Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Fun, chaotic, and surprisingly difficult, Attract and Repel is a fantastic game for making people laugh and for breathing life back into the room.

Here’s how it works:

After clearing a space in the office, gather everyone together and ask them to start walking around the room. Next, tell them to choose 2 colleagues (without saying anything out loud), one of which they must stay as close as possible to and the other they have to stay as far as possible from.

What follows often borders on bedlam! People will giggle with glee and squeal with dismay as they attempt to juggle these two competing goals. Try playing this game for 5 to 10 minutes before a morning meeting or after lunch – traditional low points in terms of energy levels – to feel an instant boost in positivity.

How to play Nerf ball break

If you need a break that’s a little more physical, set up some buckets of nerf balls in an outdoor space at your venue. Have everyone stand in a circle and choose one person to have the ball initially. When they have the ball, they answer the question that you chose for an icebreaker. For example, “What are you excited to do or learn about today?” They answer, and then throw the ball to someone else, who also answers. Once everyone has had a turn to share, you can head back inside.

If you’ve ever been to a professional escape room event, you’ll know just how effective they are at improving essential skills like communication and problem-solving. With Office Escape, you can recreate the drama of an escape room experience without leaving the office!

Great for: Problem-solving, creative thinking, communication, leadership

Duration: 1–2 hours

You’ll need: A storyline with a final objective, a series of problems and challenges

How to organise:

• Think of a final objective and then create a series of challenges and tasks that leads them towards completing it. It’s easier to think of challenges when you already have the final objective in mind.
• Plot a series of challenges that leads your employees toward the final objective. Be creative and have fun with it!
• You can further engage teams by offering a small reward for being the fastest to complete the objective.

Looking for more team-building activities for adults that build communication and problem-solving skills? Explore our full guide for extra inspiration.

How to play Lego builders

If you have enough space to spread out a bit, try some lego construction. Give everyone the same set of lego pieces, and print out brief instructions for creating a certain project. Who can complete the project in under one minute?

Ready, set, puzzle! In puzzle dash, teams race against the clock to complete a jigsaw puzzle or brain teaser. The fastest team to finish wins, promoting problem-solving, quick thinking, and a bit of healthy competition.

This group teambuilding game is perfect for sharpening your team’s focus, collaboration, and time management skills. Whether it’s a jigsaw or a tricky brain teaser, puzzle dash brings out the best in quick thinking under pressure—all while having some fun.

How to play:

• Divide into teams and give each team a puzzle or brain teaser (e.g., a 100-piece jigsaw or a Sudoku challenge).
• Set a time limit and race to complete it as quickly as possible.
• The team that finishes first (or makes the most progress) wins!

Making a game out of training is a great way to get people more excited about the subject matter. And which game is better than Jeopardy? A quiz show format is an innovative way to introduce new material and understand how much your team has absorbed.

Here is how we suggest you play:

1. Find a Jeopardy template online using a site like Jeopardy Labs.
2. You’ll need five categories for questions related to your company. It’s best to stick with your company’s offerings or information like the organization’s mission, customer demographic, or latest marketing campaigns.
3. Use the premade questions from the online resource or come up with your own questions and answers. Make sure you’re able to share the screen with all your participants.
4. If you’re using a group format, let people discuss and share answers.
5. Proceed to gather everyone in a large space with a smart screen and ensure everyone can see, then divide people into either small groups (or individuals if the group is already small).

Messy office spaces are no fun. In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, a disorganized work space can have real impacts on productivity and morale. Naturally, you want everyone to clean up - but you don’t want to nag.

How to host “Spring cleaning” scavenger hunt

Turn things into a game instead by creating a tidy up treasure hunt around the office. This game works best when announced in advance, and will require some prep work. Here is how it works: Hide clues in various messy spots around the office, and the team who recovers the most clues wins a prize. For example, you might want to put a clue on an unstocked paper towel machine, an overflowing trash can, or a buried-in-paperwork desk. Make sure to hide the clues in such a way that people will need to organize or tidy up a bit to obtain the paper. To further incentivize people, you could also offer small prizes for every clue collected, like movie theater candy, dollar bills, or tickets for food in the cafeteria.

