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Last week, over coffee, I caught myself laughing with a project manager who had just stepped into the world of running a remote-first engineering team.
He leaned in and asked me point-blank what I honestly thought about icebreaker activities for adults, and which ones he should run screaming from.
I told him straight up that some options can backfire hard. I would avoid:
These might work in theory, but in practice, they often land flat or create anxiety. That’s the opposite of what good icebreaker activities for adult teams should achieve.
So what does work in 2025? I go back to tried-and-true activities like trivia quizzes. Yes, I’m going to wave the trivia flag here, but let me explain why.
Here are five ideas I’ve seen consistently succeed. I’ll start with my favorite:
Flexible, playful, and stress-free.
Trivia works because it creates instant laughter while avoiding pressure to reveal anything personal.
With Water Cooler Trivia, teams can play async through Slack or email, or live during meetings, and the questions are crafted to balance fun with surprise.
I’ve seen even the most reserved teammates light up after nailing a random question about space food or movie quotes.
That moment of shared joy sets the tone for the whole day.
Quick drawing games in a shared digital whiteboard get people laughing at their artistic attempts.
Literally nobody expects perfect drawings, and that’s kind of the point.
It’s the hilariously bad sketches that become inside jokes.
One engineering team I worked with ran five-minute Pictionary rounds before sprint reviews, and those doodles ended up pinned in their Slack channel for weeks as running gags.
Asking teammates which three books, movies, or albums they’d bring to a desert island is simple but revealing.
It gives people the chance to show personality without oversharing.
A marketing lead once told me that this activity helped her discover that her quietest team member was a die-hard sci-fi fan, which then sparked a friendly debate that carried into their group chat for months.
In remote calls, asking people to grab an item from their desk or home and share a quick story about it creates surprising moments.
I once joined a call where someone brought back a childhood trophy, and it spiraled into a hilarious conversation about embarrassing sports memories.
It’s quick, interactive, and gets people out of their seats for a minute or two!
Sharing a blank meme template and letting teams fill in captions works brilliantly in Slack or Teams.
People love testing their wit, and it adds levity to the workday.
I’ve seen companies set up “Meme Mondays” where the best caption wins bragging rights, and those memes eventually become part of the team culture itself. It’s simple, creative, and always a crowd-pleaser.
These choices work because they feel natural, not forced.
Trivia tops my list because it blends knowledge with humor, but each option has its own way of sparking connection.
When you’re thinking about icebreaker activities for workplace teams, you want something that doesn’t feel like yet another task.
Trivia works because it’s naturally playful.
It gives people a chance to laugh, guess, and be surprised without putting anyone on the spot.
A great icebreaker activity for adults should create small sparks of fun and trivia questions do exactly that.
If I’m honest, half the fun is in the wrong answers!
I’ve watched Water Cooler Trivia land in weekly standups, all-hands, and Slack channels.
Here’s what happens (every time, no exceptions):
That’s really the magic of using trivia as one of your icebreaker activities for adults.
It doesn’t demand big reveals, yet it invites a ton of curiosity.
A marketing agency team I know replaced their old “fun fact” round with trivia.
They instantly noticed more laughter and fewer groans.
The CFO nailed a science question nobody else knew, and suddenly she had a new reputation as “the science brain.”
I love when things like this end up happening.
That’s the kind of story trivia leaves behind.
Another team dropped their weekly “share a hobby” segment (which always got the same three people talking) and added trivia instead.
Now, even the quieter folks jump into the conversation.
That’s the kind of success you want from icebreaker activities for adult teams.
Sure, I’m biased because I lead Water Cooler Trivia, but it’s bias born from experience.
Trivia is one of the few icebreaker activities for workplace teams that works across industries, ages, and personalities.
I know because we’ve got over 1,200 groups playing weekly.
Just this week, my team has sent 25,187 quizzes.
You can play async in Slack or email, run it live in a Zoom call, or even print out a quiz for in-person offsites.
With our four-week free trial, you don’t have to take my word for it.
You can just test it with your team and see what happens.
Good icebreakers create lasting touchpoints.
That might be a throwaway question about movie quotes that turns into a team-wide inside joke or a random sports fact that gives someone bragging rights for weeks.
This is what you get when you use trivia as your go-to icebreaker activity for adults.
Instead of awkward silence or eye rolls, you get real, lightweight, and repeatable connection.
The best icebreaker activities for adults are ridiculously simple.
I want you to forget the gimmicks and focus on tools that spark joy without adding stress.
Trivia hits that sweet spot, and if you want to see how it plays out in real life, give Water Cooler Trivia a shot.
Who knows? Your team’s next running joke might be hiding in the answer to a trivia question about penguins, pasta, or pop culture.
It’s a proven, fun-first icebreaker activity for adults that your team will actually enjoy.
Get your four-week free trial of Water Cooler Trivia.
