Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

How to do Team tour

One of the simplest energizers you can do before a virtual meeting is to ask each willing employee to give a 1-minute webcam tour of their workspace. Take turns showing people around, telling them where you are, and accepting questions about the location and/or any noteworthy items/observations.

We like this exercise for remote teams because you often find that people are working in some unusual places! From cafes in Zanzibar to the breakfast bar in their brother’s house, you learn more about each other and find new things to talk about.

To spice things up, you could send prior instructions to cultivate a “special workspace” for the day. This could include putting up decorations, going somewhere new, or bringing family photos to show the group.

How to play Dance-freeze

A very popular high-energy game, this one is great for students and teams. You’ll need music that you can dance to and participants that aren’t too shy about dancing. The concept is simple: everyone must dance when music is playing. When the music stops, everyone must freeze just as they were when they were in motion. Anyone who keeps dancing is out of the game and it continues until there is a single winner.

In memory lane wall, teammates write down their fondest workplace memories and pin them on a designated wall for everyone to see. It’s a simple but powerful way to spread positivity and reminisce about shared experiences that have brought the team closer.

This is a heartwarming way to boost morale and remind everyone of the good times they’ve had together in the office.

How to play:

• Provide a space for team members to write down their favorite workplace memories.
• Pin the memories on a shared wall for everyone to read.
• Enjoy the positive vibes and walk down memory lane together!

Ready to channel your inner child and do something silly as a team? This hilarious energizing exercise involves colleagues listening to instructions and pressing different parts of their bodies to objects around the office, depending on their color. Sounds bonkers, right? So let us explain…

How to play Pink toe

You – the facilitator – start the activity by calling out a body part and a color. The team then has to find items in the office that have that particular color and touch it/them with the chosen body part! For instance, if you called out “gray elbow”, people would run around finding something gray to put their elbow on.

The basic version of this game’s fun, but adding a competitive element can make it even better. Why not set a time constraint for completing each task? Or limit the number of people who can touch a particular item? If they take too long or can’t find something to touch, they’re out; the last workmate remaining is the winner.

How to play Invention-fest

A team that creates things together, stays together! Bring your group together to make something new. You can work as one large group but this is probably easier to facilitate if you break everyone up into smaller teams. Give people time to brainstorm ideas, and then come up with a workable prototype or model. This is a more in-depth activity that takes at least two days (one day for planning and one for bringing in supplies and building). A third day could be presenting the ideas and potentially having a panel judge the entries.

Quick, easy, engaging, and ideal for getting to know one another, Roulette Questions is an energizer/ice-breaker that’s sure to go down well before virtual meetings – especially for new teams.

How to play Roulette questions

The game involves using an online roulette wheel that’s full of different questions. Co-workers take turns “spinning” the wheel and answering whichever one they land on.

Simply work your way through the questions until there are none left (many roulette tools allow you to eliminate questions as you do, ensuring you never land on the same one twice) or until everyone has answered something!

Try playing with a time limit to inject more energy into the activity. For instance, depending on its size, you could challenge the team to get through the questions in 10 minutes or less. This should stop the game from dragging on too long and make it more enjoyable to boot.

If you’re trying to amp up the entrepreneurial spirit of your department, this game is perfect. It’s a great tie-in to more professional elements, so team leaders can evaluate business acumen, and public speaking skills.

How to play Business pitch

To start, you’ll want to split people into teams or small groups of 3 or 4, so it’s great for creating cooperation between people who don’t normally work together.  You also need to select a “board” who will judge the ideas presented.

Bonus: you can adjust this game and use some creative materials if you want to ramp up the visual fun. This game is very flexible and you can keep things simple or make it more complex. You can also browse more communication-focused games on our blog. To play this one:  

1. Once you’ve divided everyone into their pair or small team, have the board members (3 maximum) move to the front of the room where they can watch presentations.
2. Give everyone a set amount of time - say 20 minutes - to come up with their best business idea and pitch. If you want to keep the game materials-free, then people shouldn’t use props or anything else - just their own speech. However, as mentioned,  you could also have items on hand so people can create some visual elements like a storyboard or poster.
3. The groups should take turns presenting to the board and sharing their best idea and business plan.
4. The pair or group who comes up with the most compelling or intriguing business idea wins.

How to play Group Map

Are you hosting an event where people come from various locations? Try laying out an imaginary map in a room representing all the areas people may have come from. Have them stand in their “place of origin” and share a bit about where they came from. You could also print a large map and have everyone place a pin on their area. The important thing is to share some information about where they’ve come from.

How to host a video contest

Short-form videos have become extremely popular - just look at the success of platforms like TikTok. Let everyone bring their inner influencer out by creating their own video to share with everyone. This can be a really exciting competition and great for team-building. It works best with smaller teams. Break people into groups and give them one hour to script, produce, and polish their video content.

