I was an active spectator of the London 2012 Olympics. I filled my DVR with events and competitions and watched nearly every evening of the games. Now, I feel a little lost. What do you mean there’s no competitive swimming or gymnastics on network TV? What am I supposed to do now!?

Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who was full of the Olympic spirit. We had 26 entries for the Baudville Games. Teams submitted creative and crazy pictures for each of our Office Olympic events: Rubber Band Archery, Binder Clip Diving, Mental Gymnastics, and Office Soccer. If the pictures are any indication, the teams had a lot of fun participating in the events!

As we close the Baudville Games, I want to congratulate the winners one more time and share their award-winning pictures. Each team earned $200 Baudville credit for the winning pictures!

Rubber Band Archery: Great River Health Systems


Binder Clip Diving: Great River Health Systems


Mental Gymnastics: Red Hat


Office Soccer: Red Hat

 
Did you enjoy participating in the Baudville Games and want another event? Tell us what your event ideas in the comments below!

If you missed the Baudville Games, don’t worry! You can still host your own Office Olympics. Get all the game rules in our Office Games eBook  and free downloads for the events  in our Recognition Resource Center.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Congratulations to Red Hat for their victory in Mental Gymnastics last week! Their spirited picture captured over 100 likes on Facebook ! Red Hat wins $200 credit to use towards awards, lapel pins, recognition tools, and gifts. Congrats!

This week we turn our attention from Gymnastics to the exciting world of soccer, or football as it’s known in the international community. Last week, the U.S. women’s soccer team won gold after an exciting and sometimes nail biting tournament. The team had the opportunity of a rematch against the Japanese team, their 2011 World Cup opponents. Congratulations to the U.S. team on their victory!

Will you be victorious this week? In our fourth and final week of the Baudville Games, teams will compete in Office Soccer. It’s easy to play!

How to Play Office Soccer:
1. Grab the nearest inter-department memo on office slacking –or grab our free download - and crumple it into ball.
2. Select your first two players and have them sit at opposite ends of a long table, about six feet apart.
3. Players will take turns shooting the ball at the opponent’s goal (created by touching thumbs together and pressing index fingers to the table to form a window).
4. The player with the most points after five rounds is the winner. 

We’re excited to see your team’s picture! Send it to us at contest@baudville.com. We’ll upload it to our Facebook page where you and all your teammates can “like” it. The picture to receive the most likes by Friday wins the $200 Baudville credit!

Good luck!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

The gymnastics events are one of the most popular competitions in the Olympics, and they’ve always been one of my favorite events. When I’m watching the Olympians compete, I find myself in awe of the grace, athleticism, and strength that they display in every movement.

And the events this year did not disappoint! It was amazing watching 16 year old Gabby Douglas fly through the air and the exceptional performance of the U.S. women’s team. They truly are a Fab Five!

When Baudville employees applied their skills to Mental Gymnastics in our Baudville Games competition, “graceful” wasn’t exactly the first word that came to mind. Ladies and gentlemen, the Baudville Terrific Three!

Will you put the Baudville team to shame? We’ll find out this week as teams compete in Mental Gymnastics!

How to Play Mental Gymnastics:
1. Download, print, and cut out our free charades cards.
2. Choose an actor and a mediator to present to your team.
3. The actor will perform the word on the card that the mediator shows him. The player who answers correctly first gets the point.
4. The player with the most points when the deck is done is the winner.

We’re excited to see your team’s pictures from Mental Gymnastics this week! After the event’s complete, submit your picture by emailing us at contest@baudville.com. We’ll upload it to our Facebook page where you and all your teammates can “like” it. The picture to receive the most likes by Monday wins the $200 Baudville credit!

The bar has certainly been raised for this week’s event. We had seven teams compete in Binder Clip Diving last week, and each team brought their A-Game. See all the competitors on Facebook. In the end, team Great River Health Systems was victorious for the second week in a row! They also took gold in Rubber Band Archery during the first week of competition. Congratulations Great River Health Systems!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

For the next three weeks, we’re encouraging companies and teams to participate in our Baudville Games competition. Not only do the participants have a chance to win $200 in Baudville product every week, but the Games provide an opportunity to improve employee engagement, team morale, and your office fun factor.

We’ve created four events for your team to complete: Rubber Band Archery, Binder Clip Diving, Mental Gymnastics, and Office Soccer. Each event is simple to host and requires only a few supplies you already have in your office, like rubber bands and binder clips. We’ve created a few extra tools to make your events go off without a hitch.

Baudville Games Posters – Generating anticipation is one of the most important elements of hosting a great event. Download and print these posters to get your entire team excited about the upcoming competitions!

Rubber Band Archery Target – Are you behind on your Baudville Games event? You can still challenge your team to an event of aim and skill by playing Rubber Band Archery. Download our target to create an official playing field.



Mental Gymnastics Cards – In mental gymnastics, participants have to act out the different Olympic events. We’ve put together a set of cards for you, so all you have to do it print, cut, and play!


Office Soccer – Having the best equipment is a big part of the Olympics, and we have the same priorities for the Baudville Games!  Download our Office Soccer page and crumple it to create your ball for the shoot out.



Office Games eBook – Does your team love the events in the Baudville Games? Keep the fun going this summer with even more events! We’ve compiled all our favorite office games events and put them into a free eBook for your reference. Download the eBook today and plan your next games soon!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Did you see the opening ceremonies on Friday night? Wow! What an amazing way to start the 2012 Summer Olympics! My favorite part was the lighting of the Olympic torch. It was so cool to see David Beckham flying down the Thames River with the torch at the bow! And how about those fireworks? London certainly provides a beautiful backdrop for the Olympic games.

Over the weekend, the first gold medal of the games was awarded to Yi Siling of China in the women's 10-meter air rifle, and that was only the beginning of the excitement. There were many memorable moments, such as Kim Rhode winning her fifth consecutive gold medal and Ryan Lochte's gold medal finish in the men's 400 IM event. What has been your favorite Olympic moment so far? Tell me in the comments!

We are excited to announce the first of the Baudville Games winners, too! Taking home the gold in Rubber Band Archery is Great River Health Systems!

Will Great River Health Systems' momentum from the big win propel them into week two or will an underdog upset them? There’s only one way to find out!

Continue the excitement from this weekend’s kick off with the second event in our Baudville Games.  This week, test your skills with Binder Clip Diving! Once again, you have all the supplies already in your office to compete in this event. 

How to Play Binder Clip Diving:

1. Collect two binder clips for each player and clip each pair together at the openings.
2. Fill a cup with water and set it on the floor under a table or ledge.
3. With two players squaring off, one at a time, players will push their divers from the edge of the table or ledge, aiming for the cup. Score one point for each dive that makes it in the water.
4. After each player takes a turn, move the cup further away from the edge to increase difficulty.
5. The player with the most points after three rounds is the winner.

 
Take a picture of your team in action and submit it for a chance to win $200 Baudville credit by emailing it to us at contest@baudville.com. Then visit our Facebook page, like your photo, and encourage your friends to like it, too! If your image has the most likes on Friday, you’ll take home the gold!

May the odds be ever in your favor.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.