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Big group games are a lot of fun, but don’t make the rookie mistake of picking the wrong one.
What do I mean?
Well, let’s start with what I’m looking for in a big group game. Here are three things I want:
I speak with a lot of team leaders who are searching for big group games, and those three elements will often come up in conversations.
If they ask me what to avoid, I generally say:
That’s not too much to ask, right? They might look great on paper, but in practice, they’re tough to pull off. I’ve got some alternative ideas for you.
Here are five activities I’ve seen repeatedly succeed with large (and tough) crowds:
Trivia consistently ranks as one of the most adaptable and engaging big group games.
It’s at the top of most people’s lists, and it’s clear why.
Over the past few years, my team and I have developed the ultimate trivia experience.
We now have over 1,200 teams using Water Cooler Trivia weekly.
Our platform brings a game-show vibe without the pressure, and it creates those magic moments where the CFO knows the answer to a Taylor Swift lyric and suddenly everyone’s looking at them differently.
With Water Cooler Trivia, you can run async games through Slack or email, or dial up the energy with a live showdown during an all-hands.
I’ve found that scales beautifully because everyone can play at once, and the fun is in both the right and wrong answers.
Trivia quizzes have never let me down as icebreakers, and many other team leaders feel the same way.
I want you to give a group a shared digital whiteboard (or giant physical easel at an offsite) and let the chaos unfold.
No, seriously, it’s ridiculously fun.
The hilariously bad drawings end up being the highlight, not the polished ones.
I’ve seen engineering teams bond over stick-figure airplanes that somehow looked like bananas.
The bigger the group, the louder the laughter. This is what you want!
If you are, for some reason, not in the mood for trivia, I think pictionary is an easy alternative to set up.
I’m all about keeping things simple. The notion that team building only works if it’s complicated is complete nonsense.
Here’s another one you might like!
You can split the room by team (marketing vs. sales vs. finance) and a few short, silly competitions.
Activities like “Which group can build the tallest paper tower in five minutes?” are good because they require minimal resources and come with a time constraint.
This works if you don’t want a big group game that feels too open-ended.
“Who can come up with the most creative product tagline?” is another fun activity idea (off the top of my head) that could tie into work.
Okay, maybe that sounds kind of lame.
If I’m honest, I generally avoid making big group games work-related. That’s just not the vibe I’m going for.
I like the idea of a big group game continuing for several days.
Rather than setting aside a block of time for company-wide bingo, make it a week-long activity.
The bingo cards can have inside jokes like:
Team members can watch out for these moments over the week.
I suggest handing out the bingo cards on a Monday morning.
You can even ask team members for their input on the bingo cards.
Once the activity begins, it’ll get people noticing the same small, funny moments together.
Passing a story one sentence at a time in a group of fifty sounds chaotic, and it is, but that’s what's going to make it memorable.
I like the sheer absurdity of a narrative built by dozens of contributors.
I’m sure it’ll create a shared artifact that the team won’t forget.
You will end up with a goofy story that belongs to everyone.
The throughline across the five big group games I’ve mentioned is participation.
They don’t sideline people or make anyone feel exposed.
Everyone has a stake in the outcome of these games.
So, if you want to try one quickly, I recommend taking advantage of Water Cooler Trivia’s four-week free trial.
You can join over 1,200 groups using Water Cooler Trivia every week and see what all of the fuss is about.
