Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Keep your team moving with healthy hustle challenge! Teams work together on daily wellness goals—whether it’s step counts, hydration, or stretching breaks—and track their progress in a shared spreadsheet. It's a fun way to keep each other accountable and celebrate small wins.

This challenge is a great motivator to stay healthy while working remotely, with a little team spirit and friendly competition sprinkled in.

How to play:

• Set daily wellness goals (e.g., steps, hydration, or workouts).
• Teams track their progress in a shared spreadsheet.
• Celebrate the team with the best overall progress at the end!

How to play State list

How many states can you name in one minute? Have players list as many states (and capitals, if you want to make things extra challenging) as they can in a minute. It’s easiest to do this in written form. Whoever names the most wins!

Minefield is a fun energization game that improves communication and listening skills. All you need is an open space and a bunch of soft-edged objects.

Great for: Listening skills, communication, energization

Duration: 10–15 minutes

You’ll need: Various soft objects like balloons, foam blocks, plastic cups, etc.

How to play:

• Divide your group into teams of about 4–5 players and blindfold one player from each team.
• Spread out your soft-edged objects throughout the space.
• Ask the teams to stand at one end of the room.
• When you shout “Go!” the blindfolded player must make their way to the other side of the room without touching any of the objects on the floor. The players without blindfolds are allowed to give verbal commands to the blindfolded player. They are NOT allowed to touch or guide the blindfolded player in any way.
• The team to reach the other side of the room first without touching any of the objects wins. If a team touches an object, they must return to the start.

How to play Linkword

Here’s a letter game that has some great online worksheets to get teams started. This fast-paced brain teaser has teams thinking laterally. You might want to create teams for this one, as some examples can really get people scratching their heads.

Your teams will look at three words and have to decide on one word that connects all three. Common words are the aim of the game. Let’s say for example you show them the words “POINT,” “SAFETY,” and “CUSHION”. All three of these words can be connected with the word “PIN,” forming “pinpoint,” “safety pin,” and “pin cushion.” Try this one out with your teams.

How to play Trading post

Understanding pricing and its effects on supply and demand is a natural skill in the business world. This game can help your employees to focus on this area in new ways. You can do this game for any length of time, so it’s perfect for fitting into most agendas. Start with two groups, a pile of fake money, and some simple items to trade like paper clips or pencils. Each group should have their own money and supply of items. The groups will need to decide what things cost and come up with trade terms.

Then, they should get busy buying, selling, and trading. At the end of the exercise, bring everyone together and see who came out ahead. Why did one group do better than the other? What did everyone learn? Supply and demand are pretty simple economic concepts that most people know, but this is a fun reminder and refresher.

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.

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!

How to play Budget balance

For all the math geeks out there! Give each participant a word problem describing an individual’s income and spending habits, such as regular bills and discretionary spending. Does the imaginary individual have a balanced budget? Or perhaps they have a serious spending problem. Who can figure it out first? This is a fun little math competition that can be done independently. Make sure to provide calculators.

Whether you’re onboarding new employees or simply want your current employees to form a more cohesive unit, Hypeman’s sure to help. Incorporating personal introductions and an element of role play, it’s a popular activity that never fails to create a positive atmosphere in the office!

How to play Hypeman

Give it a shot by dividing the team into groups of 3 and asking them to assign themselves roles:

• Player 1 has to share some basic personal information with the group (e.g. where they’re from, what they do, what hobbies they have, and so on)
• Player 2 introduces Player 1 to the audience by recounting what they just learned about them in a simple, matter-of-fact manner
• Player 3 is the “Hypeman”. Their task is similar, except they introduce Player 1 in an exaggerated, hyperbolic way that makes them sound amazing!

For instance, Player 2 might introduce Player 1 by saying, “This is Arthur. He’s a salesman for our company who enjoys playing tennis at the weekends.”

Then Hypeman would step in and say, “Here’s Arthur – AKA, the coolest guy I know! He’s so good at his job that he could sell an ice pack to an Inuit! Oh, and he wields a tennis racket like Roger Federer too. Honestly, you’d be a fool not to be his pal.”

You’d then mix up the roles so everyone had a chance to be the Hypeman (and to be hyped by their colleague!). Encourage witty and outlandish claims; crazy compliments that make people laugh. You could even go a step further and award prizes for the most successful Hypeman – as voted by the group!

This game relies on solid opinions, sure to get people talking. As the game's name implies, your team will get to know each other quickly, discussing the things they love and hate the most.

How to play:

‍Team members go around and ask a question about the best thing they can learn from the group. After each participant's answer, they go to the next person who asks about the worst thing their team can talk about. That can be like, “what is the best meal you ever had.”

This continues until everyone has the chance to ask a question, and receive answer.

Materials you’ll need Just your team and a large seating area.

How many people: Small to large teams (8-25+ people)

How to play Giant Connect Four

Instructions: Set up a giant Connect Four board on a stand. Participants take turns dropping their colored discs into the slots, aiming to get four in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The player who achieves four in a row first wins.

Materials needed: Giant Connect Four board.

Giant Connect Four is a strategic and engaging game that promotes critical thinking, decision-making, and friendly competition. It encourages problem-solving skills and provides an opportunity for participants to interact and strategize with each other in a relaxed setting.

There’s nothing like a spot of mischief to bring colleagues closer together. With office makeovers, different teams within the company have the chance to “redecorate” another team’s space. From unraveling rolls of toilet paper to putting up posters of people’s favorite boy bands, the options are endless.

Set some ground rules beforehand to stop the pranks from going overboard though. The atmosphere should be light and full of laughter – not frustration at the state of your redecorated space!

We all loved arts and crafts when we were kids, and this game brings out our inner child while encouraging problem-solving and creative thinking.

How to play: Split the group into two teams. Make sure you have enough space to place people to be apart or use a sheet to divide the space. Teams work together to construct one-half of a bridge, which will eventually be together. It’s essential for each group not to be able to see the other’s progress. The two groups can communicate verbally to ensure the design will result in a stable, “functioning” bridge.

Materials you’ll need: Construction materials, like newspaper, tape, legos, cardboard, etc. Make sure you have a device for measuring, like tape or a long rule—enough space for teams to work privately.

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

Short, snappy, funny, physical, and with a powerful message about collaboration, this energizer for large workgroups is hard to beat.

How to play Stand back to back

It starts with participants pairing up with someone of a similar build. They then sit back to back on the floor and link their arms together. Their task?

To stand up while remaining with their backs together and arms interconnected.

Aside from providing plenty of laughs, this warm-up activity provides a valuable opportunity to discuss the importance of trust, alignment, teamwork and moving in the same direction to achieve a common goal. Take advantage of it!

Always be sensitive to people’s differing physical capabilities though. Skip this exercise for something else if it doesn’t seem appropriate.

Office Apples to Apples is a hilarious twist on the classic word game, perfect for bringing some shenanigans to a corporate event. Here's how to get the party started.

Set up:

1. Get your cards ready. A spin on the traditional Apples to Apples card game, you need to create cards with office-themed words or phrases, like “coffee break” or “Monday meeting madness”.
2. Lay Down the Law: Explain that one lucky soul plays judge in each round while the others throw down their wackiest associations to the green apple card played.
3. The judge picks their favorite, and that team scores a point. Set a point limit for winners.
4. Keep the laughs rolling by rotating judges each round.

How to play Recall quiz (at the end of an event)

How about a little icebreaker to wrap things up? Most icebreakers are at the beginning, but with longer events, we suggest interspersing them throughout - including the end. Have everyone go around the room and share their biggest takeaway from the day. Or, have a list of quiz-style questions that you ask everyone and see who can remember the most answers. Recall is an important part of memory, so this is a great time to reiterate the concepts that you really want people to take away.

How to play Instant win games

Instant gratification is a powerful motivator for most people. If you want people to buy more of your product, try putting together a game where they can find out if they won or lost immediately. For example, having people scratch to win, spin a wheel, or pull a lever on a slot machine are all simple actions that could result in an exciting prize for your customers.

It can be as simple as a retail store putting together a wheel to spin that has various prizes or discounts attached, and asking each customer if they want to give it a whirl. If you put it near the front of your store, you may be surprised how many people stop in. Make sure to promote it (and the winners) on social media for even more traction.

How to play:

Provide each team member with a large sheet of paper or a whiteboard and markers. Choose a central theme or problem and ask individuals or teams to create mind maps to explore creative solutions and connections.

Materials needed: Large paper or whiteboards, markers

Benefits:

• Visual brainstorming: Unleash the power of visual thinking and witness the magic as your team maps out a landscape of ideas. This activity brings creativity to life in vivid detail, transforming the mundane into a visually captivating tapestry of possibilities.

• Idea generation powerhouse: Brace yourself for an explosion of creativity as your team members pour their thoughts and insights into the mind maps. This collaborative activity becomes a breeding ground for innovative ideas, with each contributor adding fuel to the creative fire, igniting a whirlwind of possibilities.

Agile principles usually involve executing tasks quickly, so get your teams into the habit of fast-paced decision-making with Lightning Planning. It’s a high-energy activity that flexes your prioritization muscles, which is great for reinforcing agile values.

Set up:

Set a timer for 2 minutes. Have your team members brainstorm one task on a sticky note that they believe is crucial to today’s immediate goals. When the time's up, each person shares their note out loud and sticks it to the board. Then, as one big team, arrange all tasks in order of importance, then discuss the top priorities and any overlaps.

How to play Six thinking hats

If you want your team to focus on coming up with more creative solutions, this activity can help. You’ll need to organize people into groups of no more than 10, and have several different color paper hats. Each hat represents a different perspective. Here are some sample colors and what they correlate to:

• White: Facts and information
• Red: Emotions and feelings
• Black: Critical analysis
• Yellow: Benefits and positives
• Green: Creativity and alternatives
• Blue: Big picture thinking

Give each group a problem to solve and tell them to approach the issue from their unique “hat” perspective. Using these different philosophies, the group should come up with a solution that works for everyone and takes all of these positions into account. You can have a debrief where everyone discusses the process and what they found most challenging. If you have time, you can always add a second or even third round where people switch their hats and approach a new issue from a different perspective. This is also a great exercise for managers to observe closely. It’s a great way of seeing how people think and where their strengths lie.

How to play Story challenge

For the language lovers on your team, try this version of an ongoing story icebreaker. To play, each person receives a number of words (a word bank) that they can use to create a story. Then, everyone reads their piece out loud or presents it to the group. To come up with the words available for each person, you can use a random word generator online, or get creative. For example, consider instructing participants that they can only use words from the company website, or from the emails they received in their inbox yesterday.

How to play Classification Exercise

For this one, you’ll need to gather about 20 supplies from around the office. Grab a variety like water bottles, coffee filters, paper clips, etc. Then have your team find common denominators and group the items according to those qualities. Encourage them to come up with 4 or 5 different groupings, each with a few items in them. This forces creative thinking about everyday objects, which is a good way to get creative juices flowing. Communication is also important in getting people to agree to the classification.

How to play Postcard drawing

Sometimes also called “doodling together”, this activity is a fun and creative one where the group works collaboratively together to draw using postcards started by others. Have everyone get a blank postcard and then the moderator should give some direction about what to draw. Then, they lay the postcard down and the next person adds their postcard, continuing whatever pattern or drawing was started by the previous person. The process keeps going until a large drawing is completed using the postcards. You’ll need to do this in a very large room or outdoors, and have plenty of postcard-size paper and markers or crayons available.

Have your teams flex their teamwork muscles while experimenting with their engineering skills. Build a bridge uses small, nifty materials to set the stage for a group challenge.

How to set up:

1. Gather Your Gear. You’re going to need specific materials. Raid the supply closet for straws, tape, and popsicle sticks. Also, get them sorted into teams to save the supplies.
2. Rule check time! Explain that teams need to create the strongest free-standing bridge they can, and lay down some time limits to add a sense of urgency.
3. Time to test the strength of each bridge and see if it can handle pressure. Load the bridges up with weights and see which one stands strong at the end.