Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

After gathering everyone together in a remote arena, a game of Emoji Communication is a great way to get teams working together. This game highlights how easy it is to misinterpret digital messages and the importance of thoughtful communication. It helps members build agile skills where tone and context need extra clarification.

Set up:

One person in the remote meeting is chosen as the messenger. They create a message, a clear and cohesive sentence using only emojis. No words allowed! Everyone else works by a timer and writes down their guesses. Dish out points for correct guesses and rotate the messenger. Some example sentences to start you off could be:

"Let’s grab coffee and chat" ☕👫💬
"Team celebration tonight!" 🎉🍻🎶🕺
"Emergency! Need a quick solution" 🚨🧠⚙️⏳

Rev up your office adventure with the Desk Dash Dash, a high-energy escapade through the corridors of cubicles and the realms of workstations. Teams must maneuver through a maze of office furniture, execute synchronized chair spins, and complete paperclip toss challenges. The twist? Team members can only use office supplies to communicate and navigate. The rush is on, and the winner takes the title of the ultimate Desk Dash Dash champion!

Instructions

• Form teams with a mix of skills.
• Create a course with obstacles through the office space.
• Teams navigate the course, completing challenges at each station.
• Use only office supplies for communication during the challenge.
• The first team to complete the course wins.

How to play Emotional status

One person assigns an emotion to another person, and they must act out that emotion. You can choose the emotions off the cuff or write down several and tear them into little slips that you draw from. It’s extra fun if you choose more obscure emotions aside from the usual “anger”, “happy” - try “envious” or “in love”.

Grab your party hats and imagine the sweet taste of success as you envision your retirement bash! In this activity, participants fast-forward to the future, picturing the day they bid farewell to the 9-to-5 grind. But it's not just about the cake and balloons – it's a chance to reflect on the accomplishments you want to be celebrated for at that legendary retirement party. We're talking about a holistic approach here – both professional victories and personal triumphs. By contemplating your legacy and long-term impact, you can set goals that align with your values and priorities, ensuring a fulfilling journey throughout your career and beyond.

Top Tips For Facilitators:

• Encourage thinking about personal successes, growth, and relationships for a balanced view of success.
• Try pictures or charts to make future plans clear and real.
• Emphasize goals that match values, ensuring a celebration that reflects a well-lived life.

How to play:

Create a word search puzzle using safety-related terms (e.g., "first aid," "PPE," "emergency"). Distribute the puzzles to employees and offer a small prize for the first person to complete it.

This quick office game is a simple yet effective way to familiarize employees with important safety vocabulary. It’s a relaxing activity that can be done during breaks, reinforcing key terms and concepts in a fun way. The satisfaction of finding that last hidden word is a great bonus.

How to Cup toppers

For this game you’ll need some cups or tumblers and some old compact discs. Place the cup a reasonable amount of space away from the player (such as a few feet, across a table). Have them take a stack of CDs and toss them, one by one, onto the cup. Their goal is to land as many as they can flat onto the top of the cup. Whoever strikes the most landings wins.

How to play 10 things I do well

Another version of simply sharing information about yourself, ask people to come up with a list of ten things they do well. It’s a good idea to have a pen and paper at each place setting in advance so that people can brainstorm. Have everyone stand up and share their list with the group. This is actually a really powerful way to understand group dynamics and who is best for what, which is important for collaboration in the workplace. Plus, it’s a sort of forced reminder for individuals about what they are good at, which is a confidence builder.

How to play Group order

Start with everyone mingling in a large area, and instruct them to arrange themselves in order of something like height, number of pets, time with your company, etc. This way, everyone can learn something new about each other and the line organization is helpful for team-building. This is a quick game and you can get as creative as you want with it. Try some other get-to-know-you games from our list!

For this activity, your employees will get to grips with an online whiteboard and practice agile communication and visualization skills. A lot of agile skills can be honed with the right visualization methods, especially down complex ideas and practices into smaller chunks.

Set up:

Use an online whiteboard accessible to all (WebWhiteBoard and Miro will both do the job). You need to assign one person as the sketcher, give them a topic (like “project workflow”), and allow one minute to draw it silently. Team members guess the drawing, and then share feedback and annotations to enhance clarity and collaboration.

