Our relationship with games goes back as far as classical antiquity.

Games used to be played by the ancient Greeks to honor Zeus, and thankfully, games today don’t involve racing chariots and colosseum sword fighting.

Today we’re keeping the spirit of gaming alive, and applying them to the arena of Microsoft Teams, the platform we all know and love.

So let’s get into today’s games!

What can MS Teams games do for your employees?

Microsoft Teams has become an indispensable tool for companies that frequently use remote and hybrid workers. The MS Teams experience is now cross-functional and utilized to help remote workers with countless work tasks.

One of the greatest benefits of MS Teams is how easy it is to host fantastic team-building activities and games. 

Organizations should not overlook the value of games. One study on team forming shows a 20% increase in productivity on subsequent tasks after playing video games together for just 45 minutes. 

Deeper scientific research is getting into the nitty-gritty details on how video games are helping work teams destress and build bonds too. This is definitely worth getting into for your company.

So let’s lay out some of the best games you can organize on MS Teams for your squad right now!

The best games to organize on MS Teams

Here are 14 simple and fun games to try out at work today.

"Games for Work" MS Teams app

To kickstart our list, we’re going to keep things super simple. Did you know Microsoft has an app called “Games for Work” free for download? Once you download it, it’s really simple to integrate into MS Teams itself. The “Games for Work” app was developed by a team who are part of Xbox Games Studio. Fascinating!

The games available are relatively simple, like IceBreakers, Wordament and Minesweeper. One of the coolest things we’ve found though, is that not only is almost every game multiplayer-friendly, but some games can have up to 250 players! We’re not sure exactly how big your remote teams are, but we doubt many companies need 250 players at once! Still, we think that’s very cool.

So schedule your MS Teams session, download the added Games for Work app, and get cracking! There are countless ways to have fun using one of the best remote work apps out there!

Espionage!

Here’s a crowd favorite. “Espionage!” is great because it brings a little more strategy and cunning than most quick games. MS Teams can fully host Espionage and each game can run for around 90 minutes. It’s immersive, and fun, and lets your teams test out their Detective Sherlock Holmes skills. 

The game requires 1 host who leads all members through a “spy mission.” The game designates roles, like agents and spies. They then get into teams, strategize on the task, and are given a 60-minute challenge. The objective revolves around bases and invaders, with lots of little codebreaking fun thrown in too.

If you fancy making it even more fun, host the game on a Friday night and ask everyone to dress like a detective! We’re talking peacoats, trilby hats and smoking pipes (without the tobacco, of course!). Get your spy skills ready for Espionage and let your teams roam free!

Baamboozle

Here’s one that isn’t built-in to MS Teams, but is a barrel of laughs and is relatively easy to set up. You’ve got to head over to the guys at Baamboozle.com and register a free account. Once you’ve done that, you’re basically all set.

Baamboozle is a fantastic website with thousands of topics ready to be used in a game. As host, share your screen, choose a game topic and start the game. Split all of your remote attendees into groups, and they’ll see your screen. The screen will show up to 16 numbers, one person picks a number and must answer the question that is revealed. Baamboozle does a fantastic job of keeping scores and throws in wildcards like “point swap” or “reset scoreboard,” which keeps things invigorating.

ESL teachers love this website, and corporations interested in remote team games should be aware of it. Try out Baamboozle with your teams today. There are countless topics to choose from.

Together mode "Guess who?"

You might already be aware, but MS Teams has a function called “together mode” and it can be used in some really fun and creative ways. Most of us have played the board game “Guess Who?” before, and you can use “together mode” to replicate this childhood classic.

Activate “together mode” so that each member appears as a head on a large, group picture. One person is selected as the “secret person” who everyone else is trying to discover. Each person one-by-one asks a “yes/no” question. Some questions could include:

• Is this person wearing a red shirt?
• Is this person sitting outside?
• Does this person have a window behind them?

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The yes/no questions let you eliminate people after each question is asked, slowly whittling the players down, and then a person is allowed to guess who is the secret person. This is a great game from childhood ready to be brought into modern remote settings. Give it a whirl!

MS Teams Family Feud

Family Feud is an American TV show loved by millions (fun fact, it’s called “Family Fortunes in the UK!). We sometimes call it the Coworker Feud here at Surf Office.

