A dinner and dance (D&D) is the annual company dinner many Singapore firms hold, often at year end and usually in a hotel ballroom: a sit-down dinner, speeches, a lucky draw, games, and a dance floor once the room is warm. For 100 pax or more, the games that work are the ones every table plays at once from where it sits. Short ones fit between courses, and the longest can run right through the meal.
Six that hold up in a big room are below, compared first and then one at a time. We run two of them, the escape game across the ballroom and the afternoon game before dinner, so read those two with that in mind. How we run ours is on the D&D occasion page.
Six D&D games at a glance
| Game | Pax | Minutes | Cost band | Seated? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Escape game across the ballroom | Up to 1,000 | 90 to 120, plus briefing and scores | SGD 3,100 at 100 pax, SGD 5,100 at 200 (our price) | Mostly: teams play from their tables, clues sit around the room |
| 2. Table quiz with a company round | Any size | 20 to 30, in short rounds | SGD 0 to 10 a head (indicative) | Yes |
| 3. Stage games with table representatives | Any size | 15 to 20 a block | SGD 0 to 5 a head (indicative) | Yes, apart from one volunteer per table |
| 4. Lip-sync or performance battle | 10 to 20 tables | 30 to 45 | SGD 0 to 5 a head (indicative) | Performers stand, the room stays seated |
| 5. Cocktail-hour giant games | Any size, in turns | 30 to 60, before dinner | SGD 2 to 5 a head (indicative) | No, standing |
| 6. Afternoon game before the dinner | Up to 1,000 | 120 to 150 | From SGD 2,300 at 100 pax (our price) | No, on foot and mostly outdoors |
Our prices are the game fee from the formula we publish: a fixed fee plus SGD 20 per person, with SGD 300 fixed on Standard and SGD 1,100 on Immersive. We are not GST registered, so the price quoted is the price paid. The bands for the other four are our rough indication for a room of 100 to 300, not a quote from any company, and your emcee’s fee and prize budget move them more than anything else.
Two rules that decide whether a D&D game works
Every table plays at once, from where it sits. Moving 100-plus people out of their seats and back again eats time and energy you won’t get back. Games that the whole table plays together, or that send one volunteer per table up front, keep everybody in it.
Short games go between courses. A long game runs through the whole dinner. A quiz round slots in while plates are cleared. A game that runs over an hour plays across the meal instead: tables solve between courses, and the scores come once the last plates are cleared. What fails is a game that holds up the kitchen, so the game fits around the service, never the other way round.
The games, one at a time
1. An escape game across the ballroom
An offsite escape game at a D&D turns every table into a team, table versus table, all racing the same clock on the same case. Ours for a ballroom is Journey into the Unknown, a space survival story: the ship is damaged on approach to a new planet, and teams have 90 minutes to repair the escape pods before life support fails. Teams work from their own tables, with clues posted around the room, so people get up to look and sit back down to solve. For a bigger room, Tea Party with the Mad Hatter is our dining escape game for 100 to 1,000 pax, where each riddle a table solves unlocks the next course.
It’s the only item on this list where the whole company plays one game for an hour and a half or more. That makes it a strong centrepiece, and most of the time it runs right through dinner, the way Tea Party with the Mad Hatter is built to. Journey into the Unknown can go in front of dinner instead if your programme needs the meal for speeches.
- Suits: up to 300 pax with Journey into the Unknown, playing from their tables in a ballroom, a function hall or your office, or 100 to 1,000 with Tea Party with the Mad Hatter.
- Time: 90 minutes of play for Journey into the Unknown and about 120 for Tea Party with the Mad Hatter, plus about half an hour before for the briefing and half an hour after for the scores.
- Roughly: SGD 3,100 for 100 pax (SGD 31 a head) or SGD 5,100 for 200 pax (SGD 25.50 a head). Both games run on our Immersive tier, so costumed facilitators work the room alongside the host.
- The catch: it takes over the dinner. For 90 minutes or more the tables are solving rather than watching the stage, so speeches, the lucky draw and stage games move to after the final scores. Brief your emcee and the banquet captain, so neither cuts across the game.
2. A table quiz with a company round
A table quiz at a D&D is a handful of short rounds run by the emcee between courses, mostly general knowledge, with one round about the company itself. The company round is the one people talk about afterwards, especially once the CEO’s old staff photo goes up on the screen.
- Suits: any size. Each table is a team and answers on one sheet or one phone.
- Time: 20 to 30 minutes in total, split into rounds of about five minutes.
- Roughly: SGD 0 to 10 a head (indicative). Close to nothing if your emcee runs it and the prizes are modest; the top of the band is a hired quizmaster with proper prizes.
- The catch: an hour-long quiz flattens a room. Keep the rounds short and the scoring quick.
3. Stage games with table representatives
Stage games at a D&D have each table send one person up to compete while the emcee runs it and the room cheers for its own. Big laughs, very little effort for the crowd.
- Suits: any size, since only one person per table is on stage at a time.
- Time: 15 to 20 minutes a block.
- Roughly: SGD 0 to 5 a head (indicative). Usually part of the emcee’s fee, plus prizes.
- The catch: long rules lose the room before the game starts. If the emcee needs more than a minute to explain it, pick another game.
4. Lip-sync or performance battles
A performance battle has each table prepare a short act, two or three minutes long, and the room votes for a winner. Hugely popular when the tables have had time to plan.
- Suits: 10 to 20 tables. Past that, the running time gets long.
