Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

This game takes a little more precision than the others and needs a steady hand. Cup Tower Jenga can be played in teams or as a solo cup game. You’ll need some medium-sized index cards. If you can’t get index cards, try cutting up some A4 paper. Make sure the paper has a similar weight, around 150gsm. If the paper is too light, it won’t support the cups’ weight. Each sheet needs to be big enough to fit an upside-down paper cup. Now let’s set the game up.

Set-up:

1. Stack up a tower: Each participant needs four cups and a table in front of them. On the table, they need to build a tower of upside-down cups, four cups high. Between each upside-down cup should be placed 1 index card.
2. Carefully deconstruct: One at a time, players need to slide out an index card, so that the cup above neatly falls over and contains the cup beneath it. Precision beats strength here. If the construction is rushed, or cards aren’t pulled perfectly, the whole tower is likely to fall down. If the tower falls before the 4 paper cups are perfectly stacked, they need to rebuild and try again.

Try this one out in pairs, with one person being the builder and one as the demolition expert. They’ll likely strategize together. The first pair to stack 4 wins!

How to play Human machine

Effective collaboration is an important part of a well-functioning team. This training game is a great way to encourage strong cooperation. Have everyone stand in a circle with one person in the middle. They should mimic part of a “machine” by making appropriate sounds or motions.

After 5 seconds, another person should enter and connect to the first person, also making the right “machine” sounds and motions. Every 5 seconds a new person joins, until everyone is connected as a well-running machine. This game is also good if you’re looking for some physical activity to break up a long day, or a quick office game.

Hosting a company-wide employee appreciation day is an idea to show employees gratitude and recognition for their hard work, dedication, and contributions to the organization. It's an opportunity for employers to express their appreciation and for employees to feel valued and motivated.

Here are some ideas and suggestions for celebrating Employee Appreciation Day:

1. Write personalized thank-you notes to each employee, highlighting their contributions and efforts.
2. Offer gift cards to employees to take themselves to lunch or coffee.
3. Hand out employee awards that highlight outstanding employees with awards or certificates, such as "Employee of the Month."
4. Host a company-wide employee breakfast where employees can relax and bond with one another.
5. Take the day off for team-building activities that encourage employee bonding and camaraderie.
6. Take the day off to volunteer day and use all that appreciative energy to do some good. Volunteer for a charitable cause or support a community project as a team-building activity.
7. Acknowledge each employee's unique interests and preferences, which can make the recognition more meaningful.
8. Share employee accomplishments on social media, the company website, or a company newsletter to highlight their contributions.

Employee appreciation day is all about celebration and showing gratitude and should be made an ongoing practice within the workplace to maintain a positive and motivated workforce.

How to play Bullseye

Another hands-on game, this is just what it sounds like - trying to hit a bullseye target. Put up a large bullseye target in the space that you’re working in, and have people throw foam balls to try and hit it. If you want it to be more “icebreaker-ish” then have each person announce their name and role before tossing the ball. Keep track and narrow down to a few winners that need to share a bit more information about themselves in order to get a prize.

Here’s another easy, energizing, ice-breaking, and amusing activity that brings teams together and helps co-workers learn more about each other.

How to play My first job was…

To play My First Job, start by handing out a pen and a post-it note or scrap of paper to each participant. Next – and without showing anyone else – they have to write down whatever their first job was, before folding up the paper, and placing it in a hat/box in the center of the room.

From there, teammates take turns selecting a post-it from the pile, reading the role to the group and then guessing who wrote it. If they get it wrong, the rest of the team can jump in, working together to decide who had the job. Expect friendly banter, laughter, and all sorts of revelations to ensue!

Top tip: My First Job can be played in remote teams too. You’d simply ask people to send their jobs to you – the moderator – privately beforehand, then plug them into an online tool such as Wheel Decide. Employees can then spin the wheel and guess the owner of whatever job they land on.

With digital playbook, employees create short user manuals or intro videos explaining how they work best—whether it’s preferred meeting times, communication styles, or favorite work snacks. It’s like a cheat sheet for collaborating effectively!

This activity helps teams understand each other’s work preferences and habits, which can make remote teamwork smoother and more enjoyable.

How to play:

• Each team member creates a short video or document explaining how they work best.
• Share the playbooks with the team so everyone can reference them.
• Use the playbooks to understand teammates' work habits and collaborate better!

