Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

How to play Sack Races

Hunting for more classic Field Day games for adults and want something suitable for groups of any size? You can’t beat a sack race. Channel your inner child, climb into a hessian sack, and hop, skip, and waddle as fast as you can to the finish line – racing your teammates every awkward step of the way!

Sack races work great in relay races, too.

You could do an entire relay sack race, where the hessian sacks replace ordinary batons. In this case, participants would hop down a track to the next teammate along, who’d then take the sack and climb into it before hopping as fast as possible to whoever’s next. The first team to hop across the finish line wins. Alternatively, you can incorporate the sack race into one leg of a relay!

And, of course, climbing into sacks and hopping a set distance would also make an effective obstacle in your obstacle course.

Ready for a mini-adventure? In office quest hunt, teams race to solve clues and complete quirky challenges that lead them to hidden items around the office. It’s a mix of problem-solving, creativity, and—let’s be honest—a chance to snoop around desks in the name of fun.

This is perfect for getting everyone up, moving, and working together to crack the clues. Plus, it’s always funny seeing who takes it way too seriously.

How to play:

1. Hide items around the office and give teams clues to find them.
2. Teams race to solve clues and complete challenges.
3. First team to find all the items wins!

A really simple activity, this game teaches people how to proactively engage new people. Everyone will need a pen and paper.

Start with these instructions:

1. Have everyone imagine a scenario where they are traveling for a work trip.
2. Have people in pairs and have one person pretend that they have reading materials or other items to prepare for a big meeting.
3. At that point, the other person should find a way to ask “what do you do?” or “where do you work?”
4. The other player should find a way to lead to a successful sales pitch.

The basic idea is to get people more comfortable starting conversations with strangers and incorporating work information.

You may have played Word Association to pass the time on long journies. Well, funnily enough, it also works brilliantly as a quick team-building game!

Great for: Quick thinking, communication

Duration: 5 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Word Association

Setup: Position your group in a circle facing inwards. Players can be sitting or standing.

To play: To start the game, somebody starts with a one-word prompt. Then, play moves around the circle as each player replies with a word they strongly associate with the previous word. For example, if player one starts with the word “tree,” player two might say “leaves” and player three might follow up with “autumn.” Play moves around the circle until the time runs out.

How to play Coworker trivia

Similar to the quiz idea, team trivia is a great way for colleagues to get to know each other better. This can be a lot of fun for groups that are often disjointed. It’s easy to find online trivia games for free, or you can use an online quiz maker to put one together. Or, you can have colleagues submit their own questions based on topics that you shared in advance. You can also include virtual team members easily as well.

How to play Desk decorating

Have staff transform their desks into works of art! Choose a theme, set a budget, and encourage everyone to get creative! Need some ideas? Try under the sea, Hollywood, outer space, haunted house, steampunk, eighties or nineties, or college dorm. Depending on the size of your office, the competition can be individual or team-based.

Make sure to set a time limit for decorating and then have a panel of judges who will walk around, view everyone’s set up, and pick a winner. You can get virtual employees in on the action by having them decorate their home office and take photos, or have everyone create new Zoom backgrounds.

Explanation:

‍Remote workers solve clues sent by in-office colleagues to identify specific office landmarks or objects, using virtual walk-throughs or photos.

In-office workers come up with cryptic clues about various spots or objects in the office (like a quirky poster on the wall or the location of the best coffee machine), and remote workers have to figure out the location using virtual office walk-throughs, photos, or even quick video tours. The remote team submits their guesses, and the in-office team reveals the answers.

It’s a fun, puzzle-solving challenge that makes both in-office and remote workers feel like they’re part of the same environment.

As you know, strong communication is one of the hallmarks of effective teams. It facilitates problem-solving, prevents conflict, and fuels innovation, among a slew of other benefits.

If you’re looking for a way to teach the value of it via video call, then give Unseen Drawing a go at your next virtual meeting! Sometimes called “back-to-back drawing”, this awesome trust-building exercise encourages colleagues to work together and think about how they communicate.

How to play Unseen drawing

In the usual variation of this game, you’d divide your team into pairs and ask them to sit back-to-back. You’d then give a pen and paper to one member of each pair and an obscure photo/image/drawing to the other.

From there, whoever has the image must describe what they’re looking at (and/or give verbal instructions) so the person with the paper can draw it.