- Time: about three minutes an act, so 30 to 45 minutes for 10 to 15 tables.
- Roughly: SGD 0 to 5 a head (indicative), for props and prizes.
- The catch: it needs buy-in weeks ahead. Tell tables when the invitation goes out, or a cold room won’t perform.
5. Cocktail-hour giant games
Giant games are oversized Jenga, Connect Four and the like, set out during the pre-dinner mingle for people to drift between.
- Suits: any size, since people come and go.
- Time: the length of the cocktail hour, usually 30 to 60 minutes.
- Roughly: SGD 2 to 5 a head (indicative), to rent.
- The catch: treat it as the warm-up. It gets people talking, but nobody plays together long enough to get to know anyone.
6. An afternoon game before the dinner
The other way to fit a long game into a D&D is to run it in the afternoon, near the dinner venue, and walk into the ballroom with the scores already settled. If your D&D is on Sentosa, Lost Treasure of Sarang Rimau is an offsite escape game across the ramparts and tunnels of Fort Siloso, which is free to enter. Anywhere else, Race to Infinity is a race for up to 500 that flexes to your location.
- Suits: up to 1,000 pax at Fort Siloso, or up to 500 for Race to Infinity.
- Time: 120 minutes for Lost Treasure of Sarang Rimau and 150 for Race to Infinity, plus the briefing and scores.
- Roughly: SGD 2,300 for 100 pax on Standard for Lost Treasure of Sarang Rimau (SGD 23 a head). Race to Infinity runs on Immersive only: SGD 3,100 for 100 pax.
- The catch: both are on foot and mostly outdoors, so guests need time to freshen up before dinner. Rain pauses the clock rather than ending the game.
A run sheet that keeps the night moving
With the escape game running through a 7.30pm dinner:
- 7.00pm: guests seated by table, then the briefing.
- 7.30pm: the first course goes out and the game starts, with 90 minutes on the clock. Tables solve between courses.
- 9.00pm: final scores, the winning table named, photos.
- 9.15pm: speeches and the lucky draw, then stage games or the performance battle.
- Then: the dance floor, once the room is warm.
Without the escape game, open with giant games during the cocktail hour, run quiz rounds between the courses, and keep the rest. Either way, swap between active and passive. Never put two speeches back to back, and never let a stretch of the night go flat for more than twenty minutes.
If you’re planning a daytime event for the same crowd as well, our list of 30 team bonding activities in Singapore, with prices and group sizes covers what holds up at 100 pax and above.
Themes a game can carry
Picking the theme, the décor and the dress code is the D&D organiser’s work, and we leave it to them. What a game can do is carry a theme the room already has, when the story lines up:
- Space, sci-fi or futuristic: Journey into the Unknown is a space survival story, played in the ballroom itself.
- Pirates or buried treasure: Lost Treasure of Sarang Rimau at Fort Siloso, in the afternoon before a dinner on Sentosa.
- Superheroes: Race to Infinity, a hero story about retrieving five jewels before time runs out.
- Alice in Wonderland: Tea Party with the Mad Hatter, a dining game played at your dinner and dance, where each puzzle solved brings out the next course. It takes 100 to 1,000 pax, so the whole company plays.
If your theme matches none of these, a custom escape game can be written around it. A bespoke game typically takes a few weeks from brief to game day, so raise it early.
What it costs, and what to send us
For a 200-pax D&D, the ballroom escape game is SGD 5,100 on Immersive, about SGD 25.50 a head, and a quiz or stage games run by your emcee add little beyond prizes. Some of our venues charge admission or a venue fee on top; a game in your own ballroom doesn’t add one.
Get an instant estimate for your headcount, or send us your date and numbers and we’ll plan the game around your run sheet.
Questions people ask
What is a dinner and dance (D&D) in Singapore?
A dinner and dance, or D&D, is the annual company dinner many Singapore firms hold, often at year end and usually in a hotel ballroom. It follows a set programme: a sit-down dinner, speeches, a lucky draw, games between courses, and a dance floor to finish. In a Singapore office, D&D means this event, not the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons.
What games work for a D&D of 100 people or more?
The games that work are ones every table plays at once without leaving their seats for long. A table quiz with a company round and stage games with one volunteer per table both work at any size. A performance battle works if tables are warned weeks ahead. For a bigger centrepiece, a facilitated escape game can run across the ballroom right through dinner, table versus table, for up to 1,000 pax.
How long should D&D games run?
Keep quiz rounds and stage games to 15 to 20 minutes a block, so no stretch of the night goes flat. An escape game is a different shape: our shortest, Journey into the Unknown, runs 90 minutes, with about half an hour before for the briefing and half an hour after for the scores. It usually runs through dinner, with tables solving between courses, and the stage programme follows the final scores.
How much does a D&D game cost in Singapore?
A quiz or stage games run by your emcee cost little beyond prizes. A facilitated escape game across the ballroom is SGD 1,100 fixed plus SGD 20 per person on our Immersive tier, so 100 pax is SGD 3,100 and 200 pax is SGD 5,100, about SGD 25.50 a head. We are not GST registered, so the price quoted is the price paid.
How far ahead should we plan D&D games?
Settle the games as soon as the date and ballroom are fixed. November and December are D&D season in Singapore, when hotels, emcees and game crews are busiest, so a year-end dinner wants its entertainment confirmed early. Send us your date and a headcount range, and we can tell you which of our games we can run that night.
