Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

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.

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.

Get ready to get soaked! Splash battle royale is basically dodgeball, but with water balloons. Teams face off and try to eliminate opponents by hitting them with balloons—easy enough, but staying dry? Not so much.

It’s a great way to cool off, get competitive, and share a few laughs—especially when that one overly serious teammate gets soaked. Perfect for those hot summer days when the office needs a little outdoor chaos.

How to play:

• Split into teams and arm everyone with water balloons.
• Eliminate opponents by hitting them with balloons.
• Last team standing wins (and stays the driest—maybe)!

If you’re planning more outdoor activities, explore our full list of fun team-building games for even more ideas.

How to play Online werewolf

Werewolf is a great popular party game that can run perfectly well in a virtual setting. Zoom, Google Meet, or any platform will do. Make sure all cameras and microphones are on, as seeing each other’s reactions is half the fun!

One person is the ‘moderator,’ who guides the game and assigns roles to 2 werewolves, 1 seer, and 1 doctor, while the rest are villagers. The moderator announces that ‘night has fallen, close your eyes’. Werewolves open their eyes and choose one villager to kill, while the seer can try to guess who is a werewolf, and the doctor can choose to save one person.

The day phase starts and the moderator reveals if any villagers died. Repeat night and day phases until the werewolves are eliminated or outnumber the villagers. It takes a little setup, but try this one out with some useful online werewolf apps to smoothen the gameplay. Get spooky!

How to play Bucket list sharing

Don’t let daily drudgery drain your big dreams. As a leader, you can help encourage your entire team to keep sight of those bigger life goals. Start your next event or meeting by asking everyone to share one of the items from their bucket list, with a brief explanation of why. You can encourage dialogue by asking if they think they’ll ever accomplish that goal, or how they might go about it. This is a great way to learn about what the people you work with really value and what matters to them outside of work.

How to play 3-Question mingle

This is a bit like the previous game, but also a different game in its own right. For this one, every participant should write down 3 separate questions on 3 pieces of paper. The questions should be thoughtful and meant to engage in real conversation, not just things like “where do you live?”

Then, have everyone begin to mingle around the room and start to engage in discussions in pairs. People will ask their questions and get answers. The trick is, after asking a question and getting the answer, you hand over that piece of paper to the person you’ve spoken to. They’ll do the same. This way, in your next conversation, you’ll have new questions to ask your next partner. On and on the game goes until everyone has paired off or the timer that you set goes off. Many people find this is ideal for a large group of over 50 or 60 people, and is good for encouraging participation among even your quietest team members.

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.

Effective collaboration is all about working together to achieve a common goal. It involves putting your ego to one side for the good of the team, listening to what others have to say, and responding positively instead of dismissing their ideas.

We love the Ad game because it hones in on each of these aspects of collaboration – as well as many others!

Here’s how it works:

After dividing your team into groups of at least 3 people, you give each group a particular item, such as a chair, plant pot, or cup. Feel free to tell them what they have, rather than literally giving something to them!

Each group then takes turns to provide extra information about their item, adding more and more details until they’ve turned it into a revolutionary new product.

Let’s say you gave a coffee cup to someone in Group 1. Someone in the group will start by making a statement about it, such as, “This mug has a giant handle”. Everyone in the room then yells “YES!” as if it’s the best idea they’ve ever heard.

Someone else in Group 1 then says “and”, before adding another detail (“And it has a special lid on it that functions as a coffee plunger”).

This process continues, with each group member adding further details and the entire team agreeing with their idea, until they’ve fleshed out their product and decided on a name for it. You can even take it a step further by getting them to create a tagline and identify a celebrity to endorse it.

Do this for each group until everyone’s had a turn. By the end of the game, you’ll have giggled, groaned, exercised your creative sides, and worked together in a wholly positive fashion.

Dabble is another great letter game that combines elements of Scrabble with crossword puzzles. 2 or more players compete to create five unique words. These words must be 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 letters long each, using 20 tiles. Easy to pick up, difficult to master!

How to Play:

1. Each player receives 20 letter tiles
2. Race to create a 2-letter, 3-letter, 4-letter, 5-letter and 6-letter word using your tiles.
3. The first player to finish all five words wins the race, but then scores are counted depending on the value of each letter.

This one is fast, fun, and utterly addictive!

If your team is on the creative side - or you want to encourage them to be - this is a smart activity for you. You’ll need plenty of recycled materials like paper, cardboard, or plastic items.

Here is what to do:

1. Split up your group into smaller teams.
2. Give each group a set of recycled materials. Try to give a good mix of whatever you’ve come up with.
3. The goal of each team is to come up with a unique and creative piece of art in the time allotted. The other objective is to use as many of the recycled materials as possible.
4. Once the time you set is up, each group will present their creation to the larger team.
5. Either one judge or a panel of judges will assess each art piece based on factors like creativity, teamwork, and the best use of the materials provided. The team with the highest score is the winner.

Building forts inside the office might sound juvenile. And it is! But that’s the point. Fort building is fun, silly, and creative – a perfect antidote to the usual stress and responsibility associated with work.

For this game, get everyone to bring things like bed sheets, cardboard boxes, and string to the office. Then divide the group into teams and give them a 30-minute time limit to construct the best possible fort! Each group then presents what they’ve built for you – the judge – to decide who won.

How to play Would You Rather?

In this straightforward but effective game, an employee is asked what they would do in a difficult situation. It could be along the lines of “Would you rather be always cold or always hot?” or “would you rather listen to your least favorite music everyday or a baby crying everyday”.

Make sure that you ask for their reasons as to why they chose a particular answer, as this will highlight their thought process and inject some personality into the game.

