Team-Building Activities That Will Break the Ice: 12 Fun Icebreaker Games for Remote Events!

Team building is an important aspect of any workplace, but creating an engaging and effective experience for remote teams can be challenging. You are in the right place to learn more about fun icebreaker games! In this blog post, we’ll discuss why your team needs icebreaker games and provide you with 12 fun and easy icebreaker games that can be enjoyed by remote teams, no matter where they are located. Whether you’re a manager looking to foster a positive team dynamic or a team member looking to get to know your colleagues better, these games will surely help!

In this article, you will find:

• Why your team needs icebreaker games?
• Purposes and Benefits of Icebreaker Games for Team Building Events
• 12 Fun Icebreaker Games Ideas for Remote Events

Why your team needs icebreaker games?

Icebreaker games are an essential aspect of remote teams for better communication. They help break the ice and create a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere among team members who may not have met in person. By playing icebreaker games together, team members can get to know one another better and build strong working relationships.

Your team needs icebreaker games because they boost morale and motivation among team members. One of the best ways to do this is through fun and engaging icebreaker games. Games can lead to a more positive environment in the workplace. Who does not want happy employees, right? Being happy makes sharing ideas easier and increases collaboration between co-workers by creating a workplace where everyone is open to contributing

Purposes and Benefits of Icebreaker Games for Team Building Events

Icebreaker games serve different purposes, and remote teams can benefit them to create a more productive work environment. Icebreaker games’ main aim is to build strong working relationships between remote teams who work from different locations. Also, icebreaker games try to improve communication and foster a positive team dynamic by encouraging teamwork and collaboration between co-workers. Their goal is to develop a sense of trust and understanding among employees.

Team building events and icebreaker games have several benefits to help employees. Here is a list of what remote teams can benefit from while playing social games. Icebreaker games:

• Break down the barriers to make interaction easier.
• Provide a break from work tasks to relax.
• Help to improve performance and job satisfaction by breaking the monotony.
• Promote creativity and problem-solving skills among team members.

After we have covered the purposes and benefits of icebreaker games, let’s dive into the best games to play with your remote team!

1. Two Truths and a Lie Game

Let’s start with a classic and popular icebreaker game: Two Truths and a Lie. This game is perfect for remote team building events, as it can help to get people talking and interacting with each other. Two Truths and a Lie is also suitable for large groups.

How to play Two Truths and a Lie?

1. Each player takes a turn to share three statements about themselves. It could be about their personal life, hobbies, interests, or anything else they feel comfortable sharing.
2. Two of the statements must be true, and one must be a lie.
3. The other players then try to guess which statement is the lie.
4. The player who made the statements then reveals which statement was the lie, and the game continues with the next player.

People start to interact and learn more about friends while trying to guess the lie. This open ups the people and lead to funny conversations between people.

2. Guess Who?

Guess Who? is a similar game to “Who Am I?” but a simpler version for virtual settings. If you want, the game can be played using a shared whiteboard or shared document, where players can write their names and answer their teammates’ questions. This will ensure that everyone has a clear view of the game and can participate effectively.

How to play Guess Who?

1. Each player chooses a name of a famous person, celebrity, or historical figure.
2. Players take turns asking yes or no questions to try to figure out other players’ characters. For example, “Is this person a musician?” or “Is this person alive?” After you have some clues, narrow down the possibilities and guess their character.
3. Players can only answer the questions with “yes” or “no”. They cannot make statements or give any other clues.
4. If someone thinks that they found the character, they can make a guess. The player who guesses right gets the point if the answer is correct. Then, a new round begins with a new person and a new famous person, celebrity, or historical figure.

3. Charades

Charades is a classic party game that can easily be adapted for virtual team building events. Make sure your video call is full of energy by encouraging everyone to talk and joke with each other while playing.

How to play Charades?

1. Divide your remote team into two groups. Each takes turns acting out a word or phrase while the other team members try to guess what it is.
2. Choose a category for the game, such as movie titles, books, songs, or people.
3. One player from the acting team will act out the word or phrase without speaking, using gestures, facial expressions, and body movements.
4. The team will have a set amount of time to guess the word or phrase and can communicate with the acting player via virtual chat or by raising their hand virtually.
5. If the team successfully guesses, the word or phrase gets the point. Also, the remaining time can be considered in the point system when determining the winners.
6. The other team takes the turn of acting and tries to guess the word or phrase. The game continues until each member of the team completes the acting.
7. The team with the most correctly guessed words or phrases at the end of the game wins.

4. Drawing Games

Drawing games are perfect for remote teams to engage in creative and interactive activities together. Gartic.io and Garticphone.com are two digital versions of the popular game, Gartic. Gartic.io is a turn-based game that requires players to draw pictures and guess what they represent. Draw and guess to collect points and win the game.

Gartic Telephone is a drawing version of the telephone game that starts with one person whispering a phrase or sentence to the next person in a line, who then passes it on to the next person until it reaches the last person in the line. In Gartic Phone, players draw and guess what the previous player has drawn. After everyone completes the drawing players see the story and the evolution of the sentence and drawing.

Gartic.io and Gartic Phone will undoubtedly provide your team and friends with moments of entertainment.