To complicate matters, the “artist” can’t talk! They simply have to listen to their partner and do their best to recreate the image.

When doing this task as a virtual team, you explain the task as a group, assign the roles of “talker” and “artist”, then break off into separate video calls – with each pair on their own call. For efficiency, you could send emails in advance to set the duos, assign roles, and pass on the images for them to describe.

Each pair has about 10 minutes to complete the task, before swapping roles.

Having completed the game, you hop back onto the group call where everyone compares images and discusses the experience.

What did they learn about the importance of clear communication? What problems arise when they’re vague and imprecise? How could they implement those lessons in their daily work lives?

What you need:

• Images/photos for people to draw
• Pens and paper for each pair

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.

The classic team-building game Egg Drop works just as well with large groups as it does with small ones. In fact, when working in larger groups, your employees will be forced to delegate more tasks and come to decisions quickly—even when not everybody agrees!

Great for: Problem-solving, decision-making, teamwork, leadership

Duration: 30 minutes

You’ll need (per team): A raw egg, 1 piece of cardboard, 1 meter of duct tape, 40 plastic (bendy) straws

How to play:

• Divide your group into teams of 4–8 players and give each team a set of materials.
• Set a time limit of 15 minutes and ask your group to create a protective structure that will prevent the egg from breaking when it’s dropped from a height.
• When the time runs out, ask each team to present their creation to the group before dropping their egg.
• The team whose egg hits the ground without breaking wins. If multiple teams manage to protect their eggs during the fall, the team that used the fewest straws wins.

The spelling bee is a great opportunity for the more introverted members of your workforce to display some raw talent.

How to play Spelling bee

A host will need to make a list of words, with increasing difficulty. Try adding in ‘bonus’ rounds where spellers will need to spell the word backwards.

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 Share your superpower

Another easy variation on an icebreaker is to share what your superpower would be. As everyone stands and introduces themselves, ask them to include some information on the special talents that make them unique. They can use their imagination for most desired superpowers like teleporting, or they can list some actual talents such as speedy present-wrapping or fantastic filing. It’s a nice way to learn a bit more about the people around you and what makes them special (plus, you might learn about who you can go to when you need some help with certain tasks).

“Yes, Let’s” is a classic improv game that’s taken straight out of drama class. We like it for a host of reasons! However, one of its main draws in the context of boosting collaboration is that it involves everyone who is present.

Unlike other activities of this nature, the focus is never on a single person – which is ideal for anyone who doesn’t like being the center of attention.

Here’s how to play:

In a large open space, ask everyone present to start walking around the room. Next, shout out a suggestion for something the group should do.

For example, you could yell, “let’s go swimming in an ice-cold lake”, “let’s ski down this mountain”, or “let’s crawl on our bellies through this minefield.” It can be anything you want, but the game works best when it involves movement.

Whatever you suggest, the group has to respond enthusiastically by yelling back, “yes, let’s!” Everyone then does the action in question, moving around the room “swimming”, “skiing”, or “crawling”. After a while, someone else shouts out another action (“let’s cook a feast for our Viking guests”), and the process repeats.

Hilarity ensues as colleagues look around at their teammates doing all manner of crazy movements and mimes! Expect to energize the room, laugh until your belly hurts, and remember the joy of playing.

Furthermore, you’ll reaffirm a key element of collaboration: that there’s no such thing as a bad idea. Creative problem-solving demands a culture of acceptance, where people feel confident about raising their hand to offer a suggestion. “Yes, Let’s” normalizes unexpected ideas, rewards engagement, and stops people from feeling self-conscious. You’re sure to reap the rewards in the office.

This is a quick and easy icebreaker that doesn’t require any equipment and is guaranteed to produce a laugh. The game inspires your team to get creative and think on their feet in a fun environment. The aim of the game is to collaborate on an interesting and unpredictable story by allowing each player to contribute one sentence at a time.

How to play the Neverending Story

To play The Neverending Story, gather your group into a circle, sitting or standing—it’s up to you. Then, choose a player to start, you can help them by giving them the first sentence or proposing a setting for the story. Once a sentence has been added to the story, the opportunity moves to the next person in the circle.

You can set a time limit, or bring the game to a close once the story meets its natural conclusion. Your team are sure to have great fun being creative and collaborating on a silly story.