You might have seen companies using the “Caption This” game as a way of driving engagement on their social media feeds. Interestingly, it also works well as a team-building activity because it’s fun, collaborative and creative.

Great for: Creative thinking, collaboration

Duration: 5 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: Various funny/thought-provoking images

How to play Caption This

Setup: Compile various images in a folder on your computer or print them out.

To play: Divide your group into teams or pairs and show them one of the images. Then, give them a few minutes to think of a suitable or funny caption for the image. When the time runs out, ask the groups, one by one, to present their caption. Groups can then vote for the caption they liked the most!

We all fall on hard times. But victimising ourselves and dwelling on the negatives can lead us to overlook growth opportunities. Silver Linings alters perspectives of apparent failures and misfortunes.

Great for: Mindset development, positivity

Duration: 5 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Silver Linings

Setup: Divide your group into pairs. You might wish to pair employees together who don’t often have the opportunity to interact.

To play: The first partner starts by sharing a negative experience. This could be something from their personal or professional life, as long as it’s true. Upon hearing the experience, the second partner attempts to reframe the story in a positive light. Then, the first partner retells their story, highlighting silver linings they may have missed the first time around. The players then switch roles and start again.

How to play Watermelon Eating Contest

Instructions: Provide each participant with a slice of watermelon. The objective is to eat the watermelon slice as quickly as possible without using hands. The first person to finish their slice wins.

Materials needed: Watermelon slices.

The Watermelon Eating Contest is a fun and delicious game that promotes friendly competition and brings out the laughter. It adds a lighthearted and entertaining element to the picnic while allowing team members to bond over a shared experience.

The Creative Puzzle Mural challenge is a fusion of artistry and collaboration. Each team is tasked with creating a section of a larger mural, aligning colors, shapes, and themes. As you assemble the puzzle pieces, you'll uncover the beauty of unity in diversity. This activity celebrates the power of collective creativity while highlighting the importance of communication and harmonious teamwork.

Instructions

• Divide participants into teams, ensuring a mix of artistic abilities.
• Assign sections of a mural to each team, providing basic guidelines.
• Teams work collaboratively to design and paint their sections.
• Combine the pieces to reveal the complete mural artwork.
• Reflect on how the different sections symbolize teamwork and collaboration.

How to play Icebreaker bingo

This is one of the best games for lengthier introductions and learning more about the people around you. Most people are familiar with a bingo format, so it should be easy to play. You can use an online bingo card generator to come up with squares and randomize them. Squares can be anything from “owns a boat” to “has 20 years with the company” to “met a celebrity”. Another great thing about this icebreaker game is that there are actual winners - so if you have some fun prizes to hand out, this exercise is perfect.

This game is great for better understanding how your coworkers' minds work. What better way to bond than to create something together - in this case, a story. You can do this with any number in your group. Plus, you can play this game as many times as you want, and the outcome will be different each time.

Here’s how it works.

1. Have everyone stand in a circle or semicircle where the entire group can get a good look at each other.
2. The person who is running the event should decide on a story topic. You can pick anything, but be sure to use your imagination. Something like the middle ages to underwater adventures adds an element of fun (vs. a typical day at work or something more mundane). The more creative you can be, the better it will be for the group.
3. Choose a person to kick things off with a few sentences. Then, they “pass” to the next person to continue the story.
4. The passing continues until everyone has had an opportunity to add to the story. A few lines are sufficient, but encourage people to be creative.
5. The last person to go should wrap up the overall story. It’s a good idea to let them know in advance that this will be their responsibility so they can think of a clever ending.

How to play Capture the flag

In this fast-paced game, players try to steal flags from each other's territories. The game is helpful for strategic thinking and promotes togetherness. You’ll need two to four teams with between 4-8 players. Each team should spend a few minutes creating their flag, and then find an open space where the teams can each hide their flag and have everyone attempt to come steal their flag.

We love Fizz Buzz. A classic energizer game you may remember from your school days, it involves standing in a circle and taking turns to count upward from 1. However, there’s a mathematical twist that complicates proceedings…

How to play Fizz buzz

Every number that’s divisible by 3 is replaced with the word “fizz” and everything divisible by 5 is replaced with “buzz”; numbers divisible by both 3 and 5 are replaced with the words “fizz buzz”. For instance, a typical round would look like this:

“1, 2, Fizz, 4, Buzz, Fizz, 7, 8, Fizz, Buzz, 11, Fizz, 13, 14, Fizz Buzz, 16…”

The idea is to go around the circle as quickly as possible. If someone hesitates or makes a mistake, they’re eliminated. The last person standing is the winner!

