Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Want to raise the energy levels in the room? Lift people’s spirits? Encourage colleagues to work together to achieve a common goal?

Don’t Drop the Balloons involves inflating masses of balloons in the office and making a rule that they can’t touch the ground! However, you can add a competitive element by splitting employees into 3+ teams and assigning balloons of a particular color to each one. If any of their balloons touches the floor, that team’s out!

How to host Company quiz

Who knows the most about your organization? Come up with a quiz to find out. Put together a fun list of questions based on company mission, values, history, and staff. Grade the quizzes and the employee with the highest score wins. If you want to up the ante, have every team member write a question about themselves to incorporate into the quiz. Have them make it as challenging as possible!

A memory wall is a space for spreading good vibes and positivity in the workplace. Here, you’ll create a collage of good memories that your team can appreciate every time they pass by.

Great for: Company culture, job satisfaction

Duration: N/A

You’ll need: Paper, various coloured pens

How to organise:

• Give each employee a pen and piece of paper and ask them to write down some of their favourite memories from previous experiences like Christmas parties and offsite retreats. These can be personal memories or experiences they shared with colleagues.
• Then, ask your employees to create colourful drawings of these memories. If the memory is shared with a colleague, they can pair up and make the drawing together.
• Collect the drawings and use them to make a colourful collage somewhere in the office. It should be in a shared space where it can be appreciated throughout the day.

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)

If you want to kick off your virtual team building event with some light-hearted fun, try this!

How to play the ‘Ruined paradise’ game

After splitting the group into two teams, each team will be assigned a role. A member of team 1 will start by describing ‘paradise’ in one sentence, using only positive descriptions. Then, a member of team 2 will attempt to ‘ruin paradise’ with a negative sentence.

Play continues like this until everybody has added a sentence. A judge then determines which team has won by deciding whether ‘paradise’ has been ‘ruined’ or not.

In this physical activity, there will be a facilitator instructing the larger team. You’ll also need ample space so make sure you are in a location that can accommodate a large group moving around. Have the facilitator start by instructing people to do some simple, engaging activities. For instance, they could start by saying “stand up”. Then, the facilitator says “stop” and then the instruction is flipped to its opposite. So, if they say “stand”, that really means “sit”. If they originally had said “walk”, that would now mean “stand still”.

As you can imagine, this leads to pure chaos and a lot of laughter. This is helpful for getting more physical but also in encouraging people to communicate better throughout the day.

How to play Sound and movement

Have everyone stand in a circle. One volunteer should go into the middle of the circle and make a sound and a motion. For example, they might stop their feet and say “clomp, clomp”. That particular sound and movement should be repeated by everyone in the circle. Then a new person should enter the circle and do the same thing, until everyone has had a chance to come up with their own sound and motion for people to repeat. It’s usually easiest to go in a clockwise order, but you can also have people volunteer for a turn at random.

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.

How to play Egg and Spoon Race

An egg and spoon race is another game that’s as fun for adults as it is for children! It’s also incredibly simple. As the name suggests, all you need is an egg and spoon for each participant. From there, you set a start and end point, line everyone up with the egg balanced on their spoon, and blow a whistle for the race to begin!

The first person to cross the finish line with their egg still intact wins. If someone drops their egg on the way, they must stop and pick it back up using only their spoon (no hands allowed!) before continuing.

Want to make the game less messy? Consider boiling the eggs beforehand. It’ll stop them from cracking when dropped, reducing the amount of cleaning up you’ll do when everyone’s ready to go home. You’ll be able to re-use the eggs, too – a bonus if you’re running multiple egg-and-spoon races throughout the day.

Oh, and don’t hesitate to combine this Field game for adults with the three-legged race we mentioned earlier! Making participants balance an egg on a spoon while their leg’s also joined to a teammate’s is a recipe for fun.

Water balloon dodgeball is a highly intense competitive game that’s guaranteed to get your group livened up at the start of your team-building event. Just don’t forget to remind everyone to bring a change of clothes beforehand!

