Driving Creativity and Team Building: The 2012 Semi-Annual Matter Fun Olympics

By Matter

Here at Matter we are always excited to carve out a little time for fun, so we are over-the-moon when we can combine some Matter Fun with creative team building as well. With an eye towards such high-brow professional development, this past week the Matter Providence office hosted is 2012 Semi-Annual Matter Fun Olympics. This year the Games (if you will) grew into a team sport, and saw Team Awesome battle Team Chicken+Beer in a series of arduous test of skill, creativity and endurance…okay there was no endurance events really, but their punctuality was in high demand!

The Games kicked off with a team photo scavenger hunt around Providence. Teams were awarded points for each picture off the list, and could then earn extra points for creativity and  landing multiple items in the same shot. Bonus points were also accrued for including multiple members of their team in the photo.

Team Chicken+Beer was aggressive and less-than-bashful as they posed with forcemeats (#16 on the list) and convinced a stranger to let them pump his gas (#42).

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Chrissy and Colleen gnaw on forcemeat (#30 on the photo scavenger hunt list)
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Chrissy pumping gas for a stranger (#42), who looks a little perplexed by the offer.
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Colleen gets herself caught on a security camera (#48)

Yet, Team Awesome managed to cram their entire team into numerous pictures while rallying to a first round lead with several rather creative, multi-item shots like the picture of the entire team with a tunnel (#30) and something evil (#10)…that’s a 15 point swing right there!

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Greg, Julie and Amanda cram themselves into a picture of a tunnel (#30) and something evil (#10)
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Another multiplier for Team Awesome as they combo a religious symbol (#6) and a house of worship (#46) with a weapon (#8) and ketchup on the plastic knife counts as a fruit (#33).
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Greg stretches into frame so Team Awesome can get a picture with some fake animals (#32).

After a round of beers, the teams met at the judges table where Cait and I tallied the scores. Team Awesome held a commanding 275 to 230 lead …but Chicken+Beer wasn’t giving up without a fight. As the stragglers at the turn, they chose the three head-to-head games for phase two…the video game challenge! (Thanks to our local Dave & Buster’s, and its accommodating staff!) With each match up worth another 30 points to their team, the head games were palpable.

In the first game, Chrissy of Chicken+Beer dominated Julie in a game of hoops, leaving Team Awesome with only a 15 point lead! When Andy commanded Amanda on the air hockey table, he propelled Chicken+Beer, into the lead, but only by 15 points.

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Hoop dreams deflating
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Andy puts Amanda on ice

For Team Awesome it all came down to Greg, who needed a victory over Chicken+Beer’s Colleen in the dreaded NASCAR 2000. They took their seats and the race for the final 30 points was on! There was more crashing than racing, but when the smoke cleared, Colleen had taken the checkered flag and put Chicken+Beer over the top!

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Colleen racing to victory

After a couple days for tempers to subside, the teams met again, this time for the awards ceremony where Chicken+Beer gracefully accepted their awards package…which was purchased entirely with tickets we won at D&B! For their hair-raising victory in the 2012 Semi-Annual Matter Fun Olympics, Team Chicken+Beer shared the D&B Whoopee Cushion and…the gem of all awards…the Wade Boggs plaque, which we hung from the gold chain that Cait secured with The Claw.

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2012 Semi-Annual Matter Fun Olympics Champions, Team Chicken+Beer
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Behold, the coveted Wade Boggs chain!

Congratulations to Team Chicken+ Beer, your 2012 Semi-Annual Matter Fun Olympics Champions!