Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Explanation:

‍In-office members gather quirky objects, then describe them in the vaguest way possible during a Zoom call. Remote workers must guess what the objects are based on those cryptic clues.

Office workers can find the oddest items they have (an old stapler shaped like a fish or a rubber chicken) and describe them in a way that’s intentionally confusing. Remote workers will try to guess the item based on these descriptions. To make it more fun, clues should be vague but intriguing. For example: "This item is useful but rarely used in its intended way..." The game ends with big reveals where everyone has that "aha!" moment or bursts out laughing at how far off they were.

How to play Candy questions

For this game, you’ll need several different colored candies. Write on the board one question per color, for example purple means “Do you have a pet?” and red means “Did you go to college and where?” Then, have everyone take 3 candies randomly from your supply. The 3 colors they get represent the three questions they’ll ask their neighbor. In this way, people can have fresh conversations and not just repeat the usual getting-to-know-you questions over and over.

How to play Alphabet game

This game involves going through the alphabet and finding words that fit a specific category. For example, you could choose animals as a category. You would start with the letter “A” and the circle would be responsible for coming up with different animals that begin with A, then B, and so on (so relevant answers could be ant, beaver, etc).

How to play Posture obstacle course

If you have a space that is good for moving around, such as an open concept office, you can give this one a try. Use various furnishings or furniture to create a short obstacle course that everyone must go through in one minute. The catch? They need to balance a book on their head to ensure “proper posture”. If the book falls off they must start over. Have everyone go, one at a time, setting a minute timer for each instance.

How to play Virtual bingo

Bingo in a virtual setting can be just as fun as doing it in person. Lots of online virtual bingo cards have cropped up over the last few years, with fun boxes to tick, like family members walking in the background and dogs heard barking on the mic.

Virtual bingo is a great virtual teambuilding activity that adds a light-hearted touch to your remote meetings.

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Slack talk shuffle uses conversation prompts in Slack to spark casual, non-work-related discussions. Whether it’s “What’s your dream vacation?” or “Best movie of all time?”, this is an easy way to keep the team connected and talking—even remotely.

It’s a great way to add a little fun into your virtual workspace and build camaraderie, with minimal effort.

How to play:

• Post a conversation prompt in Slack.
• Teammates respond and discuss in the thread.
• Watch the conversation flow and learn more about each other!

Explore more funny team-building activities to keep your team engaged, whether you're working remotely or in person.

How to play Pass the bomb

Pass The Bomb is a fast-paced family word game that’s great for work teams too. The box contains two decks of cards, a dice and a ticking time bomb. The aim of the game is to create words with the letters shown on the cards. Most cards have only 3 letters.

Rolling the dice can land on “TICK,” “TICK TACK,”  or a BOMB symbol.

• TICK means letters can’t be used at the start of a word.
• TICK TACK means your letters can be used anywhere within the word.
• The BOMB symbol means letters can’t be used at the end of the word.

So turn over your letter card, turn on the bomb, and start the game! Remember; pass the bomb, don’t throw it! (gunpowder not included)

How to play:

Write down different safety scenarios on slips of paper (e.g., handling a chemical spill, evacuating during a fire). Employees draw a scenario and act it out while others observe and provide feedback.

To build on the last suggestion, why not roleplay the winning scenario? Role-playing allows employees to practice their responses to potential hazards in a realistic yet controlled setting. It encourages active learning and helps identify any gaps in safety protocols. Watching coworkers immerse themselves in their roles can be entertaining.

Sharpen deductive skills! In Secret Noun, one person selects a noun, and the rest of the team uses questions to guess the word.

Instructions on how to play:

1. Choose one person to be the secret noun selector.
2. This person picks a secret noun and keeps it hidden.
3. The rest of the team takes turns asking yes/no questions to narrow down and eventually guess the secret noun.
4. Set a time limit for each round to keep the game dynamic.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Communication skills: Enhances the team's ability to ask strategic questions and deduce information.
• Team engagement: Fosters a collaborative environment as everyone works together to solve the mystery.
• Critical thinking: Challenges participants to think creatively and strategically.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Encourage the person with the secret noun to think creatively and choose a word that allows for diverse questions. After each round, discuss the team's approach and share insights on effective questioning.

