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Serendipitous Interaction at work

What if I told you that playing games while at work would increase your revenue? Would you buy some games for your office today? What if I told you that playing games at work reduces the stress of your employees or increase productivity?

If you Google "Serendipitous Interaction" you will see a lot of interesting articles on the subject and a lot of scientific data to support the theory. Serendipitous Interaction is a fancy way or saying "fortunate accidental discovery" or my favorite "spontaneously bumping into each other".  

One of our focuses at Zappos.com is increasing the amount of collisions that our employees have with each other, because we believe that lots of great connections happen during those serendipitous interactions. This kind of open play allows for the employees to break down whatever silos that inherently occur when you have a company as rapidly growing as ours is. In addition to that, it’s lots of fun and an opportunity to relieve stress through play.

We sell games to tech companies like Lyft, Zappos, Salesforce, Intel, Intuit, Uber, Facebook, Twitter and many more companies like this every day. These games are specifically used by the employees, not the customers. Our games are purchased for the sole purpose of building in serendipitous interaction into the workplace. These companies want people to socialize and get to know each other on a personal level because it is good for business. Over the years I have reached out to a couple of these large fast growing companies and discussed how and why they play games at work.

I want to share a quote from an article I wrote on Medium in 2014 from Kathleen Joseph who at the time was the“Engagement Cultivator”at Zappos.

At Zappos we hold what we lovingly call “Giant Game Day” (I know, novel concept, right?) On Giant Game Day we set up all of the games in a large circular courtyard on our campus. Our team members are free to play for however long they would like. The games stay outside all day as well as overnight so that our graveyard shift can play with them as well.

I asked Kathleen what benefit they have seen from having employees play games together in or around the office?

One of our focuses at Zappos.com is increasing the amount of collisions that our employees have with each other, because we believe that lots of great connections happen during those serendipitous interactions. This kind of open play allows for the employees to break down whatever silos that inherently occur when you have a company as rapidly growing as ours is. In addition to that, it’s lots of fun and an opportunity to relieve stress through play.

It's all about breaking down silos at work one game at a time. I wonder what technological advances came out of playing a heated game of Cornhole at work.

At Tosso.com we can provide your company all sorts of games that will allow you to build in  serendipitous interaction into your workplace. It doesn't matter if you are the newest startup on the block or if you are as large as Facebook or Amazon. You have to start by allowing this type of interaction to happen at work.

We can also laser engrave your logos directly onto the games as you will see in the photos listed below. Our quality games with your logo on them equals amazing fun.

Here are our favorite games to play at work:

Giant Tumble Tower:

Everyone knows how to play this classic stacking game, but when you place it in an office environment in a large scale it gets really fun! Just set it up in the office and watch people interact with it and with the other people in the office. It most likely will not be full games being played, but rather a a few pieces at a time. It's a great way for your employees to relax and get to know each other. As you can see by the photo below we can laser engrave your logo directly into the wood. Great for branding and it looks like it belongs in your office. Buy a Custom Giant Tumble Tower today.

Giant Tumble Tower

Giant Connect 4

Another classic in giant size that everyone knows how to play. It only take 5 minutes to play a quick game of connect 4, so it is informal, fun and a great way for your employees to get a quick game in between meetings. Setup an office tournament or just play a few games when you get a chance. It's up to you, but this game will be a big hit in any office setting. We can laser engrave your logo directly into the wooden coins. Purchase a Custom Giant Connect 4.

Giant Connect 4 in a row wooden game

Cornhole

This classic bag tossing game has been a favorite for years. You can search Twitter and Intagram and see people at all the big tech companies playing Cornhole on the roof decks, or in the open spaces around the campus. It's a great game for companies with outdoor patios or even high ceiling office space. Plus as you can see from the photo below we can print anything you want onto the surface of the boards. Of course your company logo will look amazing on a set of quality Cornhole boards. Purchase a set of Custom Cornhole Boards today.

Custom Cornhole

Giant Chess and Giant Checkers

If you have the space, a giant chess or giant checkers set will transform the area into a fun zone. People will stop and watch a chess match as they walk. Super fun for everyone. Take a look at our Giant Chess and Giant Checkers sets.

Giant Chess

Hook and Ring

If you have small office space, this is a perfect game to setup for your employees to play. It doesn't take up much room yet it is super fun. Everyone will want a turn and some people might even stay after work to master this game. It even works great in offices with dropped ceilings too. As you can see we can laser engrave your logos directly into the wood. Also it has a bottle opener on it just in case you need it. 

Hook and Ring Game