You can either let their imaginations run wild or choose a theme for everyone to work with. Make sure everyone has access to necessary video editing software or other tools so that they can make their video even if they’re beginners. Have a great prize ready for the winner - bonus points for a movie-themed gift like theater tickets or “movie night basket” with an Amazon card, popcorn, and snacks.

How to play Human machine

Effective collaboration is an important part of a well-functioning team. This training game is a great way to encourage strong cooperation. Have everyone stand in a circle with one person in the middle. They should mimic part of a “machine” by making appropriate sounds or motions.

After 5 seconds, another person should enter and connect to the first person, also making the right “machine” sounds and motions. Every 5 seconds a new person joins, until everyone is connected as a well-running machine. This game is also good if you’re looking for some physical activity to break up a long day, or a quick office game.

How to play:

Challenge employees to write and perform parodies of popular songs with safety-themed lyrics. Record the performances and have a voting process to select the best ones. Offer prizes for the top performances.

This activity combines music and humor with important safety messages, making it memorable and entertaining. It encourages creativity and team spirit while reinforcing safety concepts in a fun way. Plus, who doesn’t love a good song parody?

“Hey! Team mate! Leave those unsafe things alone! All in all you’re just a ‘nother slip in the hall” 🎶

Not just for family game night anymore, Trivial Pursuit can be a great way to inject some fun and friendly competition into your workday.

How to play:

1. Roll the die to determine your category.
2. Choose a card from the corresponding color.
3. Read the question aloud and attempt to answer.
4. If you answer correctly, roll again.
5. The first player to reach the center and answer a final question correctly wins the game.

Take a break from the daily grind and challenge your colleagues to a battle of wits. Trivia questions can be centered around your industry, office culture, or even global events. Not only will this get everyone's mental juices flowing, but it can also help build teamwork skills and encourage healthy communication.

How to play Who did it?

This game is helpful for learning about what your colleagues do outside of work. To begin with, everyone should get a piece of paper and pen, and write down one interesting thing they’ve done. Then, all the notes are placed in a container, and a facilitator pulls them out one at a time and reads them alive. Everyone else in the room should guess who the individual was who completed that activity. For example, if one prompt is “skydiving”, then everyone would guess who among them was most likely to have done that. The more creative people get, the better!

Costume races are fast-paced, hilarious, and ideal for both small and large groups.

To give them a try, you’ll need:

• A briefcase for each team
• Enough old/used clothes for each member of the team to get fully dressed, such as hats, dresses, shirts, skirts, pants, and jackets.

You then fill each briefcase with clothes and mark a track with a start and finish line. Next, put the briefcases at the end and line up the teams (each should have the same number of people, if possible) at the start.

When the whistle blows, one person in each team races to the briefcase opposite them and gets fully dressed as quickly as possible, pulling the clothes over the top of whatever they’re already wearing. They then rush back to the start in their costume, at which point the second person in their team has a turn.

The first team where everyone is dressed in a costume and back at the start line wins! However, if you want to make this game even more memorable, design it so each briefcase follows a certain theme. You could have one team dressing up as pirates, for example, another as famous Disney characters, and so on.

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Think of this as your team's time-traveling adventure. The Historical Timeline Quest takes you to historical sites, but there's a twist. You'll decipher clues that unlock stories from the past. It's like solving history's riddles together. By working as a team, you'll connect the dots, piece together the timeline, and unveil the bigger picture. Through shared "aha" moments and collaborative detective work, you'll appreciate each other's unique knowledge and skills. It's not just history; it's a journey that brings your team closer, one clue at a time.

Instructions

• Assign roles to team members for efficient operation.
• Distribute clues that reveal historical landmarks.
• Visit sites, solve clues, and document significant events.
• Collaborate to accurately piece together the historical timeline.
• Keep historical references handy to aid in solving challenging clues.

This card game challenges the psyche and asks employees to get outside their comfort zones. A fun game for a team that is making a company retreat and one that brings out the inner actor in everyone.

How to play:

‍Split your team into large groups, around ten people, is ideal. Make a small deck of cards that includes an even amount of each suit (diamonds, clubs, etc.) which will then be evenly distributed. Team members draw a card, but without seeing it, the team-building organizer tapes it to their backs. Everyone is then instructed to go around talking to others based on the card on their back. The suit dictates the behavior:

• Spades are ignored
• Diamonds are treated well
• Act indifferent toward Hearts

After completing the game, sit down as a group and discuss how you were treated and how that made you feel. Group members will get the chance to acknowledge how they treat people as a marker of how others will perform and feel in the workplace.

Materials you’ll need: Desk of cards and ample space

How many people: Large teams (25+ people)

How to play:

Write down various safety scenarios on slips of paper (e.g., "using a fire extinguisher," "performing CPR") and place them in a hat. Divide employees into teams and have them take turns drawing a slip and acting out the scenario without speaking, while their team guesses what it is.