Answering a single question about yourself is great. But what if you could spend 5 entire minutes telling the team about something that makes you unique? Or a topic you’re passionate about?

Wouldn’t that be a more effective way to help people get to know you?

Of course it would! That’s why some managers and CEOs ask their remote employees to prepare brief presentations to share with everyone. An empowering trust-building activity, it gives team members a voice – a podium from which to tell their colleagues about who they are and what they enjoy doing outside work.

This brings people together for two main reasons. Firstly, the more you know about someone, the more you care about them! And secondly, the more you open up to others, the more comfortable you feel around them.

The end result is a stronger and more trusting relationship.

How to play 5-Minute presentations

As for practicalities, you can approach these 5-minute presentations in a few different ways. For example, why not set aside an entire afternoon to let every team member give their presentation at once? Alternatively, you could start the mornings with one – asking different people to present on each day of the week.

What you need:

• Nothing by way of tools, but you’ll want to give people enough time to prepare their presentations – especially if they’re nervous about public speaking.

Explanation:

‍Teams brainstorm and design the ultimate office gadget that solves an everyday problem, like a self-cleaning desk or a coffee cup that never gets cold. The goal is to sketch out the concept and explain how it works.

In this hybrid version, remote and in-office workers team up to brainstorm their gadget ideas. Remote workers can use virtual tools to create digital sketches and presentations, while in-office workers can build mockups or create physical prototypes using whatever’s available. Everyone collaborates on how the gadget would work and why it would make office life easier (or just more fun). At the end, each team shares their gadget ideas via video call, showing off both the digital and physical aspects of their creation.

It’s a fun way to mix creativity and problem-solving across both work environments!

In silent birthday shuffle, players must line up in order of their birthdays, but here’s the twist—no talking allowed! Only hand signals and body language can be used to figure out everyone’s birthdate, making it a fun and often chaotic communication challenge.

This game is perfect for breaking the ice and encouraging non-verbal teamwork.

How to play:

• Players must arrange themselves in the order of their birthdays.
• No talking allowed—only hand signals and gestures can be used.
• The game ends when the team is successfully in order!

Looking for more team building ideas to energize your group? Browse our full guide for more inspiration.

How to play "Steal the bacon”

A very competitive game, the goal of this activity is to steal an item from the middle of a group. How does it work? Divide a large group into two smaller ones, and assign everyone on Team A and Team B a number. For example, each person on both teams gets a number 1-10. Then have the teams stand opposite of each other with the object in the middle. Have a moderator announce a number randomly, and then that number from each team will attempt to grab the object and take it back to their side. This is a very physical game, so keep your team in mind when suggesting it.

Instructions:

1. Divide participants into teams of 4-6 with puzzles and workspace.
2. Teams solve the puzzle within a specified time, demonstrating leadership skills.
3. Assign the role of ‘team leader’ and allow them to oversee progress.
4. Set a time limit for completion, emphasizing collaboration and effective communication.
5. Debrief and discuss team approaches, leadership qualities, challenges, and strategies.
6. Reflect on individual and collective leadership skills, share insights and lessons.

This game is no ordinary puzzle-solving extravaganza. It challenges teams to collaborate, communicate, and showcase their leadership prowess. By assigning team leaders, setting time limits, and emphasizing effective problem-solving, this game hones their ability to guide and bring out the best in your team. So grab your puzzle pieces and get ready to unlock your team’s inner leadership maestro in a fun and engaging way.

Time to network, fast! In speed connections, team members pair up and exchange quick introductions within a time limit. Once time’s up, they move to the next person and repeat. It’s fast-paced, fun, and perfect for breaking the ice.

This fun team-building activity is ideal for fostering connections in the workplace, especially when there are new faces around. It helps people practice communication skills and learn interesting things about each other—all in a short time. Plus, it’s a great way to add a burst of energy to the day.

How to play:

• Pair up and introduce yourselves to each other.
• Set a time limit (e.g., 1-2 minutes per conversation).
• When time’s up, switch partners and repeat.