The game requires 1 host and a bit of preparation beforehand. Family Feud has always worked like this: questions are asked of 100 people before the game begins. The most popular answers to those questions are recorded, and it’s the contestant’s job to give the most popular answer. For a few random examples:

• Name something that might be full of holes
• Name something that people swap
• Name something you don’t want people to ask you for

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For these three examples, the most popular answer for each might be Swiss cheese, recipes, and money. There might be other hilarious answers that can still earn a point or two, too.

There are some template PPTs out there, or some Survey Monkey add-ons that can help organize the game and questions. Try Family Feud with MS Teams today!

Charades

Speaking of childhood favorites, Charades is a well-known game for all ages. MS Teams is a great place to carry out a fun game for you and your remote teams. The game itself traces all the way back to 16th-century France, so what a fantastic way to bring it into the modern age!

It’s so easy to organize and carry out. Make teams, and one person from each team is chosen to act out a “charade.” This means they need to use body language and expressions to represent a word or phrase, without speaking! Let’s say for example they’re acting out “blowing out birthday candles.” You can imagine how a person tries to act this out without using any words, it’s quite a visual image.

If their teammates guess correctly the team is awarded one point. You should keep track of scores as rounds can be quite fast, and let them know at the end.

Pro tip: Create a list of famous movies to act out. Terminator is fun for a person with a leather jacket and sunglasses!

MS Teams pictionary

On top of its multitude of add-ons, MS Teams also has a whiteboard function. You might have already used this function for some ideation sessions or for visualizing concepts. Now why not take the classic whiteboard, and get creative with an MS Teams game?’

Pictionary works best in two teams. In each round, one person in a team is the artist (call them Picasso, or Monet). You give them a word at random, and they need to artistically visualize it using the whiteboard for drawing. Use a timer for a bit of added tension and boom! You’ve got art with laughter. Award a winning guess with a point, or bonus points for fast guesses. 

This is a super-simple and efficient game, easy to set up in MS Teams. On top of being outright fun, it helps boost artistic remote collaboration too. Your employees will be laughing and bonding in no time, regardless of how far they physically are from each other!

Teams Bingo!

MS Teams Bingo is a fabulously fun game that can be set up quickly. All you need to do is create a few sets of digital bingo cards. Bingo cards are made on a grid-sheet, usually at least 3x3 in size. You’ll be making fun questions or events to add to each square on the bingo sheet.

During Bingo, the host calls out random phrases or situations from the list and people mark them off as they go. The first person who ticks every box on the sheet (called a Full House) shouts out BINGO and wins!

This one’s perfect for a virtual icebreaker session as you could even ask all members to ask each other questions to find out things like:

• Who is left-handed?
• Who had a pet as a child?
• Who is an only child?
• Who has written a blog?

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You can imagine how good this is for new people trying to get to know others better, so don’t hesitate. Give this one a shot for your remote workers in MS Teams!

Picture prompt

Here’s another picture-generation game to get creative juices positively flowing. “Picture prompt” takes minimal prep-time, but benefits if you give some thought to fun and unique prompts. 

You just need to make a list of prompts that will be given to players, such as “a chaotic moment,” “old meets new” or “your happy place.” Any prompt that resonates with players works well (even something like “worst customer in the world”!). Then each player has a bit of time to scour the internet to find an image that represents the prompt, and then each person shares their screen and explains.

You don’t necessarily need a scoreboard for this one, but if you’d like, you can have the whole group vote for their favorite response and award points accordingly. Use picture prompts for a barrel of laughs while boosting remote engagement.

Fun twist: You could even try letting attendees draw their pictures themselves. You’ll need a bit of extra time to let them do it, but the results can be fantastic!

Kahoot!

Kahoot! Is a global phenomenon, with more than 70 million monthly active users. Most of us have used Kahoot at one time or another. Now MS Teams has deep integration with Kahoot!, meaning users can launch live Kahoots without having to leave the Teams app.

Kahoot is mainly used for fun trivia sessions, so individual players work better than teams. If you’re unfamiliar with Kahoot, there are thousands of trivia games on there, from world landmarks to technical English grammar. The scoreboard is kept cleverly, with the chance to steal and swap points for players too.

