How do I create a challenge?

Updated May 12, 2026 Admin

Creating a challenge takes 5-10 minutes from the Admin Dashboard. You'll choose a format, set dates, add tasks with targets, configure teams (optional), set a target audience, and publish.

Step 1: Choose a Format

Go to Create Challenge in the sidebar. Choose your format:

Format Best For Complexity
Custom Challenge Multi-week programs with varied tasks Most flexible — weekly themes, multiple task types
Race Challenge Simple step competitions Simplest — one task, pure leaderboard
Journey Challenge Visual milestone-based challenges Engaging — employees progress through a map
Streak Challenge Building daily habits Simple — hit a daily target, maintain streak
E-Marathon Virtual marathon events Steps converted to distance on leaderboard

Tip: Not sure? Start with a Race Challenge for your first time — it's the simplest to set up. Use Custom Challenge when you want weekly themes and multiple task types.

You can also start from a pre-built template — go to the template library for ready-made configurations.

Challenge format selection screen

Step 2: Basic Details

  • Challenge name — what employees will see
  • Description — explain the challenge purpose and rules
  • Challenge image — banner image for the challenge card
  • Start date and end date — when the challenge runs
  • Privacy — Public (all employees see it) or Private (only target audience sees it)

Step 3: Configure Tasks

Add one or more tasks with targets. Over a dozen task types are available (the exact number depends on your company's configuration):

Popular task types:

  • Steps — e.g., "Walk 10,000 steps daily, 5 days this week"
  • Water — e.g., "Drink 8 glasses of water daily"
  • Distance — running, walking, or cycling distance
  • Active Minutes — time spent exercising
  • Meditation/Mindfulness — minutes of mindful practice
  • Custom Activity — your branded loggable activities
  • Adherence — custom habit check-ins
  • Content — watch a video or read an article

For each task, set:

  • Target value (e.g., 10,000 steps)
  • Daily or weekly mode — "Hit 5K steps on 4 days" (daily) vs "Walk 35K steps this week" (weekly cumulative)
  • Points — leaderboard score for completing the task

Note: For Custom Challenges, you can set different tasks per week with different themes, logos, and colors for each week.

Step 4: Team Settings (Optional)

  • Enable teams — toggle on if you want team competition
  • Maximum team size — how many members per team
  • Teams can be created by you (admin) or by employees (if enabled for your company)
  • Team score = average of individual scores

Step 5: Target Audience

Choose who can see and join this challenge:

  • All employees — everyone in your company
  • Filtered — restrict by country, city, department, gender, age range, language, or health risk code

Note: When you apply any audience filter, the challenge is automatically marked as Private.

Step 6: Certificates & Rewards (Optional)

  • Enable certificates — auto-generated on challenge completion
  • Customize certificate — your signature, logo, seal, and description
  • Point rewards — if your company has rewards enabled, set point values per task

How Points Are Distributed

When the challenge is live, points are credited automatically based on what you configured at setup:

  • Per-task completion — employees earn points each time they complete a defined task (daily activity targets, content reads, quiz answers, manual logs, etc.)
  • Milestone checkpoints — Journey challenges award points at each milestone the employee reaches. See How Do I Create a Journey Challenge?.
  • Final leaderboard positions — you can also award bonus points to top finishers, configured per challenge.

Points appear in each employee's Vantage Points wallet as soon as they're credited. For ad-hoc awards outside a challenge, see How Do I Upload Points to Employees?.

Step 7: Review & Publish

Review all settings and publish. The challenge will appear in employees' Upcoming tab and move to Ongoing on the start date.

Tip: You can edit most challenge details after creation. You can also reschedule, force start, or stop a challenge from the Manage Challenge page.

After Publishing

  • Add participants — search and add individuals, or bulk add via CSV
  • Send invitations — email invites to employees
  • View leaderboard — monitor progress in real-time
  • Send notifications — nudge participants during the challenge

Need more help? Contact your Vantage Fit account manager or email support@vantagecircle.com.

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