This game relies on solid opinions, sure to get people talking. As the game's name implies, your team will get to know each other quickly, discussing the things they love and hate the most.

How to play:

‍Team members go around and ask a question about the best thing they can learn from the group. After each participant's answer, they go to the next person who asks about the worst thing their team can talk about. That can be like, “what is the best meal you ever had.”

This continues until everyone has the chance to ask a question, and receive answer.

Materials you’ll need Just your team and a large seating area.

How many people: Small to large teams (8-25+ people)

This indoor team-building game involves together to write a story on a sheet of paper. The catch? You do it one line at a time, taking turns to contribute a sentence before folding over the sheet (just enough to cover the line) so the next person can’t see what you wrote.

You continue in this fashion until everyone has added a sentence! Whoever goes last then unfolds the paper and reads the story aloud. Not only is the game fun to play, but the random (and often amusing!) nature of the story demonstrates how valuable clear communication is in a team environment.

Explanation:

‍Team members switch roles for the day—the accountant becomes the designer, the manager takes on the IT role, and everyone gets to try something totally different. It’s all about experiencing a new side of office life.

In the hybrid version, both in-office and remote employees swap roles, but the twist is they’ll shadow their swapped roles virtually if they’re in a different location. Remote workers can sit in on video calls or collaborate on shared tasks, while in-office workers can hop on a call to learn about the ins and outs of a remote teammate’s role. The key is to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, even if it’s virtually.

It’s a fun way to gain empathy for each other’s daily challenges and maybe even discover hidden talents along the way.

How to play GIF challenge

This exercise is particularly fun for people who use communication tools like Slack. Provide the group with prompts, and ask them to find a GIF that demonstrates their reaction to it. Examples of prompts could be “How you feel when someone schedules a meeting at 4pm on Friday” or “When you figured out you stayed up too late binging Netflix before your big presentation.” The more creative, the better!

Here’s another awesome improv game that hones team collaboration through group interaction and shared contribution. This time, though, it involves storytelling.

Have you ever reminisced about a past event with a close friend or family member? Feels good, right? It sparks nostalgia, puts a smile on your face, and solidifies your bond with whoever you’re talking to in the process.

Remember When takes that idea and puts a new spin on it…

How to play Remember when

Sitting as a team, you go around the group “remembering” an event that you’re actually making up on the spot! Begin the game by introducing a make-believe memory that the team experienced together. For instance, “Remember when we went to see the Super Bowl together?”

Each person then adds another detail, creating a story of your time together as you go. The more creative, random, or outrageous the details, the better! Taking left turns and adding funny nuances to the “memory” helps bring out people’s personalities, sparks giggles, and brings the team closer together.

Want to add a twist to this improv game? Why not make a rule that you have to keep a straight face throughout it? If you smile, laugh, or even chortle to yourself – whether you’re adding the detail or hearing someone else’s – then you’re out!

As you’d expect, adding this competitive element invites employees to say funnier and more outrageous things in a bid to up the ante and make their colleagues giggle. It should also lead to greater engagement and a more enjoyable experience overall.

How to play Salt and pepper pairs

In this activity, you’ll break everyone into pairs of 2. Each group is labeled with one side of a pairing - salt and pepper, macaroni and cheese, Batman and Robin, etc. Each team member should have their item name taped to their back. Have everyone scatter, and then start asking questions of their colleagues to figure out what each one is. Only then can they figure out what they might be and who they belong with. When everyone is properly grouped into their pairs, the exercise is over.

How to play Confess then guess

This is a simple “getting to know you” game for groups of all sizes, especially people who are just getting to know each other. In every round, participants write down the answer to a prompt (that was previously created) and then put the answer into a bowl. A host will read out each reply and players have to guess which person wrote the answer. Some prompts to try are:

• Your greatest fear
• Your favorite animal story
• Who you were in a past life
• Your favorite activity for relaxing
• What you were voted in high school
• What you wanted to be when you grew up
• The first item on your bucket list
• Your personal hero
• Something you’re allergic to

Mix up the usual routine with a community impact day. Instead of the office grind, teams head out to do some good activity - whether that’s cleaning up a park or helping out at a local charity.

Not only does it feel good to give back, but it’s a refreshing break from the usual. Plus, nothing says team bonding like rolling up your sleeves and making a difference together.

