Puzzle Rides celebrates 10 years of golf cart fun and games

Puzzle Rides is pleased to announce the celebration of its 10-year anniversary.

Puzzle Rides started in 2016 as Ride Prescott and Ride Scottsdale. The company provided a free golf cart shuttle service for Prescott residents in the Summer and Scottsdale residents in the Winter. However, in 2020 Puzzle Rides Owner Katie Dufort decided she wanted to make a change and rebrand the company into something more entertaining.

“I wanted this golf cart business to be more than just a taxi service,” Dufort said. “I wanted to start something more exciting and experimental.”

Today, the Scottsdale and Prescott experiential entertainment and team-building company provides both communities with escape-room-style scavenger hunts on golf carts. Puzzle Rides turns Old Town Scottsdale and historic downtown Prescott into a guided puzzle adventure by golf cart. Participants ride with a puzzle master, chasing clues as they explore historic landmarks and shops in two of Arizona’s quintessential towns.

Dufort came up with the idea for Puzzle Rides after doing an escape room with her family in January 2020.

“I had this shuttle service, but I wanted to do something more interactive, and I didn’t want to step on the toes of some of the amazing tour companies in Scottsdale,” Dufort said. “One day I went to an escape room with my daughter, and while working on a combination, I thought, ‘I could do this on a golf cart’.”

Puzzle Rides has grown significantly over the last decade, culminating in the grand opening of its puzzle store in Prescott in April of last year. The brick-and-mortar shop is the only dedicated puzzle store in Arizona.

The company plans to open a second puzzle store in Scottsdale at a later date.

In celebration of its ten-year anniversary, Puzzle Rides is announcing brand-new experiences for Individuals and corporate team building. The company is announcing its first new puzzle ride since 2022. “Time Warp Escape” is a new Scottsdale experience opening in October.

Puzzle Rides is also proud to announce Relay MAX, a corporate team-building experience for corporate groups of up to 300 people.

“This is a big corporate scavenger hunt on property at hotels. It’s a fun way to build teams and replicate corporate life,” Dufort said. We wanted to create a fun event that actually provided good ROI for companies.”

During the event, Puzzle Rides tracks performance and generates a team-dynamics report based on data collected during the puzzle relay.

“Before starting this company, I was in a corporate sales background, so this was an opportunity to use my professional background to grow our services while providing companies with data that can help them assess their strengths and weaknesses,” Dufort said.

Puzzle Rides is honored to celebrate its ten-year anniversary with the communities that built it up.

“We would not be where we are today without Old Town Scottsdale and Prescott lifting us up,” Dufort said. “Everyone from the small business owners who collaborate with us, the local chambers and governments that support us, and the customers who keep enjoying our experiences is the reason we are here ten years later.”