Great for: Energization

Duration: 10–20 minutes

You’ll need: Two large buckets or bins, lots of water balloons, cones or rope for marking the field

How to play:

• Mark out a rectangular field using rope or cones, divide it in half and then place a bucket or bin full of water balloons at both ends.
• Divide your group into two teams and position them at opposing ends of the field next to the water balloons.
• When you say “Go!” both teams start hurling water balloons at the opposing players.
• If a player is hit, they’re out of the game and must leave the field.
• Play continues until all the players from one team are eliminated. The team with players still standing wins.

Instructions:

‍Pair people with different levels of experience in a reverse mentoring relationship. The less experienced individuals mentor the more experienced ones, sharing fresh perspectives and knowledge.

It's like flipping the leadership script and giving the underdogs a chance to teach the old dogs some new tricks. By pairing less experienced individuals with seasoned leaders, reverse mentoring unleashes a whirlwind of fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and the wisdom of youth. It's a leadership shake-up that challenges status quo and ignites mutual learning, making it a win-win for all involved. Perhaps consider involving yourself in this activity and allowing a newbie to mentor you. You never know, you could be mentored by the rising stars of tomorrow!

How to host Departmental meet and greets

Do you have different departments that tend to work in silos? In this case it can be a smart idea to organize happy hours where everyone can meet and mingle. You can go as far as assigning tables with mixed groups, or just encourage people to network more organically. A cross-departmental meet and greet is a simple and intuitive way to chat and get to know each other.

How to play The five-minute pitch

This exercise helps with marketing skills as well as presentation and communication capabilities. It’s a risk-free and comfortable way for even your shy team members to practice talking in front of others. Start by dividing your team into small groups or pairs, and then give each group a random object from around the office (such as a notebook or coffee cup).

Set a timer and give each group or pair 5 minutes to pitch the product to the room. If you want to add a competitive element, you can have a judge or panel of judges that will ultimately choose a winner. Otherwise, just let each team pitch with their allotted time and see how creative everyone can be.

Ever wish you had a roadmap to success that's so clear it practically unfolds itself? Well, here's a twist on traditional goal-setting – the Backward Goal Setting activity. Instead of starting at square one and plotting your course forward, imagine you've already reached the pinnacle of success. What does it look like? Now, work backward to identify the steps and milestones that got you there.

This technique transforms lofty long-term goals into manageable, bite-sized chunks. It's like reverse-engineering success – a strategic approach that breaks down the journey into actionable tasks, helping you pave the way to your objectives with confidence.

Top Tips For Facilitators:

• Encourage participants to break big goals into small, manageable steps. Sometimes the big goals can get overwhelming!
• Plans can change, and that's okay. Let know that they need to be adaptable to unexpected shifts.
• Share stories of success with backward goal setting for inspiration. Perhaps an employee from a different department or an inspirational figure online!

How to play Friendly Feud

Have you ever seen the TV show or played the board game called Family Feud? Well, Friendly Feud is a DIY version that’s just as fun to play. Here’s the process for each round:

1. Divide the group into 2 teams
2. Come up with a question on a particular topic
3. Poll one of the teams to find the top 5 answers to it (making sure the other team doesn’t see/hear)
4. Assign points to each option, with the most points going to the “best” answer and the least points going to the “worst”
5. Ask the opposite team to come up with 5 answers to that same question – with a time limit
6. See if they choose any of the same answers and then add up the number of points they earned
7. Repeat the process, asking numerous questions to both teams and keeping track of their points

For instance, let’s say the question is, “what’s something that flies?” After polling Team A, you get 5 answers: Airplane, bird, bee, drone, and helicopter, which you say are worth 5 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point, respectively.

You then ask Team B for 5 answers to the same question. They say, “airplane, paraglider, hot air balloon, spacecraft, and birds.” Because they got two of the five options set out by Team A, they’d receive 9 points.

Who are we kidding? Everybody knows that working from home includes barking dogs, screaming children and make-shift offices. This activity is designed to discover the ‘working environment’ of your colleagues.

How to play ‘Welcome to my crib...‘

Colleagues will take it in turns to give a short tour of their house, showing where they work, where they go for lunch, etc. This builds more human connections between employees.