How to play:

• Organize teams for a community service project.
• Tackle tasks like clean-ups or volunteering.
• Enjoy the good vibes from making a real impact!

How to play Pterodactyl

Here’s a quirky new game that has hilarious results. In “Pterodactyl” (which is hard enough to spell correctly), players completely cover their teeth with their lips. One player starts the game by saying “Pterodactyl” to someone else without showing their teeth. If neither player cracks up and laughs, the next player passes it on.

Twists can come into the game if you add a silly face, cross your eyes, or use a strange voice. If you make another player laugh and show their teeth, they’re out! Continue this speaking game until only one Pterodactyl champion remains!

How to host a video contest

Short-form videos have become extremely popular - just look at the success of platforms like TikTok. Let everyone bring their inner influencer out by creating their own video to share with everyone. This can be a really exciting competition and great for team-building. It works best with smaller teams. Break people into groups and give them one hour to script, produce, and polish their video content.

You can either let their imaginations run wild or choose a theme for everyone to work with. Make sure everyone has access to necessary video editing software or other tools so that they can make their video even if they’re beginners. Have a great prize ready for the winner - bonus points for a movie-themed gift like theater tickets or “movie night basket” with an Amazon card, popcorn, and snacks.

How to play Yes, and collaboration

This game is all about collaboration and building on each other's ideas. One person starts with a statement, and the other person must say "yes, and" then add to it. You can begin with a fun statement or something related to your work or team. Many people use this form of game for improv exercises where the comments pertain to made-up events.

How to play Ping Pong Tournament

As open office plans became more popular, more companies started setting up breakout rooms where employees could decompress by grabbing a coffee or playing ping pong. If you already have a ping pong table in the office, this is an ideal game to add to the Office Olympic games—a ping pong competition works well with individual players and teams.

While there is the classic two-person setup for table tennis, there are numerous games, like playing with two balls at a time or a group game that gets smaller as people must step out if they miss their turn to hit the ball.

How to play Sentence mish-mash

It’s often necessary to present straightforward information without much activity. However, you can liven things up a bit using this method. Start by reviewing your training materials and pulling several sentences out. Write these sentences on pieces of paper that you tape up to the wall next to where you’re giving your presentation.

Proceed with your slides, and then at the end, have people say where these sentences should have gone in the presentation. It’s a great way of helping people to put facts into context and also to encourage active listening.

This game is an interactive outdoor activity perfect for a company retreat. If you’re taking the whole team to Paris for a city getaway to boost morale, Pay it Forward is the perfect game that helps you get to know your surroundings and encourages team members to collaborate.

How to play:

‍Split your workers into small teams, not more than ten a group. Each group will be given a small recording device or asked to designate one player as the videographer. Teams will be given an envelope that contains tasks. Each task is worth a certain number of points.

Each team is sent out into its surroundings, ideally a place where there are plenty of people to perform random acts of kindness for strangers. These random acts are found in the envelope given to your team at the beginning of the game. The person recording is documenting each task completed.

Examples of tasks could include:

• Paying for a strangers coffee at a cafe
• Telling someone they look great today
• Offering a small shopkeeper to help take out the trash

Once teams return to the home base, they tally up their points based on the number of tasks they completed.

Materials you’ll need: You’ll need plenty of space for your team to roam around, like a village or city center. A small recording divide like a GoPro or personal cellphone.

How many people: Small to large groups (8 to 20+ people)

Asking the right questions is a valuable skill. Cutting straight to the core and homing in on what’s important boosts productivity and efficiency. Who am I? Is a well-known party game that encourages employees to consider their questions carefully.

Great for: Communication, problem-solving

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Sticky notes, pens

How to play Who am I?

Setup: Hand out a sticky note and pen to each player and have them write down the name of a famous person, or—if your team is already well acquainted—the name of a colleague. Then, ask the players to swap notes and, without looking, stick them to their foreheads.

To play: The players start to mingle with other players, asking questions that can only be answered with “yes” or “no.” The answers to these questions should help the players to decipher which name is written on their forehead. For example, players might ask things like “Am I a celebrity?” or “Do I wear glasses”? If you want the game to be shorter, try separating players into smaller groups of three to four.