Safety charades showdown adds a playful twist to learning important safety procedures. It encourages teamwork and creativity while reinforcing vital safety knowledge. Watching coworkers try to mime "emergency exit plan" is always entertaining.

In sketch & guess, one person draws a word or phrase on a whiteboard, while their teammates try to guess it within a time limit. The quicker the guesses, the better! It’s like Pictionary, but perfect for office shenanigans.

This game is great for getting the creative juices flowing and injecting some energy into the workday.

How to play:

• One player draws a word or phrase on a whiteboard.
• Teammates guess the word within a set time limit.
• The team with the most correct guesses in the fastest time wins!

While not a group activity per se, this technique is great for allowing employees to practice goal setting in their own working time. The Pomodoro Technique is a disciplined time management method that encourages working in focused, concentrated bursts, separated by short breaks. Here's how it works:

• Choose a task you want to work on. Set a timer for 25 minutes (this is one "Pomodoro").
• Focus solely on the task at hand until the timer rings. Avoid any distractions or interruptions during this time.
• After 25 minutes, take a short break of 5 minutes. Use this time to stretch, take a walk, or do something enjoyable.
• Repeat the process. After completing four Pomodoros, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes.

The Pomodoro Technique is like your best friend for productivity and discipline. It can start to feel like a game, especially when you’re racing against the clock, meaning that it may not even feel like work sometimes. Plus, it’s a game that gives rewards! Those short breaks are vacations for your brain and great incentive to get work done.  So, if you're aiming for setting and reaching goals at work, Pomodoro is the technique for you!

How to play Truth or Dare

Want to discover new things about your workmates or challenge them to do silly stuff? Truth or Dare is a classic question game where you take turns choosing between a “truth” and a “dare.”

If you pick the former, you have to answer a personal question from one of your colleagues – no matter how embarrassing it might be! Opt for the latter, and you have to do something embarrassing, awkward, or otherwise unenjoyable.

As you can imagine, the truths and dares you’d do with close friends are likely to differ from what’s appropriate in the workplace! We suggest you keep the game “PG” when you’re with workmates – avoiding questions or dares that might make people too uncomfortable.

Potential “truths”:

• What’s your biggest fear?
• Who do you think is the best-looking person in the office?
• What’s the worst lie you’ve ever told someone?
• What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?

Potential “dares”:

• Do your best impression of [insert co-worker’s name here]
• Sing a song in front of the group
• Eat a spoonful of [insert condiment here]
• Call a random number and tell whoever answers that you love them

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.

This is a guaranteed good-time game that can be played after work on a retreat or at a weekend getaway with your team. It only requires the game Jenga and adequate seating and surface area for playing.

How to play:

‍The same rules apply to Jenga Thoughts to the original Jenga. There is a tower made out of rectangular wooden blocks that players have to remove, so the whole tower doesn’t fall strategically.  

With this team-building-friendly version, each block has a question the player has to answer. The objective is to keep the tower intact, but questions facilitate discussion and break down walls, bringing teams together while playing.

Materials you’ll need: A Jenga set, multiple, and seating areas with tables where people can play.

How many people: Small to mid-sized teams and a large one for setting up the game so everyone can play. If you have multiple Jenga sets, ensure you have several tables to seat and several small groups.

Challenge your team to think on their feet as they make up a story on the spot! In Swedish Story, the storyteller must make decisions quickly as they’re bombarded with random words.

Great for: Public speaking, decision-making

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Swedish Story

Setup: Divide your group into teams of about 4-5 players then ask each team to pick one person to be the storyteller.

To play: The storytellers are given a topic to talk about. As they start to tell their made-up story, the other members of the team chip in with random words that the storyteller must incorporate into their story. For example, if the storyteller is talking about a hurricane, the other players might call out words like “cow,” “combine harvester,” or “Elvis Presley!” The aim is for the storyteller to maintain their composure as they incorporate irrelevant words and phrases. When the time runs out, you can end the game or play again with a different topic and storyteller.

How to play Personality Shapes

If your personality was a shape, what would it be? This is a fun little game where you can get a visual of the different personality types you work with. At a table near the entrance to your event, have several colored shapes set out. You’ll also want a sheet available that explains the different shapes and their traits. For example, squares could be detail-oriented and stubborn, while circles are empathetic but struggle with saying no. You can be creative in making the various shapes and matching them with different characteristics.

The important thing is that everyone gets a chance to choose a shape based on the descriptions provided. Then, before starting the meeting, ask everyone to raise their shape in the air and let everyone look around. In this way, you can get an accurate portrayal of who sees themselves a certain way. For added benefit, allow time for discussion.