Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Explanation:

‍Teams build different sections of a complicated Rube Goldberg machine. In-office teams work on physical pieces, and remote workers create virtual sections using online tools.

In-office workers can start by building something physical—like a series of dominoes or a ball rolling down a ramp—while remote workers come up with digital elements (animations or recorded videos of their contraptions). The challenge is to connect these sections into one long, wacky machine that works seamlessly together. Remote workers can submit their videos or ideas, and in-office teammates figure out how to physically incorporate them.

This brings remote and office workers together in a super creative way!

How to play:

‍Play a game Simon says with a safety theme added to it. Choose a leader to give safety-related commands (e.g., "Simon says put on your safety goggles," "Simon says find the nearest fire exit"). Employees must only follow the commands that begin with "Simon says."

Safety Simon says is a playful way to reinforce safety habits and quick response times. It keeps employees alert and engaged while reinforcing important safety behaviors in a fun and interactive manner.

Buckle up for a tech-infused journey through time in the Time-Traveling Tech Expedition. From ancient civilizations to futuristic landscapes, your team will delve into history's greatest technological milestones. But here's the twist: you'll also tackle hands-on tech challenges inspired by each era. As you leap through time and grapple with inventions past and future, your team's adaptability and innovative spirit will shine. It's a quest that transforms history into a playground for the tech-savvy.

Instructions

• Divide participants into tech-savvy teams.
• Assign different historical eras, each with corresponding tech challenges.
• Research and create puzzles inspired by technology of the past and future.
• Solve tech-related tasks and move on to the next era.
• Celebrate accomplishments and discuss how technology has evolved.

How to play Story cubes

Another worldwide classic game that has stood the test of time is “Story Cubes.” There are hundreds of variations of stories available, from simple daily scenarios to extravagant and epic fantasies.

The game is open-ended and revolves around a collection of cubes. Each side of a cube has an idea that continues a story, in a chain of events. Scour online resources for some templates, or create your own. Sometimes, the more random, the better!

Ready to put your employee’s engineering skills to the test? Paper Tower challenges your team to build the highest tower using nothing but a few sheets of A4.

Great for: Problem-solving, communication, collaboration

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: A4 paper

How to play Paper Tower

Setup: Divide your group into teams of about 4-6 players and give each team several sheets of A4 paper. It’s up to you how many pieces of paper you hand out, but make sure each team is provided with the same number.

To play: Teams have just five minutes to build the tallest tower possible using the paper provided. Teams are not allowed to use any bonding materials to strengthen their tower. Don’t forget to keep teams updated on the time by announcing how much time is left. Once the five minutes are up, measure the highest tower and discuss with each team what went well and what went wrong.

How to play Communication chain

This is a great game for a team and involves participants expressing activities through gestures. Have everyone stand in a line facing the same direction. The last person on this line is the lead. They should write down an action (such as “I was walking my dog and tripped and fell”). The person next to them in line acts out the particular action without any verbal cues, and then the next person in line does the same, and so on. The first person at the beginning of the line will have to guess what the action was.

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Explanation:

‍It’s just like Giant Jenga, but with each block having a fun little challenge written on it—like balancing the piece on your head or doing a dance before placing it.

For the hybrid version, the in-office team plays with the physical Jenga set, while remote workers jump in by picking the challenges for their in-office teammates. For example, as the in-office group pulls a block, a remote teammate gives them a challenge to complete before placing the block back on the tower. Remote players can also participate by tracking the game and offering ideas for wacky tasks. It’s a great way to include everyone and keep the laughs going, no matter where people are.

How to play Dance-freeze

A very popular high-energy game, this one is great for students and teams. You’ll need music that you can dance to and participants that aren’t too shy about dancing. The concept is simple: everyone must dance when music is playing. When the music stops, everyone must freeze just as they were when they were in motion. Anyone who keeps dancing is out of the game and it continues until there is a single winner.

Our penultimate improv game for virtual teams is far more relevant to professional settings – especially if you work in sales!