If your team members are new to each other, encourage each player to include the name of one of their colleagues in their sentence. For example, “Then, Steve walked in and couldn’t believe his eyes!”

How to play Team Building Relay Race

Instructions: Set up a relay race with different stations representing team-building activities, such as trust falls, problem-solving puzzles, or communication challenges. Each team member completes a station before passing the baton to the next person.

Materials needed: Various team-building activity props.

Brace yourselves for the Team Building Relay Race, where sweat, laughter, and team spirit go hand in hand. It's a rollercoaster of physical activity infused with mind-bending challenges. As teammates make their way through each activity, they'll forge unbreakable bonds of collaboration, trust, problem-solving, and communication.

How to play Alphabet game

This game involves going through the alphabet and finding words that fit a specific category. For example, you could choose animals as a category. You would start with the letter “A” and the circle would be responsible for coming up with different animals that begin with A, then B, and so on (so relevant answers could be ant, beaver, etc).

Ready to turn setbacks into stepping stones? Welcome to the Failure Analysis Workshop, where we don't just talk about success – we dissect failure, pull it apart, and find the golden nuggets within. Participants gather around the metaphorical "lessons learned" table, discussing past hiccups, pitfalls, and fiascos.

Make people understand that learning from failures isn't just a skill; it's an art. This exercise transforms the not-so-great moments into valuable insights, fostering a positive attitude toward setbacks. It’s also the perfect chance to learn from past mistakes in order to prevent future mishaps, a perfect aim for goal-setting!

Top Tip for Facilitator:

• Be the guide, not the judge.
• Encourage participants to share openly and guide the discussion towards extracting lessons rather than dwelling on the negatives.
• The goal here is not just to analyze failure but to turn it into a powerful tool for future success.

How to play Three-Word Check-In

This isn't exactly an activity but rather a practice you can encourage your employees to adopt on a daily basis. People come to the office with varying moods every day. It could be due to a challenging workload that makes someone feel on edge and emotional, or it might be personal issues like a recent breakup that leave them feeling angry. In reality, it's not your role to pry into the reasons behind someone's mood unless they choose to share with you.

So, if they don't open up to you, how can you gauge how they're feeling? This is where the "Three-Word Check-In" comes into play. Encourage individuals to express their emotions for the day using just three words.

For instance:

Imagine Martin is having a particularly difficult day where everything seems to be going wrong, leaving him agitated and frustrated. If a co-worker asks him how he's feeling, Martin can simply respond with "Agitated, frustrated, sad." In this way, his colleagues now have a better understanding of his emotional state and can give him some space and support until he begins to relax.

This could be perfect for preventing a potential conflict and is great for team cohesion!

How to play Brain teaser challenge

Test everyone’s problem-solving skills with some fun riddles. Put together a list of brain teasers for everyone to take a crack at. This is a great activity to take a team approach to. Break everyone up into small groups and share the list of questions with a time limit. Highest score wins!

3-Question Mingle bypasses the small talk and cuts straight to the nitty-gritty. It’s a simple game that helps employees get to know each other in a short space of time.

Great for: Interpersonal bonding

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 8+

You’ll need: Pens, sticky notes

How to play 3-Question Mingle

Setup: Hand each player a pen and a sticky note and ask them to write down three open-ended questions. Examples include questions like “Who’s the most important person in your life right now?” Or “If you could have more money or more time, which would you choose and why?”

To play: Set a time limit and ask the players to start mingling with their colleagues. Once the players find a partner, they take turns asking one of their questions. Once they’ve both asked a question, they swap those questions with each other and find a new partner. This process continues until the time runs out. To debrief, ask your group what interesting things they learned about one another.

Think you know your coworkers' texting habits? In emoji detective, you’ll have to guess which team member’s recently used emoji board is being shown. It's a fun, lighthearted way to test your knowledge of your teammates’ messaging style.

It’s an easy, amusing game to throw into a virtual meeting, and it’s always fun to see who’s been overusing the laughing-crying face.

How to play:

• One team member’s recently used emoji board is shown.
• The group guesses which team member it belongs to.
• Whoever guesses correctly wins the round!

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 Penguins and flamingos

This activity captures the magic of youth and gives everyone a chance to stretch their legs. One player acts as a flamingo and then everyone else is a penguin. Their goal is to “peck” one person on the head and make them a flamingo. The last person to remain a penguin wins!