PULTEVENT
Company summer party games: 8 ideas for a long afternoon and evening
Half past three on a Thursday in July, the courtyard of a logistics firm near Hamburg. A rented marquee, a grill the size of a small car, a hired inflatable that no adult will admit they want to try, and three hundred employees in lanyards they forgot to take off. The CEO's welcome speech was short, thank goodness. Now the canteen staff are carrying out bowls of potato salad, the sky looks undecided, and the HR manager has just asked me, quite calmly, what the plan is if it pours.
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The summer party is the one company event with no fixed shape. In Germany it is the Sommerfest, in the Netherlands the zomerfeest or zomerborrel, in the Nordics it often lands just before midsummer, in France and Italy it may be a dinner before the August closure. It usually involves food, drinks, families sometimes, a lot of standing around outdoors, and a weather forecast everyone refreshes all week.
PULTEVENT gives the organiser a programme that works under a marquee or indoors. A laptop in a browser runs the show, a big TV or LED screen shows the games, and staff join from their phones with a QR code. No app, no account. Phones need a connection, so outdoors that means mobile coverage or venue Wi-Fi that reaches the garden.
8 games for a company summer party
1 Welcome screen
The company logo, the date, a slideshow of the year's photos from the offices. Fireworks and confetti effects on top when the manager finishes their speech.
How to run it. Collect photos from every site, not just head office. People look for themselves first.
Arrivals have something to watch while they queue for the grill.
2 Summer quiz between courses
Ten questions on the company's year, the city, summer holidays and one or two about the canteen. Staff play on their phones in department teams.
How to run it. Keep it short. Outdoors people drift off after fifteen minutes.
It gives the afternoon its first shared moment.
3 Drift Arena tournament
Twelve cars at a time steered from phones. Heats by department, a final at dusk, the winner's name on the scoreboard.
How to run it. Put the screen in the shade and draw up the heats beforehand, so the queue moves fast.
It becomes the running thread of the afternoon. People keep asking when their heat is.
4 Horse Race for everyone
Every guest's horse on screen at once, galloped from their phone.
How to run it. Run it right after the quiz, when phones are already out.
Needs zero explanation, which suits a crowd with a glass in one hand.
5 Dance battle
Two departments, one song each. The crowd votes from phones and bars grow on the screen.
How to run it. Save it for after dark, when the DJ has warmed up the floor.
It gets the managers dancing, which the staff will talk about for months.
6 Guess the colleague's holiday photo
Colleagues send a holiday photo without themselves in it. The screen shows a mountain, a beach, a campervan; phones guess whose it is.
How to run it. Ask for photos two weeks before and keep the collection secret.
Colleagues discover who secretly goes camping every year.
7 Children's corner game
If families are invited, Aquarium or Fun Flight runs on a second TV where children can play on a parent's phone while the adults talk.
How to run it. Put it close to the drinks, so parents can supervise from comfort.
Parents stay longer when the children are happy.
8 Awards at sunset
The scoreboard closes the programme with awards: department winners, Drift Arena champion, best dancer, a special award for the canteen team.
How to run it. Get the CEO to present the canteen award. It will be the most applauded one.
It marks the end of the programme before the evening turns into music and conversation.
Works in the marquee and the canteen
The same programme runs outdoors on a bright screen or indoors if the weather turns.
Departments as teams
Scoreboard teams by department or floor, points across the whole afternoon.
Race games for crowds
Drift Arena and Horse Race put a dozen or the whole crowd on screen, steering from phones.
Multilingual staff included
Each phone's guest screen follows its own language. The host console runs in English.
Screens in daylight
The single most common mistake at summer parties is a projector in a marquee at four in the afternoon. You will see a pale grey square. Rent a large TV or an LED screen, or place the projector inside a building and keep the games there until dusk. Shade the screen from the sun and angle it away from the open side of the marquee.
The rain plan
Decide on day one where the games go if it rains. The canteen, a warehouse bay, the big meeting room. Nothing in the programme depends on being outside, so moving is a matter of carrying the laptop and switching screens. Tell staff on the break screen where to go.
"Is it on?"
"It's on. It's just in the canteen now."
Connectivity outdoors
Guest phones need internet. In a courtyard in the city, mobile data usually suffices. On a country estate or a farm venue, check the coverage in advance and ask whether the venue Wi-Fi reaches the garden. If not, a mobile router near the marquee helps. Be honest with the staff too: if the signal drops, the photo rounds carry on from the laptop and the answers can be shouted.
When staff speak many languages
In European companies the summer party is often the one event where the whole multilingual workforce is in one place. The guest screen on every phone follows the language that phone is set to, so warehouse staff, developers and the sales team all see the game interface in a language they are comfortable with. The questions you write stay as written, so keep them plain and short.
How long the programme should be
A summer party is mostly social. I usually plan three blocks of fifteen to twenty minutes: the quiz and Horse Race after food, the Drift Arena final and the holiday-photo round mid-afternoon, and the dance battle and awards at dusk. Between blocks, the screen shows a slideshow and a countdown to the next one.
Trying it first
Run the whole programme in the free 3-day demo, no card required, on the TV in your meeting room. If it works, the full version is a one-time licence and not a subscription; next year's party costs nothing extra. Pricing is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to plan games for a company summer party
- 1
Choose a bright TV or LED screen and a covered spot for it, and agree an indoor backup.
- 2
Check mobile coverage and venue Wi-Fi in the garden or courtyard.
- 3
Collect holiday photos and the year's pictures from every office.
- 4
Build the quiz, set up department teams and plan the Drift Arena heats.
- 5
On the day, put the QR code on the welcome screen and run three short game blocks.
- 6
Close with the awards at dusk and hand over to the music.
FAQ
Can we play outdoors in bright sun?
What if it rains?
Do staff need to install an app?
Our staff speak several languages. Is that a problem?
Can families and children join?
Is there a ready-made summer quiz?
What is the pricing model?
See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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