It’s a fantastic way to really get to know the likes and dislikes of your employees which could be used to your advantage as you strive to make the office a place of enjoyment.
If you’re lacking on the creative questions to ask in the game, make sure to check out our extensive list of Would You Rather questions for inspiration!

How to play Call a number

This circle game is ideal for warming up and gaining energy. Follow these steps: First, give all of the players ordered numbers (so if there are 15 players there would be numbers 1-15). Players should gather in a circle and then choose someone to go first. The player will mention a random number within the range of numbers you are playing with. The player with the number mentioned must respond by mentioning the number of another player. The game continues with players responding when another player calls their number. If a player doesn’t respond right away when their number is called, they are out.

How to play Whose story is it

This is a really engaging icebreaker game for smaller groups and teams who have known each other for years. Have everyone write down a funny or interesting (true) story on a small piece of paper. Then take all of the papers and place them into a hat to be drawn. The facilitator should randomly choose stories and read them aloud. Then, every player should guess who wrote the story. This is a great way to learn new things about people that you may have known for a long time.

How to play Pantry pop quiz

A piggyback off of the desktop exercise, learn about your colleagues favorite foods with this challenge. Have each person send a photo of the inside of their fridge or pantry and then show them during the meeting and have everyone guess who each picture belongs to. For example, many people will think it’s obvious that the bachelor in the group has only ketchup and beer in the fridge. This is a fun peek into the lifestyle of the people you work with.

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Online murder mystery events are just like their live-action counterparts, only, online! With the help of a professional third-party organiser, you can create an engaging murder mystery event for any sized group.

Murder mystery events have become a popular team-building activity because they facilitate interaction between employees and improve teamwork and problem-solving skills.

How to play Online murder mystery

To make the experience more immersive, encourage players to dress up and gather props to match the theme of the event. Also, don’t forget to utilise the background features on zoom for added realism.

Picture your team exploring global cultures in a hands-on way. The Cultural Traditions Race isn't your typical history lesson; it's an immersive experience. You'll cook, dance, and dive into traditions from various corners of the world. The catch? You're in it together. As you step into unfamiliar shoes and embrace new customs, you'll learn to communicate across differences, adapt on the fly, and appreciate the beauty of diversity. It's like a crash course in teamwork that leaves you with a deeper connection and a broader perspective.

Instructions

• Form teams to represent a range of cultures.
• Dive deep into the assigned cultural traditions to truly understand them.
• Engage in activities like cooking, dancing, or crafting as indicated.
• Reflect on the experience and share insights as a team.
• Approach each tradition with respect and an open-minded spirit.

One of the hardest parts of joining or working in a large group is remembering everyone’s name! Collaborative Portraits is a warm-up activity that helps tackle the problem, while also providing an entertaining way to get to know your colleagues.

How to play Collaborative portraits

To run the exercise, hand out a piece of paper and pen to everyone in the group and ask participants to write their names at the bottom. They should then start walking slowly around the room.

When you say “stop”, they must find someone nearby, swap their pieces of paper, and draw their partner’s eyes. When that’s done, they swap back (so they’re holding the paper with their name on it).

You then repeat this process for the remaining facial features (i.e. nose, ears, mouth, hair, chin, accessories, etcetera…). By the end of the task, everyone should be holding a full “self-portrait” that’s been drawn by their colleagues!

Top tip: Consider displaying these drawings somewhere in the office. It’d be a fun memory of the exercise and could become a decorative focal point for people to look at in idle moments.

How to play Figure it out

This activity is a combination of 20 questions and various TV game shows. It involves guessing a “secret” phrase that someone has drawn. To play, choose an initial contestant. That person draws an item based on slips of paper that you previously created. They begin by drawing a number of blanks to signal the number of words in the phrase they picked. From there, the other people present can ask yes or no questions. If someone guesses a word that appears in the secret phrase, the player writes the word in the blank. At any time, the other participants can guess the phrase. This game requires a bit of preparation. You’ll need to come up with as many “secret phrases” as there are people present, and also have large pieces of paper and a marker to keep track of the number of words for each round.

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.

On the subject of intimate activities, here’s another quick trust-building exercise that packs a punch. This time, all each team member has to do is maintain eye contact with a colleague for 60 seconds.

Give it a shot! Although it can feel a little awkward in the beginning, the simple act of looking into someone’s eyes can have profound effects. According to Healthline, for example, eye gazing has been shown to:

• Evoke feelings of love between strangers
• Increase the sense of connection between people (lifting the boundaries of “self” and “other”)
• Build trust between people (you’re more likely to believe someone who’s looking straight at you)

How to play Eye contact

This exercise could also be useful – not to mention challenging – for team members who are shy and struggle to hold people’s gaze. They should start to feel more comfortable making eye contact, which is a surefire sign of confidence.

At the end of the 60 seconds, follow the activity up with a discussion about the experience. What thoughts were they having throughout it? How did people feel? And how did they feel about the person they were looking at? Can they take anything from it to apply in the workplace?

Top tip: if you want to stretch this exercise out, you could have people repeat the process with a few additional teammates!

What you need:

• Stopwatch

How to play Family portraits

A group of people creates a tableau of a specific group member. Everyone must work together to put together an image that closely resembles the subject.

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 Stranger conversation practice

Boost team confidence by practicing talking to people you don’t know well. Pair people up in groups of two and then give them a few prompts. Their objective is to learn this information from each other using a natural dialogue. For example, maybe the goal is to learn about their favorite international cuisine, or their favorite place to vacation. It’s great practice for having an objective in mind and then being creative about how to get there.

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