10 Fun Games In Office Which Promote Teamwork

Nothing can be as simple or effective for your team-building efforts as playing some fun games in office.

Strong company culture is built on the foundation of having great teams.
Even then, for a team to work at its best, its members must also have an exceptional team bond.

But such bonds are less likely to happen overnight and without any prior team engagement efforts and a bit of fun.

In today's fast-paced corporate world, not only can it be difficult for team members to get to know the rest of the team, it can be pretty difficult for new hires to transition into the team smoothly.

When you play these 10 entertaining games in office with your team members, it's bound to act as a fantastic ice breaker.

Playing games is a fantastic way to get people to connect with one another. Moreover, some of these team-building games will put your coworkers' strategic thinking and problem-solving skills to the test.

So, without any further ado, let's get started.

Your Team Will Definitely Like (If Not Love) Playing These 10 Fun Games In Office:

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1. Charades

The Recommended Number Of Players: 6-10

Material Required: None

Time Limit: None

Why Does It Work?

This party game is a classic for a reason.

However, before you judge this as too cliched, you can add your own "office twist" to it by switching movie names with the familiar office lingo. "The boss's beard," "night shift," "broken coffee machine," "quarterly reports."

Basically, it includes anything that your team would have a good laugh over.

How To Play?

Step 1: A player from one team is chosen by the other team and given a movie name.
Step 2: The player enacts the movie name and tries to convey it to his teammates without talking or pointing out any objects.
Step 3: If the team guesses the movie name correctly, then they win a point. If not, then the rival team gains a point.
Step 4: Continue steps (1-3) The team with the maximum points wins the game.

2. Marshmallow Challenge

The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups containing 3-6 team members each.

Material Required: A kit for each team containing 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, one marshmallow, one yard of string, one yard of tape, one measuring tape.

Time Limit: Approximately 20-30 minutes while 18 minutes is the norm.

Why Does It Work?

This activity involves several teams competing to assemble the tallest freestanding structure in a given time with set materials.

This office game works both as a great ice breaker and also as a team-building activity. It encourages team members to work collaboratively by collectively brainstorming ideas.

Additionally, the Marshmallow Challenge encourages participants to look for Plan B.

Thus, with the Marshmallow Challenge, you can hone your team's problem-solving skills but also indulge in a fun game too. It's certainly a win-win in my book.

How To Play?

Step 1: Set up the supplies for each team
Step 2: Explain the challenge: Build the tallest tower possible to support a marshmallow in 18 minutes.
Step 3: Set a timer for 18 minutes
Step 4: Go!

3. Don't Smile

The Recommended Number Of Players: 6-10 people.

Material Required: None

Time Limit: Approximately 10 minutes

Why Does It Work?

This team-building game is straightforward and will help you energize and engage them better. It can be helpful for onboarding new employees to lighten the pressure of a new job. This fun game can also be used to distract team members from stressful projects or situations.

How To Play?

To play this fun game in office, ask all team members to sit or stand in a circle. Then get all group members to stare at each other for as long as possible without smiling—the last person to refrain from smiling wins.

Recommended Article: 20 Awesome Ice Breaker Games For Work

4. Murder Mystery

The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups of 3-5 team members.

Material Required: Pen, sheets of paper, post-it notes.

Time Limit: Approximately 45 minutes

Why Does It Work?

A Murder Mystery Dinner is an interactive activity that will require everyone to get involved. It is the sort of team-building activity that everyone is bound to love.

This fun game is famous for being entertaining and because the winning team needs to have superior team collaboration and problem-solving skills.

How To Play?

Follow the instructions on your chosen murder mystery scenario, passing out invitations, name tags, maps, and suspect files.

Divide the teams into groups of 2-3 and see who figures out whodunnit first. Either way, your group will rally around the main goal─solving the mystery and finding the murderer.

Recommended Article: List Of Best Ice breaker Questions For Work

5. Scavenger Hunt

The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups of 3-5 team members.

Material Required: Various "trophies," pen paper, post-it notes.

Time Limit: Approximately 30 minutes

Why Does It Work?

Scavenger hunts are among the most effective fun games in office to get people to interact and collaborate.

It is still one of the classic great games that everybody enjoys. Scavenger hunts can now be done anywhere thanks to smartphones and apps.