With a potent combination of improvisation and sales training, your team should end the call feeling more confident in their ability to sell, more comfortable speaking in front of a group, and more bonded with their colleagues.

How to play Sell it to me

To play Sell It to Me, teammates take turns trying to sell the group a random item on their desk (or that’s in the vicinity). The twist is that they don’t get to choose what they’re selling! Their colleagues do – by looking at the items they can see (on the screen) in the person’s room and deciding from there.

Once the participant’s been told what they’re selling, they get 30 seconds to prepare a pitch. They then have another 60 seconds to persuade their teammates to buy that item! When their time’s up, everyone else rates the pitch’s quality from 1 (needs work) to 10 (world-class). Whoever has the highest score at the end gets a prize!

Want a slight variation of this activity?

Consider calling for a sales pitch in between other parts of the meeting. It becomes a less structured exercise, but it adds an element of surprise – keeping everyone on their toes and making the meeting more interesting.

Whichever approach you take, try keeping the atmosphere light and jovial. The point isn’t to highlight your employees’ sales skills! It’s to have fun, make each other laugh, and work together to come up with successful sales pitches.

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.

If you had just one question to determine the suitability of your future spouse, what would you ask? The One-Question Game pressures your employees to determine theoretical suitability for a given scenario with just one question.

Great for: Communication, decision-making

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play The One Question Game

Setup: Start by dividing your group into pairs, leaving one person to act as the leader.

To play: The leader starts by posing a hypothetical scenario to the group. The leader could ask questions like, “What would you ask to determine the suitability of somebody to babysit your child?” Or “What question would you ask to determine whether somebody was capable of building your house?” This game encourages players to home in on what’s most important when determining the suitability of somebody to perform a given role.

Imagine your team venturing into the wilderness, not just for a casual hike, but for an exhilarating Outdoor Survival Race. You'll rely on each other's skills to navigate the wilds, decode puzzles, and conquer challenges. This is more than teamwork; it's about trust, communication, and strategizing under pressure. As you tackle Mother Nature's obstacles together, you'll find yourselves delegating tasks, sharing ideas, and building unbreakable bonds.

Instructions

• Create diverse teams for varied perspectives.
• Equip each team with maps and survival tools.
• Progress by solving puzzles at checkpoints.
• Delegate tasks based on strengths and communicate clearly.
• Prioritize safety by sharing essential survival tips before setting off.

Got You! is a rapid icebreaker designed to lighten the mood for the day ahead. The idea behind the game is simple, catch the other person finger while avoiding the other person from catching yours.

How to play Got You!

To play the game, arrange your group into a circle with a little space between each player. Next, ask each player to stick out their left palm towards the player to their left with the palm face up. Then, ask the players to rest the index finger of their right hand onto the palm of the player to their right. When the moderator shouts “Go!” the players must attempt to catch the index finger of the player to their left while avoiding the player to their right from catching theirs.

How to host Company quiz

Who knows the most about your organization? Come up with a quiz to find out. Put together a fun list of questions based on company mission, values, history, and staff. Grade the quizzes and the employee with the highest score wins. If you want to up the ante, have every team member write a question about themselves to incorporate into the quiz. Have them make it as challenging as possible!

How to play Consequences

Kicking off our list of letter games is a fun crowd-pleaser called Consequences. This one works best with groups of more than 4 people, and no materials are needed! Each player in the group is going to add a consecutive line to the group’s story. Sitting in a group, the first person writes a sentence on paper, folds and hides the message, then passes it to the next person.

You’ll need to think of some cool lines beforehand, and the amount of lines depends on the number of people. Let’s create 5 lines for a team of 5 people:

1. A man’s name
2. The word “met”, then a female name
3. “He said…”
4. “She said…”
5. “And then…”

As we’ve seen already, miming actions is a common component of improv games. However, so too is imitating objects!

How to play Human objects

In Human objects, your employees have to use their bodies to impersonate a given item. You can be sitting in a circle or walking around the room – it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that there’s enough space for everyone.

From there, all you have to do is call out an object.

