Team building games are a great way to get everybody in the office more familiar with one another. These games are the perfect way to foster camaraderie without forcing it. Plus, everyone will have fun playing these games in the meantime, so what’s not to lose?
Here are 50 super fun team building games and activities you’ve got to play at work to ignite that office spirit. Ready to have fun with your coworkers?
ICEBREAKER TEAM BUILDING GAMES
These icebreaker team building games are some of the best ways to get to know your coworkers. These games are great for new teams within the office or if you happen to have a lot of new recruits.
1. TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
Two Truths and a Lie is a classic ice breaker game that is a great way to get to know each other. In fact, you can also use this as an introduction by getting everybody to introduce themselves by stating their name, position, and two truths and a lie. If you need a refresher on the rules, each person simply says three statements, one of which is a lie. Everybody else must guess which statement they believe to be false.
2. HUMAN KNOT
In this super fun ice breaker game, gather 4 to 20 players (the more, the merrier) and have them stand around in a circle. Then, everyone must turn into a human knot by grabbing two hands or two random players from the circle. The goal of the game? Unknot yourselves without letting go of anyone’s hands!
3. WOULD YOU RATHER
Would You Rather is a fun, hypothetical question game that’ll have everybody scratching their minds to figure out which of two options they would prefer. Some Would You Rather examples include:
- Would you rather talk like Yoda or breathe like Darth Vader forever?
- Would you rather wrestle a gorilla or two alligators?
- Would you rather always smell like wet dog or garlic?
Get to know your colleagues’s preferences!
4. WHO AM I?
Have everyone write down a character or real person on a post-it note. Then, stick these post-it notes onto the player on their left. Now, it’s time for everyone to guess who they’ve got on their forehead! Encourage everybody to walk around to ask each of their colleagues different “yes or no” questions to narrow down who they are!
5. DESERTED ISLAND SCENARIO
Everyone’s played the Deserted Island Scenario before. It’s a common and super simple ice breaker you can play as everyone is introducing themselves. This scenario allows everyone to be a little bit creative without having to think too much! Ask everybody the following question: “If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you take with you, and why?”
6. BIRTHDAY LINE-UP
Birthday Line-Up is a fun and simply way for colleagues to start talking to one another and get to know each other. The goal of the game is to line up in birthday order, starting from January 1 to December 31. All players must ask each of their colleagues for their birth dates to figure out this little puzzle together.
7. CLASSIFIED
Grab around 25 different items – the more random the objects, the better. Put these items in the center and ask the group to classify the items into four categories. If needed, divide the whole group into smaller teams to foster better communication.
8. BLIND RETRIEVER
Divide everybody into small teams. Each team must have a volunteer who will be the blind retriever. The retriever must wear a blindfold while someone from another team places an object the blindfolded player must find. On the mark, the blindfolded teammates race to find their object in the room with the help of their teammates, who give instructions to help them reach their target. The first team to get their random object wins!
9. DRAWING BACK-TO-BACK
Pair up everybody and have them sit back to back. One player gets a piece of paper and a pen, while the other gets a picture of something. The player who has the picture must now get the other player to draw what’s on their paper without actually saying what’s on the paper. Instead, describe shapes, sizes, and textures to get the other partner to replicate the drawing without seeing it or knowing what it is. Compare the drawing at the end to see how well you managed to communicate.
10. COMMON THREAD
Divide everybody into small groups of three to five. Each small group must try to find something they all have in common – the more things they find in common, the better. For example, this could be a favorite color, a common sport, or the same evening routine. Try to find common threads that are not too obvious.
OUTDOOR TEAM BUILDING GAMES
Are you having a gorgeous sunny day? Why not take advantage and play some outdoor team building games while soaking up the sun and getting away from the office for once?
11. GEOCACHING
Geocaching is best played with smaller teams. To play this outdoor game, one person must download the Geocaching app. Then, using GPS, players must try to track down the geocaches in their area! This super fun scavenger hunt is a hoot to play anytime you’re outdoors. Since some caches can be pretty difficult to find, this makes for a great team building exercise.
12. EGG DROP
Egg Drop is a classic team building game involving a raw egg, 40-50 straws, some cardboard, and some duct tape per team. Each team of 3 to 5 people must build a structure to protect their raw egg when dropped from a height. The team who manages to construct something to protect their egg wins! If there are multiple teams who manage this feat, the team who uses the fewest straws wins.
13. TUG OF WAR
Ready to test your strength? Play some Tug of War to get those spirits high! Divide the group into two teams. The teams hold onto each end of a rope and start pulling! The team that manages to pull over the other team to their side wins.
