Here is a list of fun team meeting games, activities, & ideas for the office.
Team meeting games and activities are great ways to build a teamwork-centered culture and engage meeting participants. Examples of these activities include icebreakers, potlucks, and office dress-up days. These tactics are fundamental when teams come back to work after being remote for long periods or working in hybrid offices.
These suggestions are examples of team building exercises, team building games, and creative team meeting ideas. You can use these ideas at regular team building meetings, for morning meeting games, all-hands meetings, and company retreat activities.
This list includes:
- fun team meeting games for adults
- team meeting activities for team building
- unique team meeting ideas
Let’s get started!
List of team meeting games
Team meeting games and activities are usually best when low pressure, fun, and social. These exercises give officemates the chance to know each other and build trust through social bonds. Here are our top ideas for office games and activities.
1. Ice Breaker Questions
One of the easiest ways to get group members warmed up and ready to share during a team meeting is to start the conversation with a low-pressure ice breaker question. First, each team member states their name, role, and the answer to an easy question.
Here are some examples:
- What is your go-to coffee shop order?
- Which TV family would you most like to join?
- What was the last item you checked off your bucket list?
Icebreakers should only take a few seconds to answer and should not require much thought. However, you should also avoid questions that require employees to divulge sensitive information.
To make this activity more competitive, you can challenge participants to guess or recall coworkers’ answers. You could also turn the icebreaker questions into a truth-or-dare or would-you-rather style challenge.
Check out these lists of icebreaker questions, plus small group icebreaker activities and icebreaker games for large groups.
2. Game Room Meetings
One way to make meetings more playful is to hold huddles in the company game room. You can encourage participants to play matches in between topics to re-energize attendees during longer sessions. To make the break room a great place to destress and socialize, bring in board games, a Ping-Pong table, cards, and video games, and add maybe even comfortable chairs.
Here are more office game room ideas.
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3. Scavenger Hunts
A scavenger hunt can be a good activity if you have a good chunk of time built into your meeting for games. These games are a fun way to engage the office team and improve collaboration and critical thinking skills. Scavenger hunts are also great activities for office outings, company picnics, and corporate field days.
To create a scavenger hunt, first, come up with a list of clues. Then give your team members the prompts and set a time limit for the hunt. This game works best when players complete the challenge in teams. At the end of the time limit, groups reconvene and count up clues. The team that retrieved the most objects wins the game.
Since you do not want your hunt to eat up too much time or divert too much attention from the meeting, you should select objects, clues, and challenges within a short distance of your meeting space.
Check out this list of scavenger hunt ideas for adults and these office scavenger hunt templates.
4. Office Mad Libs
This classic fill-in-the-blank game is fun and easy to customize. To prepare for the activity, print out Mad Libs for teammates to complete. Then, ask participants to pair off in teams of two to five, depending on the size of your group. One player in each group will be the reader and ask the other players to fill in the blanks with nouns, adjectives, verbs, and other words directed by the story. After five minutes, give each group a chance to read their page aloud. Laughter is a great way to loosen up the team and put employees in a positive mood for the start of the meeting.
5. Trivia
Office trivia is a fun way for employees to get to know the history of the business. There are also many non-work trivia topics, such as sports, history, and pop culture. There are online trivia games that team members can play through their phones, such as Kahoot! and board games and card games for trivia, like Trivial Pursuit. To play a trivia game during a meeting, start by asking teammates to download an app or break into teams. Some games like office Jeopardy are playable on a whiteboard or using a projector. However, these types of games will take more preparation by the meeting facilitator. You can also use trivia card games. Make sure players understand the game’s instructions before you begin the rounds.
Here are lists of general trivia questions for meetings and unexpected trivia topics.
6. Werewolf
Some of the most interactive meeting games involve mysteries, tricks, and role-playing. Group games such as Mafia and werewolf are engaging and can kickstart imaginations before brainstorming meetings. You will need one person to play the host to assign roles and keep the game moving through a storyline to play these games.
To play Werewolf, you will need at least seven players. Each player will receive a character card with at least one moderator, one seer, one doctor, and two werewolves. When more than 15 teammates are playing, you will add a werewolf for every four additional players. This game alternates between night and day scenes and is a great way to kick off a meeting with high energy and anticipation.
Checkout the rules for playing Werewolf.
7. Board Games
For team meetings, the most popular board games are quick games with low competition levels.
For example:
- Jenga
- Yahtzee
- Codenames
- Card games
These games can be enjoyable and entertaining and can encourage interaction. We recommend playing these games as a warm-up or during a mid-meeting break.
Check out the best team building board games.
List of team meeting activities
Here is a list of activities to introduce fun and camaraderie into office meetings.
8. Potlucks
Potlucks are a wonderful way to get the office together over the lunch hour to socialize. Theming potlucks around different holidays or seasons is also a fantastic way to have a fun lunch beyond pizza Fridays. The best way to organize an office potluck is to use a Signup Genius to ask officemates to sign up to bring specific dishes to share. You will also want to ensure lunch breaks are taken in groups so that officemates have a chance to sit and eat together. It is also a good idea to have extra plates, napkins, and serving utensils on hand!
Combining a meeting with a potluck can be a way to encourage attendance and build community.
9. Dress-Up Days
Office dress-up days are a throwback to school spirit days. These occasions give employees a reason to be excited to get ready for work in the morning. Dress-up days can include repping your favorite sports team, casual days, decades days like 80s prom or 60s hippies, or a flashback to the 90s. To plan a dress-up day for a meeting, pick a theme and frequency, for instance, weekly, monthly, or on specified days during spirit weeks. Then, add the theme for each day to your office shared calendar, send out a group email to the office, and print out fliers promoting the dress-up days to post in the breakroom and other employee common areas.
Check out this guide to office spirit week ideas.
10. Personality Tests
Many folks enjoy taking personality tests and talking about their results. Finding out your personality type can help you better relate to officemates. According to the Myers Brigg Type Indicator, there are 16 different personality types. While waiting for the meeting to start, teammates can take a few minutes to take a personality test online. Then, once participants settle into the conference room, use the test results to spark discussion, share ideas, and get the group to open up.
Here is a list of online personality tests.
11. Wall of Fame
The Wall of Fame is a bulletin board with pictures of employees, post-it notes with words of affirmation or recognition, and praise from leaders and coworkers. This activity is a more interactive take on employee of the month and a fantastic way to boost employee morale and create a positive working environment. You can also post anniversary dates, new employee welcomes, birthdays, and other great news to share with the office. During the meeting, you can take time to draw attention to noteworthy board postings.
Check out more office bulletin board ideas.
12. Desk Decorating Contests
Letting employees decorate their desks for holidays or other events can allow their creativity and personality to shine. Decorating brightens up the office and creates a festive and inclusive atmosphere. Employees can vote on their favorite desk decorations, and the winning team can receive a prize and bragging rights. The best way to organize a desk decorating contest is to ensure plenty of planning time by announcing the competition through email, company bulletin or newsletter, and posting fliers in employee common areas.
Be sure to let officemates know the contest’s parameters, such as a specific theme, day of voting, and what the prizes are. Then, on the day of the meeting, you can send out a poll via company email, a ballot using an online program or Google Form, or make it simple by setting up jars on each desk and asking officemates to drop a marble in their favorite, or using a tally on the whiteboard.
This approach can be a way to bring fun and teamwork to office meetings. You can either call a meeting devoted solely to the contest or make the decoration or announcement of winners a small portion of the meeting.
Check out this list of office Christmas decorating ideas.
13. Lunch and Learns
Planning fun activities for the lunch hour that allow colleagues to relax, learn, and engage with each other is a great way to maximize meetings. Leaders often use lunch and learns to help employees explore the company’s core values or the organization’s mission in the community. Sometimes it is even fun to ask coworkers to take turns hosting the lunch and learn to share their skills or talents with the office. You will want to coordinate lunch and learn for a time when officemates can take their lunch break simultaneously. The facilitator of the lunch and learn will need to be prepared with a presentation for the group and a time for question and answer at the end.
List of team meeting ideas
Here is a list of ideas for meeting locations and unexpected types of meetings to strengthen team building and office relationships.
14. Escape Rooms
Escape rooms are a great way to build teamwork while socializing and completing challenges together. The team will make its way through a variety of clues and challenges to unlock the room and escape before time runs out. Nearly every medium to large city has at least one escape room that organizations and corporations can reserve for private company outings. You can also build a DIY escape room for teammates to solve together during a team building meeting.
Check out this guide to DIY escape room puzzles.
15. Volunteering
Volunteering allows officemates to give back to the community while working together for a good cause. You can check out the various opportunities in your community and pick a project that fits your team’s interests or abilities. For instance, your office can adopt a highway, trail, or park to help maintain. Once you choose an organization or project, set up a group volunteer time that fits most employees’ schedules. Next, recruit volunteers from within the office, or set aside a workday for the team to complete the service. You could even hold a volunteering meeting where participants talk about work topics while picking up trash, walking shelter dogs, or painting picnic tables. Volunteering meetings give employees the chance to make progress on work topics while doing good for the greater community.
Here is a list of group volunteering ideas.
16. Retreats
Traveling with your coworkers can help the team grow closer and know each other outside of the work environment. These excursions can also develop skills and competencies. You can book retreats in remote locations that encourage breaks away from technology or in a city center where you can immerse yourself in the latest technology trends. Retreats often promote wellness and relaxation as well as focused team building. Retreats may seem overwhelming to plan at first, but it is easy to break these events down into more manageable pieces by having a small one-day offsite meeting with a specific team rather than the entire company.
Check out this list of corporate retreat locations and ideas.
17. Happy Hours
Office happy hours are a great way to get the team together in a casual environment to let off steam after work. Having a happy hour at a bar can be low-pressure on office managers because bars often have built-in entertainment like pool tables, darts, and board games. However, a bar-based venue may exclude employees under 21 or folks not comfortable socializing around alcohol. Alternate happy hour locations include coffee shops, bakeries, food courts, outdoor dining spaces at restaurants, or mini golf and bowling outings.
Holding a happy hour meeting is a good option for more informal topics and can help employees feel relaxed enough to contribute.
Here is a list of work happy hour ideas.
18. Family Picnics
Coworkers may love the chance to introduce their families to the people they work with daily. Office employees with kids will love attending a company picnic that includes face painting, bouncy houses, and other fun activities. Company picnics are a great way to give back to your employees and show appreciation to their families as well as broadcasting exciting company news or giving recognition to exemplary employees. You can even use this time while everyone is gathered to vote on new company initiatives.
Check out this guide to corporate family picnics.
19. Intramural Sports Meetings
Intramural meetings are a way to build teamwork skills while encouraging office workers to stay active. During these events, participants play sports matches like softball, kickball, dodgeball, basketball, or volleyball while discussing work topics on the court or during breaks. These out-of-the-box meetings can help participants hone their concentration and multitasking skills, as they will need to split their mindsets between the game and work. These meetings can also be an effective means of holding interdepartmental meetings and building cooperation and camaraderie between different areas of the organization.
Final Thoughts
The office should be a place of high productivity and enthusiasm for work. One of the best ways to achieve employee morale and success is to make the office environment fun and comfortable. Team meeting games, fun office activities, and other ideas make the office atmosphere a place of energy, enjoyment, and hard work.
Creating a fun, inviting, welcoming environment is very important to office managers who want success from their employees. Offices that value have social time are stronger, work together more efficiently, and are more motivated to succeed and reach goals.
Next, check out our lists of team building ideas for conference calls and virtual team meeting ideas.