5. Virtual Trivia

Virtual Trivia is a great way to test your knowledge and have fun with friends. Put your general knowledge about history, geography, science, etc., to the table and answer the questions correctly. You can use free or paid platforms to play Trivia in Zoom, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. It is possible to pick topics and reach pre-made questions from Virtual Trivia Platforms. You can play as individuals or divide into teams to maximize the fun.

Kahoot covers a wide range of subjects and topics, and they can be customized to meet the specific needs of each user. You can create your company trivia with Kahoot! Kahoot allows you to create funny and informative questions about your company. Gather employees together and create a Kahoot game for your next team building event. Also, consider rewarding the winners of Virtual Trivia. It can provide additional excitement and motivation for your team.

6. Virtual Escape Room

A virtual escape room is best for remote teams to challenge their brain and have fun. Players work together to solve puzzles and uncover clues to escape the room within a limited time. It is a great way to collaborate and show teamwork. Also, a virtual escape room leads players to think outside the box by forcing them to think creatively.

Finding the best virtual escape rooms that fit your team is possible. The important thing is to choose a game that meets the team's needs in terms of game type, team size, and difficulty level. Once you determine these, all you need to do is start the game and crack the case!

7. Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is a simple and fun game that can be played quickly, making it an excellent option for a quick team building activity. You can launch Tic Tac Toe on Slack or Microsoft Teams in seconds and start playing.

How to play Tic Tac Toe on Guul?

1. Go to Guul Home Page on Slack or Microsoft Teams.
2. Click on the “Play Now!” section to launch Tic Tac Toe.
3. Check Tic Tac Toe’s commands and rules before starting to play.
4. Type “/guul tictactoe” in a channel where you want to play with your friends. Guul’s bot will arrive at the channel for you to play Tic Tac Toe.

Enjoy Tic Tac Toe with your friends, and be the first player to connect the same symbols in a row to win!

8. Word Association

Word Association is a simple and effective icebreaker game for remote team building events. You can play the game in different variations to prevent monotony.

One of the simplest ways to play word association is to find the words which are related to each other. For example, you can start with “sun,” and the next player might say “hot.” Then it is possible to say “coffee,” and the game continues that way.

Another way to play word association is to determine and start with a topic. Words must be related to the chosen topic, and players who cannot find words on this topic are eliminated. Some topics can be types of drinks, athletes, movies, countries, etc. For example, if you choose the topic of car brands, you can start with “Mercedes” and continue with “Ferrari.” The first one who cannot find a car brand is eliminated from the game.

Lastly, you can play word association in chain type. In this type, the last letter of a word should be the first letter of the next word. For example, if you start with “orange,” the next word might be “eraser.” The first player who cannot say a word is eliminated.

9. Show and Tell

Show and Tell is simple and involves each team member sharing something personal, interesting, or meaningful to them while the rest of the team listens and engages in conversation. The game aims to know team members better and learn from their hobbies and interests.

Each person takes turns sharing about a nearby item that they can reach. This item can reflect a person’s hobby and story. If there is no proper object that a person cannot talk about, it is good to share something they find meaningful, inspiring, and passionate about. In this way, every member will talk about their interest, leading to greater bonding within the team.

10. Board Games

Virtual board games are a delightful experience for remote teams. Everyone likes board games such as Backgammon, Chess, and Minesweeper; it will be worth implementing into the company’s team building strategy.

Guul makes board games more accessible under the “Competitive Games” section. You can play 9 Board Games on Slack and Microsoft Teams to create a friendly competitive environment with your co-workers. Gather your remote team and experience the excitement of playing classic board games!

11. Guess the Song

Guess the Song game is a fun icebreaker game for your team building activity. Start guessing the title and artist of the song and test your musical knowledge. You can play SongTrivia and use custom playlists to enjoy with your friends.

Also, you can create your Guess the Song game with your team. Be ready to play Guess the Song game in 4 easy steps:

1. A player chooses a song and plays a short clip for the team.
2. Team members will have a certain amount of time, such as 30 seconds, to guess the title or artist.
3. End of the time, the player will reveal the answer and award points to the team members who correctly guessed the song.
4. Repeat the game with different songs until all team members have had a chance to participate or until a certain number of songs have been played.

12. Baby Photo Guessing Contest

The Childhood Photo Guessing game is fun to play with remote teams, especially for those who have known each other for a while. To play this game, you’ll need to collect baby photos from each team member. Make sure that team members won’t reach the pictures before the game.

You can either go photo by photo and have everyone take a turn guessing or have everyone write down their guesses for each photo and reveal the answers at the end. You can add a point system to the game to make things more interesting. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Start Your Next Icebreaker Game with Guul

Icebreaker games are a great way to break the ice and get your team to talk and interact with each other. They are perfect for remote team building events, as they can help people open up and express themselves. They can also help foster positive relationships between team members and encourage creativity and collaboration.

At Guul, we focus on creating fun and engaging team building activities for work. You can play Trivia & Puzzle Games, Predictor Games, Quick Games, Competitive Board Games, and Decision Making Games in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Choose your game to make your workplace more fun, and start with Guul for free!