28 Fun and Memorable Team Building Games Your Team Will Love
Coming up with team building games can be difficult, especially when they typically induce a chorus of groans and eyerolls rather than excitement and high-fives. It’s time to shake things up with fun team building games employees will actually like! Whether to boost morale, practice communication and problem-solving skills, or to get to know each other, all team building games should include one important element: Fun.
A team that works well together is more effective, more productive and more successful — not to mention happier and more fun to work with.
Here are 30 fun team building games that employees will actually want to play.
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- Fun Team Building Games
- Competitive Team Building Activities
- Easy Office Games
- Engaging Ice Breakers
- More Team Building in Cities Near You
Fun Team Building Games
1. Mystery Basket Challenge
Like the TV show Chopped, a mystery basket challenge is a fun team building game involving cooking up a meal without a recipe. Each group discovers their menu when they open their basket to see the mystery items. Decision-making, communication and interactivity is what this class is all about. Teams will collaborate to create an amazing plate all while having fun. Find a fun mystery basket team building activity near you.
2. Scavenger Hunt
An oldie but a goodie, scavenger hunts are one of the most fun team building games you can play and a great way to boost morale. You can do a simple scavenger hunt and keep it in the office or take it outdoors, which can be much more exciting. Create a list of items that groups must collect or tasks that they have to complete and set a checkpoint for people to meet when they finish. You could even host a fun virtual scavenger hunt for remote workers!
3. Escape Room
Escape rooms are a team building trend that has quickly caught on. In case you aren’t in the know, escape rooms are immersive team building games where players are “locked” inside a room and required to "solve" the mystery to escape within a set amount of time. Once they solve the riddles to unlock the door, they can "escape" the room. Escape rooms vary from venue to venue and feature different themes. You can even find online escape rooms for fun virtual team building activities!
4. Who Can’t Draw
Who Can’t Draw is a mobile app where the team passes the app down the line and tries to draw a word based on what the person before them drew. You can end up with some hilarious results as the last person guesses the word that the first person was given. This is a great way to show teams that we each interpret and think differently. The way that you do a task can be completely different from how a coworker does.
5. Heads Up
Heads Up is a mobile app in which one player puts the phone on their forehead; the rest of the players can see the word, accent, celebrity or other category on the screen, but it is hidden from the person holding it. He or she has to guess the item on the screen based on clues from their team. Although it is a fun app usually associated with parties, it can be a perfect team building game. The best part about the game is that you can use the preloaded decks or you can create your own decks. Make a deck that relates to your company or industry and test their knowledge while having some fun!
6. Murder Mystery
For a fun team building game try a downloadable murder mystery! There are plenty of themes and scenarios to choose from. Team members will receive a detailed character description along with some background information so they can arrive in character and start mingling and verbally sleuthing before murder occurs! Dun dun duuunnnnn…
Competitive Team Building Activities
7. Iron Chef: 60 Minute Competition
In this dynamic team building game, your group will be split into two or three teams and have 60 minutes to create the most delicious meal using a secret ingredient. Chefs will be available for answering any questions and providing assistance to teams as needed. At the end of the competition, a team will be crowned the champion and may even win prizes! You can find cooking competitions in most major cities, including Chicago, Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Atlanta and more.
8. Battle of the Air Bands
Move over karaoke. You’ve heard of Lip Sync Battles, right? Expand the idea to a full battle of the air bands. Split your group up into teams and let them decide who will be singers, guitarists, drummers, etc. Give them some time to choose, rehearse and perform a lip-synced song they like. If they have a few days, teams can dress up or bring props. After the performances, teams can vote on the winner for a prize.
9. Kickball
Sports make great team building games, but it’s unrealistic to expect the entire office will participate in basketball or soccer. A game of kickball is a great perk at work because it’s all-inclusive. Anyone can play regardless of his or her level of athleticism. Even better, companies can form a kickball league with other local businesses, providing a great way to meet people and form productive partnerships.
10. Lego Building Challenge
Divide the group into teams and instruct each team to build a structure with Lego blocks only providing limited information on what the finished structure should look like. At the conclusion, each team presents their rationale and the process for how they arrived at their structure and a winner is selected.
11. Nerf Battle
It's important to create a fun and positive corporate culture and atmosphere. And waging war with Nerf guns is just the fun team building game you need. Nerf battles are a great way to de-stress, interact with one another, and bring some lightheartedness into the environment. In a small way, Nerf battles somehow always manage to make you feel more like a team.
12. Paper Plane Contest
Remember that episode of The Office? Give each team card stock to construct a paper plane. A variety of plane designs can be shown to the entire group so they can strategize and build the one they think will fly the farthest. Add to the fun by asking them to name their airlines with a brand logo and slogan. The team whose paper plane flies the farthest wins this fun team building game!
Easy Office Games
13. Office Chair Races
Don’t you love to glide and slide around the office in your desk chair? Have teams work together to deck out an office chair — Soap Box Derby style. Go all out and let teams create mascots and themes, and host a mini tailgate with snacks and music. Then, race them down the halls or through the parking lot for a fun team building game.
14. Train Wreck
Train Wreck may seem silly at first, but it is hands down one of the most fun team building games out there. For this game, employees sit on chairs in a circle except for one person who stands in the middle. That person says something true like, “I like Game of Thrones.” Everyone for whom that’s also true runs through the circle to another chair. One person will be left in the middle and the process repeats.
15. Lily Pads
Divide the team into groups and then challenge each group to cross the “river” without falling in. Using cardboard and paper “lily pads,” teams must work together to get the entire team to the other side of the river without falling off the lily pads. The first group to finish is the winner. This fun team building game is a problem-solving favorite, as it relies on creative thinking and working together to figure out the best approach.
