Murder and money mysteries equals great Dubai corporate teambuilding

Another scenario involves a 1940s British office where a murder has occurred. Courtesy HintHunt

Players, limited to between three and five per room, must work together to solve a mystery to escape within 60 minutes to win the game. Courtesy HintHunt

The idea behind HintHunt is to force people into working and cooperating with people whom they ordinarily would not. Courtesy HintHunt

Players must work together to solve a mystery to escape within 60 minutes to win the game. Courtesy HintHunt

What do murder and money have to do with corporate teambuilding? A lot, it seems.

HintHunt, an escape game in Dubai for small groups, says corporate bookings have soared in recent months as companies look to get to know their employees better.

Players, limited to between three and five per room, must work together to solve a mystery to escape within 60 minutes to win the game. There are two scenarios – a 1940s British office where a murder has occurred, and a Japanese room where money has been stolen.

Staff of more than 60 companies have played the game in the past three months alone, with annual bookings up about 50 per cent.

One team came from American Hospital Clinic in Dubai Media City. Dr Jamie Abdennadher, family doctor and medical director of the clinic, wanted a teambuilding exercise for his staff to help them gel more effectively.

“It probably happens in a lot of different workplaces. You find that certain people who are in a certain team or work at a certain time, they are the ones who have lunch together or who work together. The idea was to force people into working and team-building with people they perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily [spend time with],” he says.

So he divided up the 25 staff – from the cleaners to porters, nurses, doctors and administration staff – into five teams, splitting up people who knew each other well. Dr Abdennadher says this helped them work together and recognise the natural leaders among them.

“HintHunt watches each of the teams. They commented on their style; was there somebody who stood back? Or someone who made the whole group come together or spilt them up?” he says. “So we were able to work out a little bit about our leadership style.”

But the game also helped the group learn more about each other.

“One of my porters is an expert at sudoku and that was a huge element to solving the problem. It built a little bit more respect between people,” adds Dr Abdennadher.

q&a qualities in evidence

Gillian Duncan finds out why the team-building game HintHunt is gaining in popularity:

Where did the game come from?

It is a franchise of a UK concept. Lina El Saheb, managing partner of HintHunt in the UAE, says she spotted it while travelling in the UK on holiday and loved the idea. “I saw its ratings on TripAdvisor and that’s what attracted my attention. It was No 1 over there, so I was like oh, OK, that sounds interesting,” she says. After playing it with her family, she brought the concept over here, opening the branch in Dubai in Times Square in June 2014.

Who are HintHunt’s main customers?

According to Ms El Saheb, it is corporates because of its team- building qualities. “There is no choice but to work as a team in the room,” she explains, adding that companies often use the process to analyse who their leaders are, with some chief executives monitoring how their staff perform in the game – assessing who the natural leader is, the follower or the delegator.

Do concepts like this really have an effect?

“I think it’s fantastic,” says Tim Garrett, the founder of the Corporate Wellness Company, who commends the fact that the activity does not involve gaming or apps and gets people working together in a physical environment. However, he acknowledges that some staff members may not shine in that type of setting

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter