Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

DISCLAIMER: sushi-lovers will have an unfair advantage.

Frustration is a fun, interactive game in which players race against the clock to transfer as many sweets as possible into their bowls using only chopsticks.

Great for: Energising your team, remaining calm under pressure

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 3+

You’ll need: Bowls, small sweets (e.g. M&Ms, Skittles, etc.), chopsticks

How to play Frustration

Setup: Place one large bowl of sweets (something small like M&Ms or raisins) in the centre of the table and position the players in a circle, at equal distances to the bowl. Give each player a small bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

To play: When the time starts, players attempt to transfer as many pieces of candy into their bowl as they can. The players can ONLY use the chopsticks—their free hand must remain behind their back. The winner is the person with the most pieces of candy in their bowl after the time runs out.

How to play weekly updates

A simple yet effective way to encourage team bonding is by facilitating weekly ‘get-togethers’ online. These meetings can be really short and shouldn’t involve work-related topics.

You can start by encouraging each employee to talk about two good things and one bad thing that happened that week.

How to play Consequences

Kicking off our list of letter games is a fun crowd-pleaser called Consequences. This one works best with groups of more than 4 people, and no materials are needed! Each player in the group is going to add a consecutive line to the group’s story. Sitting in a group, the first person writes a sentence on paper, folds and hides the message, then passes it to the next person.

You’ll need to think of some cool lines beforehand, and the amount of lines depends on the number of people. Let’s create 5 lines for a team of 5 people:

1. A man’s name
2. The word “met”, then a female name
3. “He said…”
4. “She said…”
5. “And then…”

Bingo blitz turns your workday into a game by creating Bingo cards filled with everyday office tasks or events—like “send an email,” “have a meeting,” or “drink a coffee.” As these things happen, players mark off their Bingo cards. First person to get a full row or column wins!

It’s a simple, fun way to make the office day a little more engaging and adds a bit of light competition to the regular routine.

How to play:

• Create Bingo cards with common office tasks or events.
• Players mark off tasks as they happen during the workday.
• The first person to get a full row or column shouts "Bingo!" and wins!

Explore more team building activities for work to make your office days more interactive and fun.

In What's My Name?, team members use clues to help a participant guess the famous person's name on their forehead.

Instructions on how to play:

1. Write the name of a famous person on a Post-it note for each participant without letting them see it.
2. Place the Post-it note on each participant's forehead.
3. Team members provide verbal clues without saying the actual name, helping each participant guess who they are.
4. Rotate turns until everyone has guessed their famous persona.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Communication and collaboration: Encourages effective communication and collaboration in providing clues.
• Fun and engagement: Adds an element of excitement as participants try to decipher the clues and guess the famous person.
• Icebreaker: Facilitates conversation and laughter in a light-hearted setting.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Choose a diverse list of famous people to cater to different interests within the team. Encourage creativity in providing clues and celebrate the humor that arises from the game.

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Similarly to Kanban practices, an Estimation Game helps your employees manage their tasks and workflow. The premise of the game is to estimate the time or effort needed for project tasks. This can be especially helpful for newer team members and those working across departments. Here’s the setup.

Set up:

Have team members write down some of the important tasks they carry out at work on sticky notes. Get them displayed across your groups. These could be tasks like “creating a project timeline” or “preparing a corporate presentation.” The guesses need to be from people who don’t perform those tasks, estimating how long each one takes. The task owner reveals to the group the actual time needed, with the closest guess gaining a point.

Bull Ring is a popular game that demands teams work together on a shared goal. You will need to purchase some materials, but this is considered one of the best games to encourage cooperation and teamwork, so it’s likely worth it! Bull Ring is more involved than some previous games, which require little more than a blindfold or some markers.

How to play:  

‍Teams must transport a small ball from one post to another using a string system with a circle in the center. The ball rests in the center, and teams must ensure it doesn’t roll off during transport from one area.

Team members must communicate consistently throughout the process, as each body movement significantly impacts the ball moving, so each individual must listen carefully and be aware at all times.  

Materials you’ll need: Strings, a small ball, and two stands to mark the start and finish.

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

This game is all about mental energy. Easy to play and can be done anywhere from a break room, to the office common space, mental gymnastics can be any type of quick trivia game, even including Pictionary if you have a lot of artists on your team.

Perfect for teams, trivia encourages employees to work together, relying on their smarts and pop culture knowledge. You can even make the game workplace specific and test how much your team knows about one another, ultimately bringing them closer together.

Kick off a healthier routine with run & recharge! Form an office running club and go for group runs after work to promote both physical and mental well-being. It’s a low-pressure way to get everyone moving, destress after a long day, and bond as a team.

This activity is perfect for boosting morale, increasing fitness, and recharging your mind—while enjoying the fresh air.

How to play:

• Set a regular time for post-work group runs.
• Run as a team, encouraging each other along the way.
• Track progress together and celebrate small fitness wins!

Looking for more fun team-building activities for small groups? Browse our full guide for more ways to energize your team.

How to play Desk set makeover

Surely you can only do this with everyone in the office, right? Well, not necessarily!

To involve remote employees, they can take photos or videos of their home workspaces and submit them for a virtual desk makeover challenge. In-office employees can redesign each other’s desks, while remote participants can provide feedback, suggest ideas, or make digital mood boards for their teammates’ workspaces. The final makeovers—whether physical in the office or digital enhancements for remote setups—can be shared in a virtual gallery for everyone to vote on.

How to play Sinking ship

This is a fun, physical game for people who aren’t afraid to get close. It works best for about 10 - 20 people. Create a boundary on the floor with tape, and have everyone step inside it. Make sure they are standing close, but not totally on top of each other. Then, each minute, pick up one side of the tape and move it further inside the boundary. The idea is that it gets smaller and smaller, just like a ship that is gradually filling with water. The group will likely get into funnier and more creative configurations as the space gets smaller. Again, please be aware of the comfort of your team in close physical proximity before executing.

Fuel teamwork and competition by challenging teams to complete a jigsaw puzzle race.

Materials needed:

• Jigsaw puzzles of varying difficulty levels
• Timer or stopwatch

Instructions on how to play:

1. Divide the team into equal groups and provide each team with a jigsaw puzzle.
2. Set a timer and have teams race against each other to complete their puzzles.
3. Emphasize that each team member must contribute to assembling the final image.
4. Celebrate the first team to finish and acknowledge their teamwork.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Piece by piece teamwork: Requires collaboration and coordination to complete the puzzle.
• Friendly competition: Adds a dash of competition to energize the team spirit.
• Problem-solving practice: Enhances problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging way.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Choose puzzles that match the team's preferences and skill levels. If possible, opt for puzzles that relate to the team's interests to make it more engaging.

If you’re looking for a serious game that teaches the value of collaboration in a plain and no-nonsense manner…then this one definitely isn’t it!

Hello kitty’s a super simple improv game that’s all about being silly, getting involved, having fun, and making each other laugh. And, ultimately, that’s what improv games are all about. The fact they forge tighter bonds between teammates is a bonus.

How to play Hello kitty

Hello kitty couldn’t be easier to play either. Suitable for groups of any size, you start by dividing employees into two teams: kittens and puppies. Next, separate everyone into pairs, where one partner’s a kitten and the other’s a puppy.

The puppy’s job is to say hello with one goal in mind: to make their partner smile, chuckle, laugh out loud – anything that shows they’re amused. The kitten’s job is to keep a straight face. Expect all sorts of funny voices, impressions, and gestures to follow! What happens if/when they succeed, you ask?

The kitten turns into a puppy, of course! They can then both turn their attention to any remaining kittens who are yet to laugh. The game ends when everyone has joined the puppy team. By then – having exercised your creative sides and laughed a lot – you should all be feeling energized, light, and closer to your teammates.

How to play Drama-freeze

Best for small groups, this option can be really interesting. You start with pairs of two and a supervisor. The first team will act out a spontaneous scene without discussing it beforehand. While they do so, the supervisor of the game calls out “freeze” (any time they want). At that time the acting team must remain still. Then the next team of two begins and will start upon the supervisor saying “action”. They need to come up with a scene entirely different from the one from the pair before them. This will go on until each team gets a turn to act and freeze.

How to play One Must Go

One Must Go is a fun question game that’d be a fantastic warm-up activity before team meetings or on your next work retreat. We love it for its ability to stimulate light-hearted conversations and help co-workers get to know each other.

How it works is simple: someone comes up with three to four options in a particular category and then asks the group to decide one option to get rid of. For example, “One must go: your favorite drink, your favorite item of clothing, your favorite song, your favorite food?” Or, “One must go: mustard, mayo, ketchup, bbq sauce?”

How to play “I expect”

You can kick off a training session and spur engagement with this simple exercise. You’ll need a blank wall and a few colored post-it notes. Break the white board or chalkboard into 4 quadrants and label them “the training”, “the trainer”, “from myself”, and “from attendees”. Each participant should take a turn filling out 4 post-its that begin “I expect”. For example, “I expect from the training to learn how to better resolve customer conflicts.” Everyone should place their sticky notes in the appropriate quadrant. Then the moderator should go through and read them, highlighting which ones are repeated often.

As well as being a good energizing activity for large groups, Your North is a great exercise for sparking conversation about the importance of team alignment and direction. Even better, it’s also simple and fun to play.

Here’s how it works:

1. Ask the group to stand up, leaving plenty of space between them (everyone should be able to put their arms out to the side without touching anyone or anything)
2. Show the team where north is (this could really be north if you have a compass on your phone, but feel free to make it up otherwise!)
3. Tell everyone to cover their eyes with their left hand and spin around 10 times, keeping their eyes covered the whole time
4. When they’re done, ask everyone to stretch out their arm and point toward where they believe north is now (their eyes should still be shut)
5. The team can then open their eyes to see the many different directions in which people are pointing

Companies can use milestone celebrations as a way to show gratitude to employees and recognize their contributions.

By hosting an event to honor a team member or a group project, here are some ideas companies can use to host a milestone celebration in their community to express gratitude:

• Anniversaries. Acknowledge employees' years of service with the company, typically done at the 5, 10, 15, or 20-year mark. Personalized gifts, extra time off, and even raises are great ways to honor someone's years of service.
• Employee of the Month. Recognize outstanding employees by designating them as the Employee of the Month or Quarter. Organize a small ceremony to present them with an award.
• Employee appreciation. Dedicate a day to celebrating your employees' hard work and dedication. Arrange activities, games, and treats.
• Company-wide recognition. Recognize milestone achievements by sending a thank you message through a newsletter or social media. Highlight the accomplishments and contributions of the employees and celebrate these successes by offering an incentive like professional development opportunities, flexible work options,
• Peer-to-Peer appreciation. Encourage employees to appreciate and recognize each other's contributions by letting them offer gifts, public acknowledgments, etc.

Recognition programs that celebrate milestones effectively ensure leadership expresses gratitude, letting employees know their hard work does not go unnoticed. Showing appreciation for your team's hard work will boost morale, increase job satisfaction, and foster a positive workplace environment.

How to play Ping Pong Tournament

As open office plans became more popular, more companies started setting up breakout rooms where employees could decompress by grabbing a coffee or playing ping pong. If you already have a ping pong table in the office, this is an ideal game to add to the Office Olympic games—a ping pong competition works well with individual players and teams.

While there is the classic two-person setup for table tennis, there are numerous games, like playing with two balls at a time or a group game that gets smaller as people must step out if they miss their turn to hit the ball.

How to play Coffee run

For this game it’s ideal to play on a surface that’s easy to clean or outside. Each team splits in two groups and races against each other relay style, tagging in the next team member to run to the finish line. Sounds easy enough, but where the challenge comes in is each team has a full cup of coffee that they need to run with.

The coffee run is a perfect combination of physical exercise and coordination skills, just make sure you don’t play where you’re not ready to spill some coffee.

Teams will channel their inner architects and engineers to construct impressive structures using unconventional materials. From spaghetti and marshmallows to playing cards, the challenge is not just to build a towering masterpiece, but also to do so collaboratively, emphasizing communication, planning, and creative problem-solving.

Instructions

• Gather construction materials such as spaghetti, marshmallows, playing cards, or other unconventional items.
• Divide participants into teams and provide each team with the same materials.
• Set a time limit and a goal height for the structures.
• Teams work together to design and construct their structures.
• Evaluate based on stability, creativity, and teamwork.

How to play Name that product

Remember the memory games that you used to play as a child? A variation of this activity can help new hires to learn about your product offerings. You don’t need anything besides a pen and paper! Begin by making a list of the products that your company sells. On the same page, list product features and price points. Then, on separate papers, write a short product description for each of the items. Have sales reps match the products with the short descriptions. Or, as another variation, instead of descriptions you can use customer needs or wants, or another indicator that would help people to better understand your product breadth and keep them straight.

How to play Relay Sack Race

Instructions: Divide participants into teams. Each team stands in a line, and the first player in each team gets inside a sack. On "go," they hop to a designated point and back, then pass the sack to the next teammate. The team that finishes first wins.

Materials needed: Sacks or large bags.

Relay Sack Race encourages teamwork, coordination, and builds camaraderie among team members. It adds an element of fun and nostalgia to the picnic while providing an opportunity for participants to cheer on their teammates.

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.