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.

This game is a bit random but great fun. Each player takes a turn thinking of a specific ‘thing’.

How to play Tree or Bob Ross?

The other players must then figure out what that ‘thing’ is by asking comparative questions like, “Is it more like… or…?” Traditionally, the first question is always, “Is it more like a tree, or Bob Ross?” Play continues with similar comparative questions until the guessing team has successfully identified the ‘thing’.

How to play Gift wrap

Gift wrapping is a true talent! See who on your team has this skill by tasking everyone with wrapping gifts in under a minute. You can either have several packages ready and see who gets the most wrapped, or pick containers that will be especially difficult to wrap and see how far each player gets in one minute. You might be surprised how difficult this can be. Remember that for this one everyone will need their own scissors, tape, wrapping paper, and area to spread out.

Want to raise the energy levels in the room? Lift people’s spirits? Encourage colleagues to work together to achieve a common goal?

Don’t Drop the Balloons involves inflating masses of balloons in the office and making a rule that they can’t touch the ground! However, you can add a competitive element by splitting employees into 3+ teams and assigning balloons of a particular color to each one. If any of their balloons touches the floor, that team’s out!

Dotmocracy is a decision-making task that involves participants placing dots or stickers on options or ideas to indicate their preferences. It is also referred to as dot voting or sticker voting.

Instructions:

1. Clearly define the decision or topic that requires input from the participants. It could be anything from choosing a new office layout to selecting a team-building activity.
   
2. Compile a list of options or ideas related to the decision. Make sure each option is concise and clearly understandable. Write them down on a large display, whiteboard, or chart paper.
   
3. Provide each participant with a predetermined number of dot stickers.
4. Briefly explain the voting guidelines. Let participants know they can distribute their dots among the options in any way they prefer. They can place multiple dots on a single option or spread them across different options, depending on their preferences.
   
5. Give participants time to place their dots on the options. Encourage them to think critically and consider their own perspectives.
6. Once the voting phase is complete identify the options with the highest number of dots as the most favored choices.
   
7. Engage the participants in a discussion based on the results. Encourage them to share their thoughts, perspectives, and reasons for their choices.

Dotmocracy is the game that's more than just sticking dots, It's a powerhouse for developing leadership skills in the office. Giving everyone a voice and a handful of stickers transforms quiet cubicle dwellers into confident decision-makers. Employees will also learn to assert their preferences, negotiate, and strategize; factors that are necessary for improving leadership skills.

How well do your team really know each other? Team Trivia is a fun and simple game that will put your employee’s relationships to the test.

Great for: Interpersonal bonding

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Team Trivia

Setup: Before you can play Team Trivia, you need to compile interesting facts about your employees. The easiest way to do this is to send out a survey designed to extract as many cool facts as possible.

To play: Team Trivia can be played online or in person, making it a great solution for remote teams. Bring your team together and start asking questions to your team. These can be things that they might already know, like, “Who is the tallest member of the team?” Or things they will need to guess at, like, “Who in the office has eight siblings?” The player with the most correct answers is the winner!

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.

How to play Bin Basketball

Grab two trash bins in the office and play ball! You can purchase a ball for this game but also just as easily use a tightly crumpled up piece of paper. Split into teams of two and play for around 10 minutes so each team member gets a chance to take a shot. Winner is determined by the team that makes the most baskets.

How to do Team tour

One of the simplest energizers you can do before a virtual meeting is to ask each willing employee to give a 1-minute webcam tour of their workspace. Take turns showing people around, telling them where you are, and accepting questions about the location and/or any noteworthy items/observations.

We like this exercise for remote teams because you often find that people are working in some unusual places! From cafes in Zanzibar to the breakfast bar in their brother’s house, you learn more about each other and find new things to talk about.

To spice things up, you could send prior instructions to cultivate a “special workspace” for the day. This could include putting up decorations, going somewhere new, or bringing family photos to show the group.