Kahoot is a great game requiring no materials (other than an account). Quick, easy, and convenient, Kahoot is definitely worth a shot for your remote teams. They’ll be scrambling for pole position while having a blast and bonding with each other.

Kingdom founders

Here’s a game for players who are a little more curious than average. “Team wikis” have been used for years by companies. A team wiki is a free-to-edit wiki page. Companies have long used them to create a kind of company “hub.” Now why not gamify this?

This is a bit like the fantasy genre of literature. Ask your teams to simply create a name for a fictional country or kingdom. This will be the title of their wiki page. Ask members to create simple maps, a bit of history and customs of the kingdom. Remember, this is all completely fictional, so pretty much anything goes!

The best thing about this is that it’s ongoing. Each week you can introduce a new aspect to their kingdoms, like new laws or political events. Members vote, wiki pages are edited and the kingdom continues to grow. Set aside a happy hour each week for Kingdom Founders, and your fantasy-loving members will have a blast!

Storytelling relay

Get into the groove of a storytelling relay with your teams for some light-hearted online fun. The premise of storytelling replay is to create a story, made from lots of small parts. Let’s say for example you started like this:

A: “Once upon a time, there was a”

B: “Princess trapped in a castle. One day..”
C: “A magic dragon saw her and…”

D: “...”

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Each member in the MS Teams meeting needs to work together to keep the story alive. It’s a tried-and-tested classic that always ends with laughter or curiosity. Create teams and make some funny story prompts to start things off. Let a member continue with your prompt, then they pass to the next member to keep the flame of the story alive. Things can get hilarious if you add a timer and some extra, quirky images that they have to incorporate into their stories. 

They don’t always need to create a complete, coherent story, but props to them if they do. Get your storytelling muscles flexing with this one.

Photo of your life

This is a game that is less about winning and more about team building and bonding. “Photo of your life” encourages everyone to get into their photo vaults from yesterday, and get sharing. You need to create a list of engaging criteria or requests for everyone playing and let them know in advance. Some requests for photos could be:

• A photo that shows you at your happiest.
• The earliest photo you have.
• The strangest photo on your phone.
• A photo of your most beloved pet.
• A photo of food you could eat forever.

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Again, the scoreboard isn’t important here, but if you wish you could award a point to your favorite contributor, once everyone has shared. Screen-sharing capabilities are pretty important for this one, so make sure everyone can do that beforehand.

“Photo of your life” will help staff break the ice and build bonds faster than a camera flashes! Try this one out next.

Emoji self-portrait

Our last game revolves around the use of colorful, fun emojis. It’s a great game that’s easy to use on MS Teams (or Zoom) and lets people express themselves through everyday little images. You need to create some fun questions that you’ll later use in the chatbox of MS Teams. Remember they can all only be answered with emojis. Some fun examples are:

• Use 3 emojis to display your favorite hobbies.
• Use emojis to tell us your favorite Disney movie.
• Show emojis of your desert-island meal.
• Which 3 countries would you most like to visit?

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It’s a light-hearted way to get players to express themselves while also helping some people get better acquainted with the huge number of emojis available. Don’t overlook the power of this simple, fun team game!

MS Teams helps build bonds, but nothing beats a team retreat!

If you’re interested in using MS Teams to help your teams build stronger bonds, then you should know the ultimate way is bringing everyone together for an unforgettable team-building retreat! 

Here at Surf Office, organizing team retreats is what we do best.  

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Here’s what we offer:

• Stress-free transfers? We got you! ✅
• Quality-assured accommodations? Check! ✅
• Engaging team-building activities? Our speciality ✅
• Restaurant reservations? That's on us! ✅
• Expert retreat planning assistance? Of course, we have this covered! ✅
• Onsite support, tailored to your needs? Absolutely ✅

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Not only this but we also have access to 160+ locations around Europe, APAC, the US, Latin America, and now Africa, meaning the sky is your limit when it comes to choosing the right location for you and your team.

You can even bring all remote and hybrid workers to our remote team retreat. Elevate team bonds to a level you didn’t even think possible!

Let us sort out the tricky logistics for you. Spaces are very limited, so get in touch now!