14. THREE-LEGGED RACE
There’s a reason why the Three-Legged Race is such a classic outdoor game you can play in pretty much any setting! Pair up everybody from the office and have them stand side-by-side with the two middle legs tied up together. Each pair stands behind the start line, and on the mark, the pairs must work together to race to the finish line before the other teams!
15. SCAVENGER HUNT
You can organize and play a scavenger hunt indoors or outdoors, but there’s something more fun about an outdoor hunt! To prepare, write a list of items the scavengers must hunt for. Hide these items around the outdoor space. Then, divide everybody into small teams who must work together to find each of the items. Let the teams loose with a distinct clue per team in order to get started.
16. CORNHOLE
Do you have a couple of cornhole boards and beanbags lying around? Grab them when you head outside for an office field day to play some Cornhole, a super fun and simple game that works as a team building exercise to help you get more familiar with your colleagues. Divide the group into two teams, with the two teams throwing the bean bags into the hole in the boards to get points to win!
17. VOLLEYBALL
Not all sports work as team building exercises, but one exception is Volleyball. You don’t have to follow all the Volleyball rules – just get the basics, and everyone will be having fun in no time! Divide the group into two teams that go on either side of the net. Then, start passing the ball with the goal of preventing the ball from touching the ground in bounds. Each team cannot touch the ball more than three times before it must go over the net.
18. EGG AND SPOON RELAY RACE
A relay is one of the best ways to get some team spirit while outdoors. Hand each player a spoon and an egg balanced on that spoon. Divide everybody into teams and have everyone line up behind the starting point. At the whistle, the first player of each team must speed walk to the end point, turn around, and go back to the starting point. Once the first player arrives, it’s the second player’s turn to do the same. If the egg falls off the spoon at any point, that player must pick up the egg and put it back on their spoon before they can continue the race. The first team to complete the relay wins!
19. PHOTO CHALLENGES
This is a fun little game that is similar to a standard Scavenger Hunt but with a fun twist! In Photo Challenges, divide everyone into smaller teams and give each team a piece of paper filled with picture prompts. Examples of picture prompts include:
- Take a group selfie
- Take a picture of someone doing a handstand
- Take a picture of a human pyramid
- Take a picture of someone eating an apple
The first team to complete all the prompts (with proof to share with the rest of the group) wins!
Similar to a scavenger hunt, but each team must fulfill each prompt for the photos. The first team to complete them all wins
20. CARDBOARD BOAT CHALLENGE
For this fun outdoor team building game, you’ll need access to a body of water, such as a large pool or a lake. In this game, divide everyone into small teams who must create a cardboard boat that floats on the water! Give each team about half an hour as well as cardboard and tape to complete this challenge. The team that manages to craft the boat that lasts the longest on the water wins!
INDOOR TEAM BUILDING GAMES
If you’re unable to go outside to play some team building games, don’t worry; I’ve got you covered with these games that you can easily play indoors. They’re just as fun and will get spirits just as high.
21. ESCAPE ROOM
One of our favorite team building games is going to a local escape room! An escape is a fun activity that really challenges you to use your brain and work together to figure out a way out of the themed room. You should be able to find an escape room in your area with a quick Google search.
22. OFFICE TRIVIA
To play Office Trivia, you’ll need to do some prepping beforehand. Prep some questions regarding the office, such as:
- What does the poster in the women’s bathroom say?
- When was the company founded?
- When did the company move to this office?
- Who founded the company?
- What coffee brand is in the break room?
Divide the group into small teams that have to work together to answer the trivia questions. Each right answer is a point. The team that gets the most points wins!
For some more ideas check out our ultimate list of trivia questions and answers.
23. SOLVE A PUZZLE
What better game to play indoors than to solve a puzzle together? You can either play an actual 500-piece puzzle in small teams or a brain teaser. Give each team a time limit to complete the task, and make sure everyone contributes in one way or another!
24. PERSONAL PREFERENCES
If you want to test how much everyone in the office knows eachother, personal preferences is a great game to play! Give everybody 5 slips of paper on which they must write 5 random things. Then, gather these slips of paper and put them in a hat or bowl. Divide everybody into teams of 2 to 4 players. Teams take turns sending one player out. This player must grab 5 random slips of paper from the bowl and read them out loud. The player must then go away for about a minute or until called back. When the player is gone, each of the teams (including the player’s own team) must write down the 5 things in order of preference of the player. The player must then come back to the group and announce the 5 things in order! Each team wins 1 point for each correctly ranked guess.
