Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Some of the simplest trust-building exercises for new teams involve asking good old-fashioned ice-breaker questions. Case and point?

“You Get One Question”.

This super quick and easy game requires minimal preparation, which makes it ideal whenever you want the team to connect and/or unwind. It’s a good way to kick off morning meetings, for instance, or to use when onboarding new employees.

How to play You get one question

To play, you need to create or acquire some cards with different scenarios or roles written on the back. Examples might include “starting a company”, “babysitting your nephew”, or “being a world leader”.

You’d then split your team into pairs and let them choose a card from the deck. Their task is to come up with one perfect question to determine if the other person would be a good fit for that specific role.

After a few minutes of thinking and talking, you can then reconvene and discuss the questions and the process of creating them as a group. By the end, your team will have had a stimulating chat in which they learned more about each other.

What you need:

• Pre-written cards with different scenarios on them

Do you have anyone in the office who is an absolute pro on a bowling alley? Maybe you do, but you haven’t realized it yet. 10-pin bowling with cups demands precision and a little strategy. It works well in small teams too, with each teammate helping the bowler plan out their attempt.

You’ll need 10 cups per team, with each team member taking turns to bowl. Cups placed the right-way-up make knockdowns a lot easier! Here’s how to get it started:

Set-up:

1. Prepare an “alley” for bowling: Set up your cup formation, 10-pin style, at the end of a flat, smooth table (the longer the better!). To replace a 10lb bowling ball, just use a tennis or ping-pong ball.

2. Roll to your heart’s content!: Each player has 2 attempts to roll the ball along the narrow table and knock over as many “pins” as possible. Not everyone is going to bowl a “spare” or “strike,” so you might need someone keeping careful tabs on the scoreboards. Play over 10-frames to find and crown your winner.

It doesn’t take much to set up this cup and ping-pong ball game, so bring the excitement of a bowling alley to the workplace for teambuilding fun! Serve some popcorn and play the sound of pins being hit with each roll too, to get the atmosphere right!

Ready for a fun, 5-minute energizer that’s suitable for groups of all sizes and you can do via video call? This one ticks all the right boxes.

How to play Up, down, left, right

Start the activity by asking everyone on the call to stand up – ensuring they’re still visible on the webcam. Then all you do is say the words “up”, “down”, “left”, and “right” and tell the team to point their heads in the corresponding direction.

Do this for 30 to 60 seconds at a fairly rapid pace. Next, change the rules so that people have to look in the opposite direction to what you say. So when you say “down”, they should point their heads toward the ceiling, and vice versa.

Keep going for another minute, gradually speeding up as you go. The light physical movement and mental challenge involved should invigorate and focus the group before your meeting; the mood should feel brighter too.

A classic, if you ask me. This game can get a little embarrassing, so it's a nice icebreaker!

How to play Chubby bunny

Two players go head-to-head, adding, placing and holding marshmallows in their mouth one by one. After each marshmallow has been added, each player tries and say the phrase “chubby bunny,” as clearly as possible.

Players keep adding a marshmallow until the judge declares a players “chubby bunny,” to be unintelligible.

How to play Compliment train

This simple no-prep activity keeps the aim of positive reinforcement and maximizes a productive atmosphere. It is so simple it can be run during a virtual water cooler chat. Each person in the group simply chooses one other attendee, and then that person chooses someone who hasn’t been complimented yet and tells them something positive they’ve done.

The effectiveness of this simple activity comes from the fact the complimenting is done at a peer-to-peer level, rather than from management.

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How to play Sell me this pen

One of the most popular sales training activities and a simple workplace competition, in this game you simply hand each person a pen and have them take a turn selling it to the larger group. What is the sales pitch? What are the questions and objections? Who has the best selling points? After the activity, have a discussion about what stuck out to everyone - what worked and what didn’t. Not only does this force people to get more comfortable with public speaking, but everyone can learn some new tricks, too.

How to Cup toppers

For this game you’ll need some cups or tumblers and some old compact discs. Place the cup a reasonable amount of space away from the player (such as a few feet, across a table). Have them take a stack of CDs and toss them, one by one, onto the cup. Their goal is to land as many as they can flat onto the top of the cup. Whoever strikes the most landings wins.

Upgrading office equipment regularly to show gratitude to employees is a thoughtful gesture that can improve morale, productivity, and overall job satisfaction.

Here are some ways to provide the appropriate equipment based on employees' unique needs:

• Ask what your employees need. Conduct a survey or host a feedback session to understand which office equipment or tools employees want or need upgrades so that you can prioritize your investments.

• Don’t skimp on equipment. Provide employees with the latest tech, such as tablets, laptops, and dual monitors, to help improve comfort and efficiency. Speaking of comfort, whether your employees are in the office or remotely, offering a budget or upgrading chairs and desks to ergonomic options can enhance employee comfort and reduce the risk of work-related injuries. Remember, additional office equipment, such as printers, upgrade software, and collaboration tools, are needed to do a good job and should be provided by the company.

It’s about providing the equipment and creating a work culture that values and appreciates employees, leading to a more balanced professional environment and higher retention rates.  

Make sure to conduct regular feedback sessions to find out what your employees like and what they need more of to show that you care about their well-being and are grateful for their commitment and work.

This short game encourages everybody to listen and pay close attention to their partner.

How to play ‘My perfect vacation Is…‘

Split your team up into pairs and ask them to go away and explain their perfect vacation, imaging that time and money were no object. Then, each person needs to have a go at explaining their partner's dream holiday to the rest of the team.

Torpedo is a fun activity that involves some players being partially “blind.” It works best with teams of more than 5 members, and there’s a slight amount of coordination needed without members being able to see, so make sure you’re using an open, clear area free from any dangerous hazards.