Get ready to wield your balloon-bashing skills in the exhilarating Balloon Sword Fight challenge! As your teams gear up for friendly combat, the atmosphere will be filled with excitement and laughter. Inspired by the fast-paced action of sword fights, this game replaces steel with balloons, turning your colleagues into balloon-busting warriors. It's not just about popping balloons; it's about teamwork, strategy, and the art of joyful competition.

Instructions

• Divide participants into teams of equal size.
• Equip each team member with a balloon "sword" – a harmless, air-filled weapon.
• Set up a designated play area with safety precautions in place.
• Teams strategize and plan their approach to the battle.
• Engage in friendly combat, trying to pop opponents' balloons while protecting your own.
• The last team with an intact balloon wins the round.
• Encourage sportsmanship and celebrate the victorious team.

How to play Solving a riddle

If you don’t have time for an entire case study resolution, start simpler: a riddle. Check our article with plenty of riddles that don’t take a lot of time to solve. You might want to make it a little contest, and begin by sharing the riddle and seeing which team can solve it first. Need some inspiration? This one is from the classic book, the Hobbit: “This thing all things devours; Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town; Beats the high mountain down. What is it?” The answer is time!

Get ready to sweat, strategize, and laugh together. The Obstacle Course Challenge throws your team into a physical adventure filled with ropes, walls, and adrenaline. But it's not just about conquering obstacles; it's about conquering them together. You'll shout encouragement, lend a hand, and celebrate each victory as a united front. Through the sweat and cheers, you'll find yourselves communicating better, trusting more, and learning that each member's strength boosts the whole team. It's teamwork, it's a workout, and it's a whole lot of unforgettable fun.

Instructions

• Nominate a team leader for organized coordination.
• Familiarize teams with the course layout and safety rules.
• Teammates support each other to conquer physical challenges.
• Offer encouraging words and provide guidance during tough spots.
• End the challenge with a triumphant team cheer to boost morale.

In memory lane wall, teammates write down their fondest workplace memories and pin them on a designated wall for everyone to see. It’s a simple but powerful way to spread positivity and reminisce about shared experiences that have brought the team closer.

This is a heartwarming way to boost morale and remind everyone of the good times they’ve had together in the office.

How to play:

• Provide a space for team members to write down their favorite workplace memories.
• Pin the memories on a shared wall for everyone to read.
• Enjoy the positive vibes and walk down memory lane together!

Here’s a game that demands timing and cat-like reflexes. It’s a rework of musical chairs, something that we’ve all played in childhood at least once. The game is fast-paced and competitive, making it a perfect team energizer. You’ll need a group of 4 to 10 people, a table and an amount of cups that is one less than the number of players you have. Basically, one person is going to be eliminated each round!

Set-up:

1. Get the music started! Get your Bluetooth speaker and an upbeat playlist ready. On the table place a number of cups that is one less than the amount of people playing. Most people will recognize the rules instinctively; you play the music and each player walks around the table clockwise. When the music stops, each person needs to grab one cup with lightning-fast speed. Whoever is without a cup at the end of this round is eliminated. Remove one cup and move to the next round.

2. Whittle down the competition: Continue eliminating one player per round. Make the music more intense and crazy as each round passes by. Eventually, only one person will be left standing (and sipping!), so crown this person as the winner of Musical Cups!

Cups can be full or empty as people play, and as with our other drinking games, choose a beverage that’s easy to clean up and applies to your work setting. Organize it during a work happy hour to get the party started. We’ll say cheers to that!

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!

Every team's got its hiccups, but conflict resolution is the superhero cape. It saves the day by smoothing things over and turning tense moments into learning experiences.

Conflict resolution activity - Role play resolutions:

• Develop fictional workplace scenarios involving conflicts or disagreements.
• Pair colleagues and assign each pair a scenario to role-play.
• Partners take turns assuming the roles of individuals in the conflict and work together to find constructive solutions through communication and negotiation.
• After role-playing, each pair presents their conflict and proposed resolution to the larger group.
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This interactive activity hones conflict resolution skills, encourages creative problem-solving and enhances communication strategies.

Not every team-building activity needs to be carefully choreographed. Sometimes, organic bonding activities like Company Potluck build stronger relationships.

