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It's not as easy as you might think to find a Slack game with staying power.
If you look inside any Slack workspace, you'll probably spot a whole load of bots and plugins that have been left to collect dust over the years.
I'm often getting asked to audit these spaces. They are usually integrated because someone, at some point, was excited about a game and they rolled it out fast to their team with plenty of fanfare.
It's sort of become predictable, and in many ways, it's sad because Slack games have so much potential that's really just waiting to get unlocked by teams.
Only a few formats manage to keep humming along year after year and become a staple.
I want us to really get into what makes those Slack games different from all the others you've come across and heard about.
I don't think this is a particularly controversial opinion.
I think this is where most managers go completely wrong when picking a game.
Because managers are too focused on assessing the format for what it is on paper without accounting for all the noise that comes with it.
The payoff has to justify any disruption.
I'm looking for two things in a Slack game:
What you'll find is that everything in between tends not to work out.
I'd rather sort Slack games by category than rank them 1-10.
HeyTaco, Bonusly, and other recognition bots slot into existing workflows (someone finishes a piece of work, a teammate reacts by giving a token) instead of pulling folks into a new one.
The embedded quality is why they stick around.
The thing is, with recognition bots, if you want them to work, you really need to lead from the front.
And what I mean by that is getting those in leadership roles to actually use the bots.
You're not exactly going to inspire confidence if team members can't see leaders giving tokens regularly.
I recommend making sure teams see leadership using these bots for the first three months.
You need to get this past the middle-management layer.
Donut is the obvious example here. I'm guessing this one is probably already on your radar as it's most people's go-to.
If you haven't actually heard it, Donut pairs teammates up for short chats on a rotating basis.
Random pairing tends to survive at fully remote and hybrid companies because it solves a real problem (colleagues who never bump into each other otherwise).
At in-office spots, it can feel forced.
The trick with these rollouts is keeping the commitment tiny. 15 minutes and one clear conversation prompt is enough.
Any longer means people start dodging the invites and coming up with all sorts of random (and laughable) excuses.
You need a Slack game that's going to make it pretty much impossible for anyone to opt out of.
Weekly quiz formats outperform almost everything else I've watched teams try and it's not even close.
Water Cooler Trivia is the platform I recommend when managers ask me for a specific tool.
It sends a short quiz to your team by Slack or email once a week, and everyone answers on their own schedule; results and rankings get shared the following day!
The reason this format holds up is that it scales from 10-person groups to thousand-person companies without changing shape.
Water Cooler Trivia ultimately sticks because of three reasons:
We've now seen quite a few teams keep the same weekly trivia running for many years in a row, which is almost unheard of in this space.
A #wordle channel where the team can post daily results is one of the most underrated workplace rituals I've come across.
The magic is that the game already exists outside of Slack (people are playing it anyway, so sharing scores adds zero friction), which is why this category punches well above what the effort would have you believe.
I think it would be a good idea to pair Wordle with Connections or Strands if some of your crew has moved on from the original.
A weekly #gif-battle channel gives more introverted team members a way to be funny without ever really having to say anything out loud, if they don't want to.
What you'll likely find is that it becomes the most-visited part of your Slack workspace.
I would just bear in mind that GIF threads will usually need a starting prompt every week to stay alive; otherwise, they become another dormant corner.
If I'm honest with you, this is where I get a bit skeptical.
Kahoot is quite fun in the right context. I've played it loads over the years, like everyone else.
Say it's a Tuesday morning during quarter close, the format is a bit much.
If your team really does love it, run it once a quarter as a treat or something like that.
I have pretty mixed feelings about these too!
When I was telling you about the graveyard problem, icebreaker bots are immediately what comes to mind.
Half the team ignores the bot; the other half posts something that feels safe and forgettable.
They usually don't work because:
If you want an icebreaker, use one at the start of a real meeting where people can respond in a shared moment. In an async Slack channel, the concept just isn't right.
I'm sure you've seen bracket-style tournaments show up in Slack a lot over the years.
It's stuff like March Madness for movie posters and World Cup for office snacks.
Brackets can work if you keep them short (four stages max) and pick something the whole team has real opinions about.
I like that they start with high energy. The problem is, participation tends to thin out as time goes on. And then once you've reached the finals, only five or so people are still voting.
If you're going to do this, here's what I suggest:
When I see people talking about new Slack games on LinkedIn, I'm always interested to know how long they've actually been playing these games for and what kind of team size is participating.
I mean, it goes without saying that the best fit for my team isn't necessarily going to be the best fit for yours.
And really, I just think that's the nature of picking these team games for Slack. Ultimately, you know your team much better than I do.
You know who the introverts and extroverts are.
And I think instinctively from the games that I've outlined, you've probably already got a clear sense of what would and wouldn't work for your team.
I think the reality is that most of these games feel very forced.
There's just this sense that so many of these Slack games are about ticking a box.
My team knows that I'm not going to force a game upon them which isn't actually going to add value to their day.
With that being said, I'm still always looking to find a champion who can help to get the team on-side and encourage any reluctant participants to at least give the game a go.
I see four (recurring) reasons why Slack games fail:
If your last Slack game died and you're now figuring out what to try next, you should really take a minute to diagnose why the last one failed before you install another bot.
Do an audit before anything else and cut the tools that nobody's using anymore rather than adding another game on top of the pile.
Then pick one Slack game to run properly for a quarter.
I want to give the game some time to breathe.
Obviously, you'll need to find a champion for the game, and they'll play a big role in getting your team on-side and participating.
The great thing about Water Cooler Trivia is that it's been tried and tested at this point by thousands of teams.
I just had a look at the latest numbers and 1,200 groups played along last week.
We really like to think of it as a set-and-forget ritual that you can use to build team culture week after week.
So, why don't you give Water Cooler Trivia a go with your team? Get your four-week free trial.