Set up:

Form two or more teams. Each team lines up, one behind the other, and each person puts their hands on the person’s shoulders in front of them. Everyone needs to close their eyes, apart from the member at the front and the person at the back. Slowly, everyone steps forward, and the back person guides the “torpedo” by tapping the left or right shoulder of the person in front, to turn. The objective is to hit another “torpedo” while maintaining coordination, which makes this a great exercise in clear signaling and trust.

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 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.

How to play:

Set a time limit and challenge team members to write a short story, poem, or piece of creative writing within that timeframe. Encourage them to unleash their imagination and explore different genres or styles.

Materials needed: Paper, pens, or laptops

Benefits:

• Strengthened bonds through storytelling: Gather 'round and share the written masterpieces. Through storytelling, your team members connect on a deeper level, their narratives intertwining and creating a tapestry of shared experiences. Like a literary campfire, this activity kindles a sense of unity and camaraderie that'll keep the creative flames burning bright.

Ready for another improv activity that’s a) great for beginners and b) brings colleagues together in a fun, light-hearted way? It’s time for one of our favorites: the 3-Headed Expert. We like this game because it forces people to think creatively and enter the same mindset as their peers, without singling anyone out.

All the game involves is a trio of teammates working together to answer certain questions. Let’s dive into the details…

How to play the 3-headed expert

To play this improv game, start by dividing your team into groups of 3. Each trio is known as a 3-headed expert! The audience (i.e. everyone else in the room) then takes turns to ask this expert random questions, such as:

• “How do I make the perfect sandwich?”
• “Why don’t I sleep well at night?”
• “What’s the best book ever written?”
• “What’s it like to live in space?”
• “How do I sell my house for the most possible money?”

The expert’s job is to answer these questions. However, each “head” can only say one word at a time. When the trio’s satisfied that they’ve answered the question, each member of it has to wave their hands to signal it’s finished. The audience offers rapturous applause, before asking something else.

Each trio should answer around 2 to 3 questions, at which point you move on to the next 3-headed expert. FYI, it’s totally normal for people to struggle in the beginning!

To get them into the swing of talking word by word, tell each “expert” to repeat the question back to the audience first. For example, “The – way – to – make – the – perfect – sandwich – is…” It should help get the ball rolling.

This game is a fun and energetic game that gets the blood pumping, and its team members get to know each other in an informal way, which is essential to boosting workplace morale.

How to play:

‍Stand in a group, and the first player answers one of the written prompts on the ball after reading it aloud, so the group knows what they’re answering. After they finish, they call out the next person's name to that they will be throwing the ball (they wouldn’t want to hit an unsuspecting player in the face), and they do the same as the first player.

The game continues until everyone has a chance to answer a question.

Materials you’ll need Enough space for people to gather comfortably and throw a ball.

How many people: An icebreaker thumbnail or a DIY version can be a soccer ball with phrases written on it.

No list of Field Day games for adults would be complete without tug-of-war. A classic activity, it’s suitable for both small and large teams (although having an even number of people helps) and always goes down a treat!

How to play Tug of War

To play, you’ll need a long, thick rope with a piece of material tied at the center and two equal teams of roughly the same strength. From there, you:

• Mark a centreline on the ground
• Lay the rope in a straight line so the flag/material is next to it
• Get each team to stand in a row next to one half of the rope, facing the opposite team. The centreline should be equidistant between them
• Get the players to pick up the rope and prepare to pull
• Blow a whistle so the teams start pulling (or “tugging”) against each other.

A battle ensues, with each team pulling as hard as they can, slipping and straining with each passing second! The first team to pull each member of the opposition across the centreline wins.

21 Questions is the perfect game for passing the time, learning more about each other, and exercising critical thinking skills. Here’s how it works:

One person in the group thinks of an individual (e.g. a celebrity), a place, an animal, or an object. Then everyone else takes turns asking “yes/no” questions to work out what it is! The aim of the game is to work together to find the answer as quickly as possible. If they don’t succeed within 21 questions, they lose.

Here’s an example where Player One is thinking of an elephant:

• Player Two: “Is it an animal?”
• Player One: “Yes.”
• Player Three: “Does it fly?”
• Player One: “No.”
• Player Four: “Is it a large animal?”
• Player One: “Yes.”
• Player Two: “Does it live in Africa?”
• Player One: “Yes.”
• Player Three: “Is it a giraffe?”
• Player One: “No.”
• Player Four: “Is it an elephant?”
• Player One: “Yes.”

They’d then swap roles, with Player Four (i.e. the person who guessed the answer) thinking of something for everyone else to guess.

How to play Cold call bingo

A light-hearted game that can help with dreaded cold calling skills is bingo. For this activity, you need to break up more senior sales people from less experienced ones. You’ll have two groups (senior and junior). Give each junior participant a bingo card with 24 sales-related prompts. Have the junior reps listen to the more senior ones make calls and fill in their bingo cards accordingly. Once they have filled in their card - like in normal bingo - they win. Some of the prompts to add to the card could include:

1. “Call back tomorrow”
2. “We’re not interested”
3. “You need to talk to someone else”
4. “You’re too pricey”
5. “I’m not sure”
6. Whatever pertains to your business

How to play Stop and walk

This is a high-energy game that's great for groups. Use it to warm up large groups in a fun way or break up long periods of sitting such as during training. All the participants should “walk” and “stop” on the commands of a leader. The leader should repeat the two commands several times so everyone gets used to it - and then switch commands to “trick” people. For example, saying “stop” two times in a row. You can also add in other commands like “jump” or “turn around”. There’s no real winner, it’s just about everyone being silly and moving their bodies.