Great for: Interpersonal bonding

Duration: 1–2 hours

You’ll need: N/A

How to organise:

• Set a time and date for your team to come together for a group meal.
• Ask each team member to arrive with a snack or dish which they prepared themselves. For the more culinary inept employees, shop-bought products are also acceptable.
• Everybody arrives at the event with their offerings and spends the afternoon eating and mingling with their colleagues.
• To prevent lots of people from bringing the same product, you can pin a paper to the staffroom wall for people to write down what they intend to bring.

How to play:

Sit in a circle and start a story with a few sentences. Each person adds a sentence to continue the story, building upon the previous contributions.

Materials needed: None

Benefits:

• Enhanced communication skills: Your team will be able to improve their ability to listen and build upon the ideas of others. It's like a symphony of words, where everyone gets a chance to play their unique melody.
• Team synergy on steroids: Witness the magic of teamwork as your team's contributions harmonize into a cohesive storyline. It's like a literary potluck where each person brings their secret ingredient to create a masterpiece.

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.

How to play Lights, camera, action!

Here’s a funky and active virtual corporate event that is great for the movie buffs out there. ‘Lights, camera, action!’ is a game where teams need to act out a chosen scene from a movie. Prepare cards with famous scenes beforehand, like Luke Skywalker’s parental discovery or Pulp Fiction’s mysterious briefcase, then award points when someone guesses correctly.

You could even spice things up by hosting a mock Oscar award ceremony with awards after everyone’s finished. Cut!

If your team members work with each other daily, they probably already have a good system of teamwork. However, crafting a relay activity can really amplify and broaden the way teams function together. A cross-team relay involves “handing off” completed stages of a larger project. Here’s how to set it up:

Set up:

Create teams of 5 or 6 members. Each team member needs one hypothetical role in a shared project. An example could be designing a product feature. Introduce or reinforce the concept of a “sprint,” which is extremely important to agile working. Use a timer for this “short sprint” period, where each person completes their segment, then “hands off” their work to the next member. After a few rounds, bring everyone together to review the finished product, and reflect on each step of the handover. The aim is for seamless collaboration between each handover.

Get your virtual whiteboards ready for remote sketch-off! One player describes an object in detail, and everyone else has to draw it based solely on the description—no peeking. The results? Often hilarious.

It’s a great way to have some fun, practice communication, and see who’s got the best artistic (or interpretive) skills.

How to play:

• One person describes an object, step by step.
• Everyone else draws it on an online whiteboard.
• Compare drawings for some laughs and see who got closest to the real thing!

Learning how our colleague's minds work enables us to see things from their perspective. Blind Drawing tests your employee’s abilities to interpret the instructions provided by their partner.

Great for: Communication, observation, listening

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Pen, paper, reference images

How to play Blind Drawing

Setup: Divide your group into pairs and ask them to sit back to back. Give one player from each pair a reference image and give the other player the pen and paper.

To play: The player with the pen and paper must attempt to draw the reference image by listening to the instructions provided by their partner. The drawer cannot speak or communicate in any way—they must do their best with the instructions they’re given. When the time runs out, ask each team to present their drawing. The team whose drawing most resembles the reference image wins.

How to play Rock-paper-scissors challenge

Who didn’t play this game as a kid? Give this energizing grown-up version a try. People should play against each other in pairs until the first win. For added fun, have the people who become eliminated in each round stand in a cheering section for their favorite in the next round. Repeat the process until there are only two players, each with a large fan base. Since this game will get loud, it’s best to play outside in a large, open space. It’s a favorite because it requires no supplies and very little preparation, and gets everyone excited right away.

How to play Marketing charades

Charades can be fun and helpful in almost any scenario, and business is no different! For this version, divide the team into two groups. Then have each group get a product, slogan, or promotional tactic to act out, while the other team guesses it.

You can focus on products from your company or overall marketing concepts like social media. Keep in mind: the more vague the idea, the harder it will be to act out! You may want to use a charades generator found online to help come up with unique ideas.

How to play Wanna spoon

Using only a spoon, players should attempt to transfer as many ping pong balls as they can from one bowl to another - no hands! Hands would be allowed if you drop the ball on the ground but then they should be placed back into the original bowl for another attempt. Whoever moves the most ping pong balls in the minute timeframe wins.

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.