How to play “If I were”…

One of the easiest games to play, this activity allows players to describe themselves in different situations. Simply read the prompts out loud and give everyone a chance to respond. Some things you can suggest are:

• If I were a country, I’d be….
• If I were a song, I’d be…
• If I were a food, I’d be…
• If I were a brand, I’d be…
• If I were a cocktail, I’d be…
• If I were a wild animal, I’d be…
• If I were a mythical creature, I’d be…

Making a game out of training is a great way to get people more excited about the subject matter. And which game is better than Jeopardy? A quiz show format is an innovative way to introduce new material and understand how much your team has absorbed.

Here is how we suggest you play:

1. Find a Jeopardy template online using a site like Jeopardy Labs.
2. You’ll need five categories for questions related to your company. It’s best to stick with your company’s offerings or information like the organization’s mission, customer demographic, or latest marketing campaigns.
3. Use the premade questions from the online resource or come up with your own questions and answers. Make sure you’re able to share the screen with all your participants.
4. If you’re using a group format, let people discuss and share answers.
5. Proceed to gather everyone in a large space with a smart screen and ensure everyone can see, then divide people into either small groups (or individuals if the group is already small).

We love improv games that are lively, dramatic, and force you out of your shell. But not everybody does! In fact, for employees who are less confident in nature, these types of activities can be downright stressful.

That’s where a game like Quick-Fire Questions comes in. Not only is it well-suited to remote teams, but it’s also a great introduction to improv. Nobody’s singled out, there’s no miming/acting, and you don’t even have to turn your webcam on.

How to play Quick-fire questions

To play, all participants must do is have a conversation – taking turns to contribute a line at a time. The twist?

Anything and everything they say has to be a question!

For instance, Dave might start by asking Sally, “What type of music do you enjoy listening to?” And Sally could reply, “Where shall we go to rave this weekend?” To which Joe might ask, “What’s the name of the forest just outside town?” And Dave might respond with, “How many forests are there in this part of the country?”

Easy, right? Wrong! You have to think on your feet, be creative with your answers, and frame your reply in the correct format. If someone hesitates, asks something unrelated, or doesn’t ask a question at all, then they’re out.

You can play a round-robin tournament, with one person facing off against another. Or you could try to play all together, asking one question at a time. Whatever the case, the “conversation” should help energize the virtual room, generate lots of laughs, and boost team spirit to boot.

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Heads-up! No, we’re not talking about a safety warning, we’re talking about the app game that's taken the world by storm. And guess what? It's not just for playing with friends on a night out. This game can also be a hoot in the office.

How to play:

1. Split into teams.
2. One player holds the phone on their forehead, facing outwards.
3. Their team gives clues to describe the word or phrase on the screen.
4. If they guess correctly, swipe up; if not, swipe down.
5. Repeat until time runs out or all words have been guessed.

Heads-up! is a fantastic opportunity to promote better communication and teamwork, as well as help to break the ice among new colleagues. Current members will also benefit as it's a welcome change to ordinary office chit-chat.

In this engaging game, sales reps work as detectives and try to uncover customer needs.

Here’s how it works:

1. Have everyone in the group divide into pairs with one detective and one customer.
2. Give every pair about ten minutes to get as much information as possible. The detective should try to understand as much as they can about the customer's needs.
3. At the end of the session, have each detective present what they’ve learned, with the person who acquired the most knowledge the winner.

This is a great activity for learning more about probing questions, uncovering the things that aren’t being said, and building rapport with prospects - all valuable skills in the sales process!  

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How to play Failing success

Sometimes the best way to learn how to be successful is to fully understand what not to do. For this game, have everyone right down their goals, and then write several ways they could not reach them. For instance, you might have people list their goals for this particular training. Then have them write down a few things that would ensure they don’t meet those objectives, like not paying attention or skipping note-taking.

How to play Finding Bonds

Try an identity game that will help players to find common bonds. Everyone takes a turn making “I am a…” statement. Some examples could be “I am a mother” or “I am a runner” or “I am an amateur chef”. Other players who identify with that statement should move to stand near the person speaking. To begin the game, players should be spread out across the room, and move toward speakers as they identify with statements shared.

How to play Gratitude Hot Seat

A gratitude hot seat is an exercise where employees express gratitude or appreciation for something or someone in the workplace.

In this exercise, one person sits in the "hot seat" and shares what they are grateful for or appreciative of at work, which can be anything from a relationship with a coworker to a successful project outcome. Other participants in the group are encouraged to listen as well as offer acknowledgment.