Looking for a fun way to engage your team, encourage socialization, and have a little bit of friendly competition? Learn how to host a Go Kart Social for your team with the Gather Grand Prix! 

Up to 8 people can race around the track to see who's the fastest in the office. Have a large team? Everyone else can cheer from the grandstand and easily take turns. 

This social experience and tutorial are specifically designed for Remote Office Spaces. If you have a Conference Space, we recommend creating a new space to host your Go Kart Social. 

Overview

1. Select the Gather Grand Prix from a Rec Room object. Click here to learn about the different ways to access this. 
2. Walk into the Rec Room and change your track if needed. See the options here. 
3. Have everyone get into position: Racers on a go kart, spectators in the stand, and your host on the Spotlight Tile. Jump to this section. 
4. Ready, Set, Go! Drive your kart around the track, avoid obstacles, and try to hit the speed boosts. Jump to this section. 
5. When the race is complete, the Leaderboard will update with everyone's time so you can keep track of who's the fastest in the office. 

Access the Grand Prix from the Rec Room

Depending on what type of space you're in and which template you're using, there are a couple ways you can access a Rec Room.

If you're in a Remote Office Space: Look for a Lounge room at the top of your map. Walk into this room, and the Rec Room will be right in the middle. 

If you're in a custom template or can't find the Rec Room, you can add one. 

1. Open the Mapmaker.
2. Open the Object Picker and search for Rec Room. 
3. Place the Rec Room object into your space. Click Save when done. 

Select a Track

When you enter the Gather Grand Prix, you’ll see our first default race template. If you want to change the track, walk up to the yellow sign that says Track and you’ll see three options: 

1. Rose Raceway, the default, is your classic race track. 
2. Dark Castle Dragway features lava and spooky music. 
3. Seaside Speedway is a delightful beach. 

In all three track options, the starting line is off to the right and there’s space for spectators to sit if you walk straight ahead. 

Get Into Position

Make sure you don’t press “Ready” until everyone is in their spot!

• Racers should walk up to a kart and press "x" to hop on! Up to 8 people can race at a time. 
• Spectators can sit on the side. 
• Pick a person to be the announcer. They can walk up to the stage, step onto the Spotlight Tile, announce the race and provide commentary throughout. 

To zoom out in order to see the whole race, open User Settings (Ctrl/⌘+P). In Appearance, turn off Smart Zoom and set the Manual Canvas Zoom to 50% or lower. 

How to Race

• Press "x" to get on or off a go kart.
• To drive your Go Kart, you can use the arrow keys or WASD – the same controls you use for moving your avatar in Gather. 
• Try to avoid the cones (they'll completely block you!) 
• Try to aim for the speed boost arrows (the secret to winning!) 

Once all racers have crossed the finish line for the last time, everyone will see a message that says “Go to Podium.” This brings everyone to the podium in the middle of the template where the winners will be transported to their respective places: First, Second, or Third place. 

This brings everyone together so it’s easy to cheer, take screenshots, and continue conversations now that the race is done. It creates that “crowd atmosphere” that’s really hard to achieve for remote teams. 

Bonus Tips

A few fun ideas we've tested ourselves and collected from Gather users: 

• Have a hype person who’s available to promote the social before, during, and after the event. This is a great way to increase team engagement and get people excited about the race you’re planning.‍
• Give people time to practice. We recommend planning this social a week in advance, mostly to give your team time to get on the track and practice driving. This can help make people feel more comfortable engaging in the social and increase the competition, too. ‍
• Have a host during the race. This person can add commentary throughout the race, engage the crowd, and act as your emcee for the event. 
• ‍If you have a lot of people on your team who want to race, run it tournament style. Split everyone in groups of 8, and then let the winners of each group progress to the next round. We like to do this until there’s a final victory race between the top two contenders!‍
• Set the mood by sharing your favorite race track music. We recommend the Speed Racer theme song and/or episodes, Nascar/F1 highlights, or the Mario Kart soundtrack. See options for streaming music here.
• Encourage spectators to run around the track! It’s a great way to increase the difficulty and/or silliness of this social. Avatars act as obstacles that will block Go Karts, which makes it more difficult and ridiculous to navigate the track. ‍
• Document the fun in real-time. Take photos and share updates about the race in your other internal company channels, to let people know the event is happening and it’s still okay to join. For example, you might post real-time updates about who’s winning each round in Slack or share a photo of the winners. (This is a great job for your hype person!) ‍
• Get leadership involved. Whether they’re racing around the track or promoting the event ahead of time, having leaders from your team present and excited about a social event can really boost engagement from the rest of the team. It creates a chance to strengthen those cross-team connections, as well.