25. CELEBRITY
Celebrity is a fun variation of Charades that is sure to get everyone having some fun in no time. To prep for this game, everyone must write 5 celebrity names on slips of paper and put them in a bowl. Divide the group into two teams. One player will grab a slip of paper from the bowl and try to get their team to guess as many celebrities as possible within a minute. Each right answer equals one point! Then, the next team does the same. Keep going back and forth until there are no more names in the bowl. This marks the end of a round.
There are three different rounds in Celebrity.
- The clue-giver can give as many words as possible for each celebrity.
- The clue-giver can only use one word to describe the celebrity.
- The clue-giver can only mime to help their team guess the celebrity.
The team who gets the most points by the end of the third round wins!
26. APPLES TO APPLES
Want to get to know how your colleagues think? The best game to play is Apples to Apples, a SFW version of the infamous Cards Against Humanity. In this game, everybody has a hand of 7 cards.
Players take turns acting as the judge. As the judge, they pick a random green card and read it out loud. All other players must try to match the green card’s word with one of their 7 red cards. The judge for that round then shuffles everybody’s chosen cards and chooses their favorite one. The player who played the chosen card gets the green card and 1 point!
27. PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
Put some pennies in a bowl or hat. Have everybody take turns grabbing a penny. Players must look at the year the coin was made and talk about something that happened to them that year! If you have a younger team, make sure to get some newer coins. If a player happens to pick up a coin that was made before they were born, have them talk about something historical (perhaps even family history) that might have happened that year.
28. COOK-OFF OR BAKE-OFF
Everyone loves a good cook-off or bake-off! Before the actual competition, everyone can decide on a dish together. Then, divide everybody into small teams and have them make the dish and bring it to the office at a chosen time or date. After tasting all the dishes, everybody can vote on their favorite!
29. OFFICE FEUD
Who hasn’t watched Family Feud? Turn this into an office team building game by playing Office Feud. To prepare for this game, give everybody a questionnaire with several questions that will be asked during the game. Then, tally up the five most popular answers to the questions. Once you’ve set up the questions and answers, you’re ready to play! Divide the group into two teams of around 3 to 6 players.
To play, ask the first survey question. The first player of the first team to ring the bell gets to answer first. They must guess one of the five common answers. If they get one correct, they get 5 points for the most popular answer, 4 points for the second-most popular answer, 3 points for the third answer, and so on. Then, the second player must guess one of the four other answers. If they are right, continue down until they guess all of the five answers.
However, if, at any point, the team gets an answer wrong, the second team gets a chance to win some points!
Continue playing in this manner with all of the survey questions.
30. OFFICE TALENT SHOW
A talent show is a great way to show off your skills and get to know your colleagues beyond their professional skills. Announce a talent show about a week or two beforehand and get people to sign up to show off their skills!
MINUTE TO WIN IT TEAM BUILDING GAMES
Minute to Win It games make for some great team building games. They’re fast and efficient. Plus, they can get those spirits up in no time at all! Enjoy these 10 perfect Minute to Win It games you’ve got to play with the office.
If you love these games, you’ll love our post on the 50+ best Minute to Win It games!
31. BLIND BOWLING
Blind bowling is a team Minute to Win It game. Blindfold one member from each team, and they must successfully knock down all 10 pins with the help of their teammates, who must give them the ball back in order to try and try again! But remember, the players must knock down all the pins within the minute mark!
32. BOOK GOLF
In this team game, one player is blindfolded while the other teammate(s) yells instructions. The goal of this game is for the blindfolded player to hit a book with a broom around an obstacle course until they get to the finish line.
33. COOKIE FACE
A classic Minute to Win It game, Cookie Face is one that will have everyone rolling around in laughter in no time. Every player gets a cookie on their forehead, and they must use their facial muscles to move the cookie down their face and into their mouth! If the cookie falls off at any point, put it back on the forehead and start again.
34. MARSHMALLOW MAN
Each team gets a big pack of marshmallows and some toothpicks. In this Minute to Win It game, the teams compete to create the best marshmallow snowman! Vote for the best snowman once the minute is over.
35. OFFICE TENNIS
Want to test your coordination skills? Office Tennis involves two players from one team hitting a crumpled-up piece of paper using books or clipboards as rackets. But instead of simply hitting the paper back and forth, the two teammates must work together to slowly walk over to the other end of the office to aim the piece of paper into a bin!