Alternative Application is the game that challenges players to think outside the box—you’ll be surprised by the innovative ideas your employees will come up with!

Great for: Creative thinking

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: Various office items (at least one per player)

How to play Alternative Application

Setup: Before play begins, gather a variety of random office objects (at least one, preferably two, per player). Objects might include a stapler, flipchart, kitchen kettle etc.

To play: Taking turns, pass one of the objects to a player and ask them to mime an alternative use of that object. Meanwhile, the other players try to guess what action is being mimed.

For example, the player with the flipchart might stand it on its legs, drape a sheet of paper over their head, and mime taking a photograph on a vintage view camera. Once somebody guesses correctly, play moves to the next player.

How to play Target circle

In this energizing game, everyone stands in a circle. One person stands in the middle and their job is to find a “target” within the circle. They take turns looking around the circle and choosing one person to point to. Then, they’ll point to a person and they should try to jump out of the way or crouch in time to be “missed” by their pointing. If the leader does miss them, they stay in the game. If they’ve been “hit”, they leave the circle. This game is sure to lead to a lot of laughs. For more fast, minute-to-win-it games, check out our past post.

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.

This game allows players to explore their potential leadership strengths by creating their pizza with “skill” toppings.

How to play:

Participants draw out a pizza with six slices. They are then asked to put toppings on their pizza, but instead of mushrooms, it’s a skill that they believe they would excel at. Once the pizzas are complete, people present their pizza, explaining why they chose their skills and engaging in a group discussion.

After talking amongst one another, receiving feedback, and discussing their strengths and weaknesses, if you’re willing to take the conversation a step further, everyone revisits their pizza and updates their skills according to feedback.

Materials you’ll need: Paper and general arts and crafts materials. Tables and chairs for drawing surfaces

How many people: Small to mid-sized teams (8-16 people)

How to play How Well Do You Know Me

Here’s a brilliant question game for a) testing how well you know your teammates and b) helping everyone learn more about each other.

To play, one person acts as the subject while everyone else is a guesser. You then choose questions (that someone has compiled in advance or found on the internet) that both the subject and guessers must answer about the subject. Potential questions include:

• “Where did I grow up?”
• “What’s my favorite food?”
• “What are my current hobbies?”
• “Who is my celebrity crush?”
• “What historical figure do I look up to?”

For example, if Dave from HR was the subject, he’d answer questions about himself; the other players would attempt to answer the questions about him. After writing down their answers, everyone would then compare what they put! You then swap roles so that everyone has a chance to be the subject.

How to play Top Five

In this game, you’ll ask players to come up with their five favorites across several categories. Each player can make a list and then share with the larger group. The options for categories are nearly limitless and you should try to cater them to your audience. Try creating “best-of” lists for these categories:

• Movies
• TV shows
• Books
• Songs
• Vacations
• Desserts
• Websites
• Celebrities
• Blogs
• Animals
• Brands
• Apps

How to play Matching animal game

This game requires some light preparation, but it’s easy to execute. First, you’ll need to come up with pairs of cards, each with a matching animal (so two tigers, two elephants, etc). Hand the cards out randomly and make sure everyone keeps them a secret. The goal is for players to find the animal that matches theirs without using words - instead, they should make animal noises or movements to hint as to their species. The first “animal team” to pair off wins.

Perhaps you got some practice at this game whilst procrastinating in school.

How to play the Wiki-relay race

The team will be divided into two teams. The two teams will be racing each other to land on the ‘destination topic’ fastest.

For example, a member from each team both need to load the same Wikipedia page, let’s take “The Grand Canyon” for example. When the starter pistol fires, the two competitors need to race each other to land on the page ‘Manicure’ by clicking through links on Wikipedia. The first person to reach the ‘destination page’ is the winner.

How to play Colleague feud

Like Family Feud, but with coworkers! You’ll need to do some prep for this game, as you’ll have to not only divide people into smaller teams of 4 or 5, but come up with categories. If you want to keep them work focused, try topics like “Things you find in your office breakroom”. Keep points for each correct answer given and then announce a winner at the end.