16. Office Trivia
Come up with a series of questions specific to your workplace and test your team's knowledge. "What color are the kitchen tiles?" "How many people are in the IT department?" "Can you name three people who own dogs?" “What month of the year is most common for birthdays among our employees?" This is a fun team building game for employee engagement that will also help your team learn more about each other. Plus, it can be easily modified into an online game for remote teams.
17. Assassin
Have the team sit in a circle so that they can each see everyone’s face. Give each player a piece of paper. One piece will be marked with an “X.” The person who receives this paper is the assassin. The assassin must wink at someone to “kill” them, but so as not to give away to other players who they are. Upon being “killed” by the assassin, the victim must dramatically yell out that they’ve been hit. They are then out of the game. If someone sees the assassin winking at another player, they win the game. If the assassin successfully “kills” everyone, they win the game.
18. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
What happens when you combine 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, a roll of masking tape, one yard of string and one marshmallow? Using just these supplies, challenge your team to build the tallest tower. The catch: The marshmallow has to be at the very top of the spaghetti tower, and the whole structure has to stand on its own (no hands or objects supporting it) for five seconds.
19. Helium Stick
Have team members divide into two lines that face each other. The goal is to lower a stick to the ground without letting it fall. The stick is balanced on the ends of everyone’s index fingers (no grabbing or finger curling allowed). This seemingly simple game becomes a tricky task as the stick rises almost instantly due to the small upward pressure exerted by everyone's fingers. This stirs up confusion and laughter until the team focuses and unites to lower the stick.
20. Mine Field
Find an open space and then place your chosen objects (traffic cones, water bottles, chairs, etc.) randomly throughout. The group can pair off into duos and have one person per team don a blindfold. The other person must verbally instruct their blindfolded partner on how to navigate the space without bumping into any obstacles. To make it even more difficult, the blindfolded person cannot speak at all. This is a great team building game focusing on trust, communication and effective listening.
21. Paper Telephone
Have each team member draw something of their choosing on a piece of paper. It could be an animal, an object, a place or whatever else they decide. Next, they pass the paper to the colleague on their right, who looks at the image, folds the paper to hide the drawing and writes what they think the picture shows. The game carries on with each person guessing what the previous pictures shows, folding the paper over, writing out a guess and handing it off for a new person to draw. At the end, each starting player should reveal what the original picture was supposed to be. This fun team building game is sure to be a hit, with wacky interpretations bound to leave the group laughing.
22. Pictionary
Put that whiteboard in the conference room to good use and get a game of Pictionary going. The classic game of Pictionary is great for an office because it's simple and can involve every team member. Not to mention it helps build stronger communication and brings out that competitive side of your employees that’s always fun to see.
23. Sneak a Peak
In this fun team building game, you divide into multiple groups and one person from each group is then selected to view a hidden object or sculpture. They only have 10 seconds at a time to peek at the sculpture and must relay the information that they see to the rest of their group. The group must try to recreate the sculpture based on the peek person’s description. Players must trust the team member to describe it accurately and listen to their instructions.
Engaging Ice Breakers
24. Game of Possibilities
Game of Possibilities is a great way to bring out your team’s creativity and quick thinking. To do the activity all you need is to gather a group of random objects. You can use anything from a basketball or plastic bag to a hula hoop or scarf. In groups, each person is given an object and must demonstrate an alternative use for it while group members must guess what function they are acting out.
25. Two Truths and a Lie
This is a classic icebreaker team building game. Have participants sit in a circle and face each other. Each person must state two truthful facts and one lie about themselves. Go around the circle and have everyone share his or her truths and a lie and other players must guess which is the lie. This is a fun, light-hearted team building game that allows coworkers to learn more about each other.
26. Mad Libs Mission Statement
Create a company mission statement (or use your company’s existing one) in the style of a Mad Lib activity page. You can do this by removing words and leaving the space blank with only the type of word remaining (for example, noun, adjective, verb, etc.). Divide participants into groups and have them complete the Mad Libs by asking for the type of word without giving context. This fun team building game is a great way to break the ice and get the group laughing, while also focusing on the importance of the company’s mission statement.
27. Egg Drop
Throwing things off the building is the foundation of any fun team building game. Can your employees work together to build a device that can keep a raw egg intact when it’s dropped from a few stories? Divide the group into teams and have each team construct a carrier using office supplies that will keep an egg safe when dropped off the building.
28. Mirror, Mirror
Participants start by thinking of each person on their team and writing down their greatest strengths and contributions. Each person then looks into the mirror, without conversation, for 30 seconds. At the end of the 30 seconds, they silently write down what they saw in the mirror, what they thought about what they saw and what they felt about what they saw. Then, each person shares what he or she had written about each other’s strengths and contributions. This will help team members be encouraged and reminded of their strengths, value and contributions during difficult days.
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Most companies realize that the success of the business depends on the success of the team. Productive, successful teams usually shine in qualities such as communication, creativity, problem solving and leadership. But these skills don't always come naturally to a group; sometimes, they have to be taught and encouraged.
Adding an element of fun to the workplace is an effective way to reap the benefits of teamwork — boost staff performance, help break down barriers and uncover hidden potential. To start building these qualities in your own team, try these fun team building games. Whether your goal is to break the ice, foster creativity, encourage problem solving or just to have fun, check out our full list of the best team building activities to get started.
Looking for even more fun activities, games and ways to engage your team? Check out of lists of the best ice breaker questions and ice breaker games.
More Team Building in Cities Near You
Check out more exciting team building activities in cities near you.
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