36. WATER PONG
A work-friendly version of Beer Pong, Water Pong involves plastic cups with water in them. But to make this into a Minute to Win It game, give the players one minute to sink as many cups as possible with ping pong balls.
37. NAME THE STATES
No matter how well you think you know your US geography, we guarantee that the pressure of naming all the states within a minute will get to you! On the mark, have every player quickly write down all the states they can within a single minute. Whoever can write the most states wins!
38. NAME DROP
Another Minute to Win It game involving writing is Name Drop. In this game, players must write down as many people as possible in a minute. Right before the timer starts, give the players a category of people, such as male actors under 30 years old, basketball players, or nineties bands.
39. STICKY TABLE
Grab some double-sided tape and tape up one end of a table about 2-3 inches from the edge. All players stand on the other end with a bag of marbles. Then, when the game starts, players must roll their marbles down the table and try to get them to stick onto the tape! The player with the most marbles on the tape wins.
40. MY MUMMY’S BETTER THAN YOURS
This team Minute to Win It game requires some toilet paper or streamers. Each team gets one minute to make the best mummy with the available materials. Vote on the best mummy at the end of the minute mark. Perhaps even do a mummy runway at the end to show off the creations!
VIRTUAL TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES
With many meetings nowadays taking place online, it only makes sense that we also provide some of the best online or virtual team building games and activities. Here are our favorites.
41. ROOM TOUR
When doing virtual meetings, you rarely get to see anything more of someone’s house than their background. So, why not get to know each other a little more and do a little room tour? Have your team members take you through a tour of their “Crib.”
42. GUESS WHO?
Before you begin, ask everybody to send through an anonymous statement about themselves. Go through each of these statements together and try to guess who they are about! If the team already know each other quite well, think of more obscure and ridiculous statements nobody may know!
43. NEVER HAVE I EVER
Never Have I Ever is a pretty popular party game that can turn NSFW. But did you know you can also play Never Have I Ever with some work-friendly prompts? Everybody starts the game with 10 fingers up. Then, each player takes turns saying something they have never done. Here are some examples:
- Never have I ever taken a dance class.
- Never have I ever spoken another language.
- Never have I ever seen a whale.
Then, anybody who has done it must put a finger down. Keep playing until someone runs out of fingers!
44. GUESS THE EMOJI BOARD
Another super fun and anonymous way to get to know your team members is to guess everybody’s emoji boards. Have everybody send through a screenshot of their emoji board which shows which emojis they use the most often. Then, go through each of the boards together and try to guess whose board they’re looking at!
45. THIS OR THAT
This or That is a simple team building game that is similar to Would You Rather. In this game, you simply pick between two options. Examples include:
- Coke or Pepsi?
- Tree or flower?
- French or Spanish?
To turn these choices into conversations, ask each team member to elaborate on their choice.
46. VIRTUAL SCAVENGER HUNT
Who knew you could play Scavenger Hunt virtually! To play the online version of this game, here is the rule to keep in mind: The first player to find the item wins the point. And the player with the most points at the end of the game wins!
To prep for this game, write a list of around 10 common items your team members must find and show to the camera in order to win a point.
Then, to play, say the each item out loud then wait for everyone to run around their houses to bring that item to the camera. Examples include:
- View from a window
- Plant
- Favorite mug
- Pet
47. WHAT’S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST?
Everybody has a bucket list. If you’re curious to know what’s on everybody’s bucket lists, get your team members to write down 5 things on their bucket list so that everyone can get to know each other a little better.
48. DINNER PARTY
Dinner Party is a super quick activity that will undoubtedly reveal something about your team members’ personalities. Each person must reveal three people, dead or alive, that they would invite to a dinner party, and why!
49. CODENAMES
One of the most iconic board games is Codenames. But did you know that you can play this game online? The game automatically divides all the players into two teams. Each team has a spymaster who must give single word clues and the number of cards the clue refers to. Each team must try to decode their spymaster’s clues before the other team!
50. GARTIC PHONE
Another super fun online game you can play together is Garctic Phone, which is a virtual version of the parlor game classic, Paper Telephone. There are several rounds to this game. In the first round, each player writes down a random phrase. In the second round, these phrases will be passed onto random players, who must then draw the phrase. As you might be able to guess by now, in the third round, these drawings will then be passed onto yet again, and the players must describe the drawings in a phrase. And so on…
The original phrases will keep getting passed around until every player has drawn or written on them. At the end, the game will reveal how warped the original phrases have gotten over the various rounds! This is a hilarious group game that deserves to be played.
Next, head over to our list of games to play at a church youth group!
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