It can be anything you want! From vases and coffee cups to pairs of scissors and laptop computers, the items can be big, small, and everything in-between. Whatever you yell out, though, each participant has to put their arms, legs, and torsos into positions that resemble it.

As you can imagine, this game’s great fun. But it’s effective too. It forces your employees to think outside the box and displays how differently people can think about the same problem. The team will see how their colleagues approach the task, learning more about each other and forming closer bonds in the process.

That’s an invaluable lesson when it comes to collaboration. After all, it shows that not everyone thinks in the same way! If you’re going to solve problems and work well together, you have to play to people’s individual strengths, respect their perspectives, and empathize at every step.

TV gameshows are not just for the TV! In this adaptation of the classic show Family Feud, your employees will be able to showcase their quick decision making skills, as well as their general knowledge and intelligence.

How to play:

1. Divide into two teams.
2. One team member is chosen to compete as the captain.
3. The two captain are shown a survey question and must guess the top answers. Fastest “buzz in” first.
4. Points are awarded based on how many people in the survey chose that answer.
5. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
   

Surveys could be taken internally or taken from national survey websites to involve a whole range of different topics.

How to play Balance challenge

Sometimes called the “helium stick” exercise, this game creates engagement in a group and paves the way for more group learning. Have your group break into two groups and form rows. The two rows should be facing each other. Then, ask everyone to hold out their index fingers and place a long, thin rod across everyone’s fingers. They need to ensure it’s level before going further. Then, instruct them to move the rod up or down, but as a group where the rod stays level.

How to play Show your phone

A very simple and easy icebreaker involves asking everyone to share the latest “something” on their phone. The “something” could be their most recent photo, or the last app they had open. As long as it’s work appropriate, you can get creative about what you’ll ask people to show. A popular take on this game is to share the last 3 emojis you used, but you can get as creative as you feel comfortable. For a super fast and effective icebreaker, have each person stand up, introduce themselves, and share this tidbit of information based on your prompt.

How to play What do we have in common?

In large organizations, it can be hard to encourage interaction. Use this exercise to improve relations whether in person or in virtual meetings. The moderator should simply ask the group to come up with 5 or 10 things they all have in common. This could be a favorite pizza flavor or Starbucks order, or the ability to speak another language. Colleagues will have to have an extensive dialog to learn about each other and come up with these commonalities, which can be really beneficial for relationship-building.

How to play Hula Hoop Challenge

Instructions: Each participant is given a hula hoop and must keep it spinning around their waist for as long as possible. The person who keeps the hoop spinning the longest wins.

Materials needed: Hula hoops.

The Hula Hoop Challenge promotes physical activity, coordination, and determination. It adds a light-hearted and nostalgic element to the picnic, and participants can cheer each other on and share in the fun.

Explanation:

‍Teams compete to create the funniest or most relatable memes about remote work life using online meme generators. Afterwards, everyone votes on the best one.

In the hybrid version, both remote and in-office teams get together to create the most hilarious or relatable meme about their work experience. Using online meme generators, each team collaborates to capture the ups and downs of remote work life—whether it’s Wi-Fi issues, Zoom fatigue, or the joys of working in pyjamas. Once the memes are created, they’re shared with the whole team for a vote. After all, who doesn’t love a good meme to brighten things up?

How to play Cold call point system

For an ongoing game that will add some fun to the daily routine, start a cold calling point system. Take five minutes out of each day and have employees record their cold calls. It can be really fun to see points add up over time and learn from each other. Keep a whiteboard or other points-tracking system in view so everyone can get a status. Here are some options for tracking points:

1. 30 points for getting the prospect on the phone
2. 20 points for keeping them on for more than a minute
3. 40 points for scheduling a follow up
4. 10 points for getting a new contact from the call

How to play Impromptu Shark Tank

If you’re building a multi-day agenda and have a couple hours to kill, put together a short-notice shark tank. The key is not to give too much notice - remember, these activities don’t require prep work and the last minute nature of idea generation is sure to lead to more creativity and laughter. Have small teams brainstorm and come up with a few ideas, and then present their best idea to a panel of judges who will decide if it’s worth investing in.