever forget and helping to building lasting friendships along the way.
13 Team Building Activities in NYC Your Group Will Love
1. Best of NYC Escape Rooms: The Escape Game New York City (Midtown East)
With 14 locations nationwide, The Escape Game has built a successful set of escape experiences with customized sets and exciting stories full of twists and turns. Have fun, use your brain, and work together as you follow clues to escape the room in 60 minutes. At The Escape Game New York City location near Grand Central, you can escape one of the following five rooms: The Heist, Prison Break, Gold Rush, Playground, and Special Ops: Mysterious Market. The Escape Game makes an ideal team-building activity for corporate groups. You’ll use the strengths of each team member, learn about each other, and laugh along the way. If you’d like to book The Escape Game for a corporate event, you can even coordinate start times between rooms for a dose of (healthy) competition. 295 Madison Ave., 917-970-1360, theescapegame.com/newyorkcity
2. Bowlmor Lanes (Times Square)
Bowlmor Lanes via Facebook
Bowling is anything but lame at Bowlmor, where there are 48 black-light bowling lanes at your disposal. Vintage leather sofas and massive lane-side video walls add some extra funk to this hotspot, and private bowling alleys are also available to rent out. Bowlmore also has a Laneside menu that is filled with specialty cocktails and snack-worthy appetizers including crab & artichoke dip and avocado hummus. Additional location in Chelsea. 222 W. 44th St., 212-680-0012, bowlmor.com
3. Big Deal Casino (Midtown East)
Big Deal Casino isn't a traditional casino, but an event space where you can have a great company get-together or get lessons in the art of poker. The Prohibition theme here harkens back to the origins of poker in the city, with speakeasies leading into a poker boom inspired by the 1998 film Rounders. When you want to group bond in a high-energy, atmospheric place, this "casino" is the destination for you. 1 E. 28th St., bigdeal.nyc
4. Gagopa Karaoke (Midtown West)
What better way to bond than crooning classic tunes to each other in a private karaoke room? Gagopa Karaoke rents out private rooms for $32 an hour for up to four people (and an additional $8 an hour for each additional person). There is a room available for up to 30 people. Their song list is extensive, with over 20,000 English songs and 10,000 Spanish songs, along with tunes in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and a variety of other languages. 28 W. 32nd St., 212-967-5353, gagopakaraoke.com
5. The BEAST Speedboat Ride (Hudson River)
Get your group’s blood pumping aboard the BEAST Speedboat Ride. Circle Line Sightseeing’s custom-built, 70-foot speedboat rides the waves of the Hudson at 45 miles per hour, and the adventure is filled with twists, turns, and splashes as it takes you within 100 feet of the Statue of Liberty and provides you with panoramic views of midtown and lower Manhattan. Add in the lively soundtrack and the entertaining captain and crew, and you’ve got yourself a bonding experience on the high seas! Pier 83 W. 42nd St., 212-563-3200, circleline42.com
6. Paint Nite (Multiple Locations)
You don’t have to be a professional artist to enjoy a Paint Nite. Even someone who has never picked up a brush before will leave this event with a beautifully composed canvas of colors. Enjoy a drink of your choosing while an instructor guides the group with an acrylic painting tutorial. Canvases, brushes, and paints are all included in the ticket price. Multiple locations throughout New York. 855-767-4270, paintnite.com
7. Chocolate Noise
Most people have never heard of a chocolate tasting, which makes it a nice surprise for corporate events in particular. It's like a wine or cheese tasting except with chocolate. Hook up with Chocolate Noise for a bespoke event that will educate as well as please the senses. You can taste multiple bean-to-bar chocolates, roasted cacao beans, and fresh cacao fruit juice. Guests also play games like chocolate trivia and do a blind tasting, with the winners taking home prizes—chocolate! Your host is Megan Giller, author of Bean-to-Bar Chocolate: America's Craft Chocolate Revolution, and an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC. chocolatenoise.com
8. Pizza School NYC (Lower East Side)
Who doesn’t love pizza? Take your group to Pizza School NYC to allow for some quality group bonding over the beloved Italian dish. But before you eat, you’ll have to make the pizza! Stretch dough like a pro while you work with your team members to create a delicious and authentic pie. If there’s one thing that was ever able to bring people together, it has to be a slice of piping hot pizza. 371 Grand St., 212-288-5483, pizzaschool.com
9. Museum Hack (the Met, American Museum of Natural History, Rubin Museum of Art, etc)
Turn co-workers into team-workers with Museum Hack's interactive tours! Museum Hack can update their tours to match your industry too, so get ready for a completely unique and sassy team experience! And, get ready to play Blind Artist, a game that is a toss between pictionary and charades that will bring your team closer than ever! 800-210-9676, vip@museumhack.com, museumhack.com
10. City Brew Tours NYC (Brooklyn and Queens)
What's better for bonding than beer? City Brew Tours NYC will lead your crew on an authentic NYC craft beer experience. Industry roots go back centuries in New York City and you'll find out what's brewing today with a van exploration through Brooklyn and Queens. Get VIP behind-the-scene tours of favorites like Brooklyn Brewery, Circa Brewing Co., and Five Boroughs Brewing. 347-429-8687, citybrewtours.com
11. The Great Guac Off
If you love avocados, gather your team and compete to see who can make the best guacamole. That's not all. This team building session includes more (like pundacado — where teams earn points for avocado themed puns)! Each standard guac off is two hours long, with optional add-ons to extend the time either with more competition or a “cocktail party” to cool down. 347-919-7792, thegreatguacoff.com
12. Charter a Boat
Looking for a boat ride in NYC for just your group? Check out New York Media Boat. They can customize a trip for you, getting you thrillingly close to the water (unlike the high decks of the city's big cruise lines). Get up close with major NYC sights, including the FDNY Fireboat Station, Hudson Yards with The Vessel, Intrepid, One World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island, while bonding with your crew. North Cove Marina at Brookfield Place, Battery Park City, 347-789-0588
13. Fly High (Staten Island)
If you’ve got an adventurous crowd, head over to NYC’s first indoor trampoline park, Fly High. It’s hard not to bond when you’re flying high in the air together and landing in a giant pit filled with hundreds of foam cubes. Fly High is made up of a main court, a bungee slingshot, a flying foam pit, massage chairs, and a dunk zone, so make sure your group comes filled with energy and ready to have a good time. 501 Industry Rd., 718-524-6561, flyhighny.com
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