Studio 37: The Secret Transmission Brought Color, Excitement, and Collaboration to Google DeepMind's 2025 Holiday Party
Client
What the customers say:
"I was only going to stay for 20 minutes, but then I got sucked in by the puzzles!"
The Challenge
Building on the success of our last holiday party collaboration, Google DeepMind challenged us to design a new gamified puzzle experience for its 2025 holiday party. It needed to engage & captivate 2,000 attendees over the span of two days while seamlessly integrating into their 70's broadcast studio theme.
Handstand Magic
We designed an immersive, tactile, puzzle-driven journey called The Secret Transmission. It lived inside of Studio 37, a 70’s broadcast studio that was the central theme of the holiday party world.
The journey included 3 "hijacked" machines – the Broadcast Map, the Production Console, and the Channel Programmer. Attendees had to roam around the party and successfully reprogram the machines in order to save the broadcast!
Guests reported that the experience was the highlight of their party with many crediting the experience as the reason they explored more of the venue and spent far more time at the party than they expected!
Case Study Video
Primary Installations
The Broadcast Map
A giant backlit map recessed into a coffee table where guests follow logical rules and manipulate knobs to ensure the correct message is broadcasted.
-1771029065608.jpg?width=1920&height=1080)
The Production Console
A high-energy 3-player installation in which players respond to frantic studio commands to successfully produce on-air segments. It's like a more analog, more chaotic version of Spaceteam #iykyk
The Channel Programmer
A giant studio desk where guests decode the studio’s rules, deduce the correct show order, and help bring the broadcast back under control. Players insert real VHS tapes into the console to view videos on a real CRT TV.
Data Session Recording
Each puzzle success earned players a Quality Assurance stamp from our precision-aligned stamping mechanisms. Each stamp layer reveals part of a surprise image – the final stamp makes the entire image visible!
Finale Prizes
When players solved all three hijacked machines, they officially joined the Quality Assurance team and received their pin of honor.
Favorite Moments
“These puzzles are always my favorite part of these events!”
-1771028966959.jpg?width=1080&height=1603)
-1771028966579.jpg?width=1608&height=1080)
“It was the right balance of challenge and gratification!”
-1771028967806.jpg?width=1608&height=1080)
-1771028967997.jpg?width=1608&height=1080)
“This made us feel alive!”
Client
More Case Studies
Global Collaboration
Vimeo unified 1,200 employees around the world with a cross-collaborative competition.
Holiday Party: Hotel Leda
A holiday party reimagined as a living, narrative-driven world with puzzles and surprises.
Full Company Onsite
A hybrid escape room experience spanning puzzle boxes and epic in-office installations.
Weekly New-Hire Onboarding
A capstone event for Dropbox's new-hire onboarding increased engagement and reduced ramp time.
Week-Long, Global Company Kickoff
3,000 global employees competed in a week-long challenge.
New Office Launch
We helped Chime celebrate its new office opening with a week-long scavenger hunt.
In-Office, Month-Long Escape Room
This premium escape room brought an immersive mystery to the office for 2 months.
Campus-Wide Hunt Experience
A pirate-themed scavenger hunt blending Stripe lore, area history, and high-touch theatrical design.
Philanthropic Offsite Activity
Crisis Text Line's first ever offsite featured a puzzle competition with a philanthropic twist.
Onsite Team Building w/ Stop-Motion Videos
We brought energy, puzzles, and creativity to a company-wide onsite
Connecting Distributed Employees
An on-desk puzzle box that becomes a worldwide adventure.
Campus-Wide Kartwheel Race
LinkedIn’s campus turned into a living "Mario Kart" track for one memorable day.
Escape Room Inside The Office
A premium escape room brought an immersive mystery to Google's office for 2 months.
Students Explore Europe
A series of European city scavenger hunts educated students.
Rebrand for 160over90
Vegas became a playground as 800 folks discovered their agency's new brand.
Tej's Marriage Proposal
Handstand's lead Android developer proposed to his wife with The Hunt.
The Great Assistant Hunt
1,500 employees explored Google's campus with immersive actors.
Sierra Scales Culture
Scaling fast, Sierra needed an epic culture-building event to connect everyone.
Gamified Multi-Day Conference
A 4-day campus-wide scavenger hunt that connected thousands of colleagues from all over the world.
Summer Associate Programming
5 years of being THE program for Gunderson's SF summer associates.
Silicon Valley Leadership Summit
Duke Corporate Education hosted senior leaders from Prosus, who explored Silicon Valley's innovation history through a custom scavenger hunt.
Plan your own team adventure
We deliver world-class custom events to exceptional companies. Yours is next.
