Team Outing Madison
Skip the breakout room, walk the isthmus. Circle the white-granite Capitol dome, walk State Street to Memorial Union Terrace, plant the team on the sunburst chairs over Lake Mendota and finish with a cheese-curd toast. A Madison offsite that uses two lakes, one capital and a Badger or two as the backdrop for the team photo.
Stops on this hunt
The geo-tagged checkpoints that anchor this route. You can rearrange, replace or remove any stop after using the template.
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1
Boardroom: Wisconsin State Capitol
Today's boardroom is outdoors. Navigate to the Wisconsin State Capitol on Capitol Square and check in at one of the four entrance staircases.
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Offsite: State Street
Walk southwest down State Street, the pedestrian-only artery that links the Capitol to the university. Check in around the 400 block, halfway down.
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3
Offsite: Memorial Union Terrace
Walk to the end of State Street and into the Memorial Union. Check in on the lakeside Terrace.
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4
Offsite: Monona Terrace
Walk back across the isthmus to Monona Terrace on Lake Monona, the convention centre designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Check in at the rooftop garden.
Challenges (20)
Madison team kick-off
The team outing begins! Find a classic Madison backdrop (the Capitol dome, the white "W" of the Badgers, a State Street busker) and take a squad photo with everyone jumping in the air at the same time.
Boardroom: Wisconsin State Capitol
Today's boardroom is outdoors. Navigate to the Wisconsin State Capitol on Capitol Square and check in at one of the four entrance staircases.
Capitol dome squad pose
The Wisconsin State Capitol's white-granite dome is one of the tallest state capitol domes in the country. Step back into Capitol Square and take a squad photo with the full dome behind everyone.
Trivia: Madison founded
Madison was founded as the territorial capital of Wisconsin in what year?
Answer: 1836
Trivia: Capitol completion
The current Wisconsin State Capitol was built between 1906 and what year (the year construction was completed)?
Answer: 1917
Offsite: State Street
Walk southwest down State Street, the pedestrian-only artery that links the Capitol to the university. Check in around the 400 block, halfway down.
State Street busker shot
State Street is full of buskers, public art, indie shops and food carts. Find a busker mid-performance (or an unusual food cart) and take a squad photo with the team in the scene. Drop a tip if a song is playing.
Offsite: Memorial Union Terrace
Walk to the end of State Street and into the Memorial Union. Check in on the lakeside Terrace.
Sunburst chair squad shot
The Memorial Union Terrace is famous for its painted metal sunburst chairs in green, yellow and orange. Find a cluster of the chairs and take a squad photo with everyone sitting arranged so the sunburst design fans out in the foreground.
Trivia: University of Wisconsin founded
The University of Wisconsin was created by an act of Governor Nelson Dewey on July 26 of what year (the same year Wisconsin became a state)?
Answer: 1848
Lake Mendota team backdrop
From the Terrace, Lake Mendota stretches out as Madison's largest lake. Walk to the water's edge and take a squad photo with the lake filling the background (sailboats on the water are a bonus).
Bascom Hill Lincoln
At the top of Bascom Hill on the UW campus sits a bronze Abraham Lincoln statue, a tradition for every Wisconsin grad. Climb the hill, find the statue and take a squad photo with Lincoln overlooking the team.
Trivia: Madison isthmus
Downtown Madison sits on an isthmus between two lakes. Name them (both names required, separated by a comma or "and").
Answers: Mendota and Monona / Monona and Mendota / Mendota, Monona / Monona, Mendota / Lake Mendota and Lake Monona / Lake Monona and Lake Mendota
Offsite: Monona Terrace
Walk back across the isthmus to Monona Terrace on Lake Monona, the convention centre designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Check in at the rooftop garden.
Monona rooftop team view
The rooftop garden of Monona Terrace gives you a panoramic view of Lake Monona and the Capitol dome behind you. Take a squad photo with one (or both) views in the background.
Working lunch: cheese curds
Wisconsin invented the squeaky cheese curd. Order a basket of fresh curds (Old Fashioned, Graze, the State Street Brats stand all serve them) and take a squad photo with everyone catching the squeak on the first bite.
Bucky Badger spot
Bucky Badger statues and murals are scattered across Madison. Find a Bucky (on Library Mall, on Camp Randall walls, on a State Street store window) and take a squad photo where the team mirrors his pose.
[Customize!] Team values check-in
Each squad picks one value or commitment they want the team to take away from this outing, writes it on a napkin or notecard, and the squad lead reads it aloud. Take a photo with all the napkins held up in the centre. (Organisers: replace this with a specific team-values prompt if you have one.)
Local Madisonian tip
Convince a local Madison resident to share a tip about the city. Take a photo with your impromptu guide and remember the tip.
Madison team finale
Final challenge. Find a beautiful Madison spot (the Terrace at golden hour, the Capitol dome lit up, a State Street alley) and take an amazing closing squad photo. Cheers from the isthmus, well done team!
Frequently asked questions
Half a working day. Three to four hours covers the State Capitol, State Street, Memorial Union Terrace and the lakeshore at a relaxed pace. State Street runs half a mile end to end, so most squads walk the whole route with stops for cheese curds, beer at the Terrace and a Bucky photo.
Best for teams of 8 to 50, split into squads of 4 to 8 that race each other through the same route. Larger groups can run two waves an hour apart so Memorial Union Terrace and the cheese curd lines do not become bottlenecks. The Capitol Square Farmers' Market in season is a great closing meeting point.
The outdoor Terrace is open mid-April through October, weather permitting. In the cold months, the Rathskeller bar inside the Union is the warm-weather replacement. The hunt route works either way, but the sunburst-chair photo is at its peak in May to September.
Capitol Square is the natural starting point: parking garages are a block away, the white dome anchors the team photo and you walk southwest down State Street to the Union and Lake Mendota, then loop back east to Lake Monona via Monona Terrace.
Yes. Capitol Square, State Street and Monona Terrace are flat and accessible. The Memorial Union Terrace has accessible paths from the building to the lakeshore. Bascom Hill is a short steep climb so substitute a lower campus photo for any teammate with mobility concerns.