A corporate scavenger hunt is easy to set up. It can range from a simple list of things you have around the office to elaborate items.

How To Play?

Step 1: Create a list of items that groups must collect or tasks that they have to complete.
Step 2: For every task that a team completes, they get the next clue for the next "trophy." To make it more fun and challenging, you can add an obstacle course to get to the first clue.
Step 3: The team that manages to find the maximum number of trophies wins.

Recommended Article: 10 Best Virtual Team Building Activities for Remote Employees

6. Heads Up

The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups of 3-5 team members.

Material Required: Smartphone or pen and sheets of paper.

Time Limit: None

Why Does It Work?

Since it is a guessing game, it requires some quick thinking skills and also the ability to look at the bigger picture.

How To Play?

In this fun game, one team member puts the phone on their forehead, the rest of the players can see the item written and give clues. Then the player has to guess the word written from the given clues.

There are numerous categories, ranging from singers to animals, that make this an excellent team-building activity.

7. All Adrift

The Recommended Number Of Players: Small groups of 3-6 team members.

Material Required: Pen paper, post-it notes.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Why Does It Work?

A perfect team-building activity that allows team members individuals to flex their decision-making skills. All Adrift helps you see that you're more liable to make smarter decisions than on your own. As a team

How To Play?

The traditional scenario given in All Adrift is that your boat catches on fire, and you have to abandon it. You only have a few minutes to grab items. Some examples are first aid kits, rope, canned food, bottled water, etc.

Step 1: First, each team should write down the items that they would grab from 1-10 in the order of most necessary to survive.
Step 2: Then, as a team, they have to decide and agree on which 10 are the top priorities and fill in the worksheet.
Step 3: Finally, compare every team's list with the scoring sheet (readily available online). The team with the highest points wins.

Recommended Article: 20 Amazing Team Building Activities Your Employees Will Love

8. Salt N Pepper

The Recommended Number Of Players: 10-15 team members.
Material Required: Tape, pen paper for each team member, and
Time Limit: Approximately 20 minutes

Why Does It Work?

Playing this fun game in office will boost communication and creativity among the team members. It will also encourage teamwork as communicating with the rest of the team is necessary.

How To Play?

Step 1: Have a list of well-known pairs (think Mario and Luigi, salt and pepper, yin and yang, shadow and light, peanut butter and jelly, Mickey and Minnie) on hand.
Step 2: Separate the pairs, and only one of them should be written on each sheet of paper. For example, Mario on one paper chit and Luigi on the other.
Step 3: Tape one paper on the back of each person, making sure the rest of the team can't see it.
Step 4: When the game starts, every team member must walk around asking yes or no questions to find out what word they have taped to their backs.
Step 5: Once they figure that out, they'll be able to find their other pair. The two will sit down and learn three to five interesting facts about one another.

9. The Barter Puzzle

The Recommended Number Of Players: Four or more small groups

Material Required: Different jigsaw puzzles for each group

Time Limit: Approximately 45 minutes

Why Does It Work?

Inspired by the popularity of jigsaw puzzles, this team-building game aims to utilize the problem-solving and leadership skills of the team members.

How to Play?

Step 1: Have everyone break off into small, equal-sized groups.
Step 2: Give respective teams a different jigsaw puzzle but with the same difficulty level. The goal is to see which team can finish their jigsaw puzzle the fastest.
Step 3: However, here's the catch. Some jigsaw puzzle pieces of each team will be mixed with the jigsaw puzzles of the rest of the groups. It's up to each group to come up with a plan to get those pieces back. It may either be through negotiating, trading, or through other methods. Whatever the decision might be, the whole team will have to reach a consensus about it.

10. Bingo

The Recommended Number Of Players: 10-15 team members.

Material Required: Bingo cards for each team member, a random number generating app, pen.

Time Limit: Approximately 20 minutes

Why Does It work?

Promotes team bonding while being simple and fun.

How To Play?

Here is a full, detailed explanation of how to play Bingo.

Finally

What is your favorite fun game in office to play with the rest of the team? Tell us in the comments below.

This article is written by Barasha Medhi who is a part of the marketing team at Vantage Circle. Barasha can be found either searching for interesting HR, company culture, and corporate buzzwords to write about or looking at pictures of cozy Bel Air mansions. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com.