Team building and office engagement in Bengaluru

One host costs more than the card. Add a hired mic and speaker, about ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 for the day, prizes at ₹2,000 to ₹5,000, snacks, and her travel. By our estimate from her card, for 70 people that comes to about ₹32,000 to ₹55,000, or ₹450 to ₹790 a head. For 80 it's about ₹410 to ₹710 a head. Both are before travel.

On ₹300 a head, run it yourselves. Say the number first, and nobody will mind. Spend it on prizes and snacks, and let a colleague who enjoys it run the quiz or call the housie.

A small team pays more a head at a company. A fixed fee is spread over fewer people: at Teamification, 26 people works out to about ₹2,350 to ₹2,600 a head before GST.

Black Pepper Events is a different thing. Its ₹1,200 to ₹2,500 a head is for an indoor outing with venue hire and food included, so it doesn't line up with a session in your own office.

Past about 100 people, one host isn't enough. A company sends a crew. If you book a host, ask whether they bring helpers.

Hosts on mytribe who run team games, in their own photos and videos: Uday Kanathur, Jyoti Kochatta, Raina Dsouza, Priyanka Roy and Sridhar Srivin. Ask each for the price. Their cards below say which languages they host in.

Trebound: a crew runs the games

₹20,000 to ₹60,000 for 50, our sum; ask about GST

Teamification: designed, with a debrief

₹85,000 to ₹97,500 for 50, our sum, plus 18% GST

₹400 to ₹1,200 a head for its indoor games at your office

₹1,000 to ₹1,250 a head plus a ₹35,000 fee

The crew brings the sound, props and kits

A 20-minute call first, to design the session

Teaser posters before the day

A facilitator and the materials

The crew sets up and packs up after

A debrief after the games

A costed proposal within 24 hours

A check before, a report after, and an impact report 30 days later

Where they differ. Trebound's range covers all its indoor games and it doesn't price each one, so a game that needs more kit sits higher in the range. Ask Teamification whether the sound comes with it.

When the extra is worth it. When the team has a real problem to work on, like two teams that won't work together, or leaders who don't trust each other. The debrief is where people talk about it.

Of the hosts on mytribe, Ruby Gracia's card works the first way: one price for the hours, at ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 for 2 to 3 hours. Ask the others how they price.

For leaders. A session for 15 senior people can run in your boardroom. It needs a facilitator who talks to you first and runs a debrief, the second kind in question 3. Teamification's booking form starts at ₹50,000 for 12 to 30 people, before GST. Before the day, ask whether the facilitator writes a report and who reads it, so people know what they say stays in the room.

For shift workers. Run a 30-minute version once per shift, in the canteen at the shift change, so nobody stays back. Pick a host who speaks your team's language. Each host's card below says which languages they host in.

For a quiz with a mixed team, mix general, picture and music rounds. A Bollywood-only quiz leaves out people who don't follow Hindi films.

Ask the team what they'd like. Ask on Slack or email which of three games they'd like and which slot suits them, because people come to what they picked.

Leave out games where people carry each other, hold hands or touch. Some people won't be comfortable, and they shouldn't have to say so. Tell the host this when you book, so the host sets the rule. If someone is pregnant, has a bad back or is older, pick seated games, so nobody sits on the side.

Mix the languages. Ask the host to explain each game in English and the language most of the team speaks.

If there's a bar, keep it after the games. Tell the host and one senior person they're in charge if anyone goes too far, before the evening starts.

A video tells you most. Watch whether people are laughing and moving, and whether the host is talking to the room or at it. Ask for one plain clip with sound. On a showreel cut to music, you can't hear the host.

Ask who will run your day. At a company, the person in the brochure may not be the one who comes. Ask for their name and a clip of them.

Ask what they do when people won't play. A good answer is specific: jobs for the quiet ones, a game that starts seated, a short first round anyone can win.

Ask for one HR reference. One call to someone who booked them for an office tells you more than reviews.

Check your company lets an outside link in. Some company laptops block an outside Zoom or Meet link. Ask IT before the day, or have the host join your Teams call.

Kits need addresses and time. Collect addresses early, and allow for people in other cities.

For a half-remote team, don't point a camera at the room. The people in the office play in their own teams, the remote people play together online, and the scores go on one board.

What one company found. A company in HSR Layout planning a carnival for about 80 budgeted ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 each for a tattoo artist, pottery, a caricature artist and a 360 photo booth, and ₹20,000 for a DJ with karaoke. When we checked, pottery and caricature fitted those budgets. A tattoo artist, a DJ with karaoke and a 360 photo booth cost more.

An act walking round. Rajan does close-up magic with cards and coins among the team for about 3 hours for ₹15,000. Pradeep Tyson charges ₹15,000 an hour for magic walking round. He has told us both a three-hour minimum and one or two hours, so ask him the minimum. Ask either whether GST is in.

A planner who does the lot brings decor, game stalls with staff, a stage, a DJ and food stalls, but none we found publishes a price, so get two quotes with each part on its own line.

Ask your facility team first whether you can use the atrium or cafeteria, and what passes the stall people need. A stall serving food at an event still has to be registered or licensed with FSSAI, even though it's temporary, so ask for the number.

1. January

   A Republic Day quiz, run by a colleague. Only the snacks to pay for.

2. March

   The first paid session of the year: a host or a company for an afternoon of games.

3. Months without a paid session

   An in-house hour: housie, table games or a quiz. About ₹10,000 to ₹20,000 for 50 with snacks, our estimate.

4. June and September

   The next two paid sessions. Book three weeks ahead from June to September.

5. October or November

   Diwali week: theme days run by HR, and the last paid session or a small carnival.

6. Year end

   A two-question poll on what people liked, for next year's budget.

A good way to begin is an in-house hour each month and one paid session a quarter, as above. Four paid sessions at ₹20,000 to ₹60,000 come to ₹80,000 to ₹2.4 lakh before any GST, plus the in-house months. Teamification lists a year-round subscription from ₹95,000 a month on its homepage, which is ₹11.4 lakh a year. Ask how many sessions that buys.

Theme days cost almost nothing. Give a week's notice, and pick themes people can do from their own cupboard, like a colour day, so nobody has to buy an outfit. In festival weeks, add one theme that isn't about the festival, so everyone has a way in.

Can your company claim the GST back? Ask your accounts team. The GST law blocks claiming it on food and drink for staff and on gifts, so the snacks and prizes on the same bill usually can't be claimed. We found no ruling on a games session itself.

A host with no GST number charges you no GST, so there's nothing to claim, but your vendor forms may still ask for a PAN and bank details. Send them the forms the day you book.

Ask how they count heads. A per-head company may bill the number you confirm even if fewer come. Ruby Gracia's price doesn't change with the headcount.