The 15 Best Get-to-Know-You Games for Breaking the Ice

Ask yourself: When was the last time you had a conversation with your coworker that wasn’t work-related? If you can't remember, it may be a sign that you need to try some get-to-know-you games.

Get-to-know-you games can be a great way to encourage communication in the workplace and get everyone familiar with one another. The games are simple and don’t require much planning on the employer’s end so you can initiate them for any orientations, team-building exercises, or virtual events. Not only that, but they also promote “small talk,” which can lead to friendships between team members and help them work better together in a team setting.

Not sure where to start? We’re here to help. We created a list of 15 of our favorite get-to-know-you games so you can start using them today to build connections.

Two truths and a lie

For this get-to-know-you game, your team members will go around and say two truths and a lie about themselves. The rest of your team will need to guess which one is the truth out of the three. There will be laughs, challenges, and tons of opportunities to connect. Plus, you’ll learn something new about your team members you probably didn’t know.

Speed dating

Think speed dating but for your employees. Partner everyone up and give them only two to three minutes to talk among themselves. You can provide them with prompts or questions to make the conversions go smoothly in a short amount of time, or you can just let them have fun with it. You’ll continue to switch partners until everyone has had a chance to connect.

Virtual show and tell

Everyone will be required to bring any item to show the team through Zoom or in person. It could be a photo, something sitting around their house, or anything you can imagine. The team member will share the item with everyone and talk about why it’s important to them.

Get-to-know-your-team trivia

This version of trivia is one of our favorite get-to-know-you games! It’s easy to schedule and set up for your team so you don’t have to worry about any of the details that come along with hosting. The best part? Instead of a classic trivia game, the questions are all about your employees. Each team member will need to answer a few questions about themselves. Then, Elevent will create trivia questions on the spot. Get ready for an exciting trivia experience!

This or that?

This game is simple and easy to make part of just about any virtual experience you plan. To get started, you’ll want to find a list of this-or-that questions you can choose from. As you go through the list of questions, your team members will need to answer what they prefer the most. Here are a few example questions:

• Night owl or morning bird?
• Work from home or at a coffee shop?
• Start work before or after 9 a.m.?

The questions don’t need to be work-related! You can have as much fun as you want them to be.

Never have I ever

For this get-to-know-you game, your team members will need to mention something they have never done before. If another employee has done it, they’ll need to put a finger down. Whoever can put all 10 fingers down first wins!

20 questions

Each individual will need to ask one of their coworkers 20 questions to help get to know them. You can choose to have a theme or give them preselected questions to help guide the conversation. Don’t worry: Even though 20 sounds like a lot of questions, it won’t be once the conversation starts flowing!

Team bingo

Who doesn’t love a good game of bingo? Instead of your traditional bingo game, this one is about your team members. You’ll add random squares to the bingo board, and your team members will need to connect to get all their squares filled up. The best part is you can play this game throughout the week. Provide your team members with the bingo card at the beginning of the week. Then, ask them to connect with their team members throughout the week until every square is complete. Whoever fills all the squares first is the winner.

Team trivia challenge

Another great option is a traditional trivia game. Even though the game questions won’t be about their individuality, your team members will get to bond on a deeper level with one another. As they work together to answer questions, they’ll learn new things about their team members and build a stronger connection with them over time.

Team-based virtual scavenger hunt

For this 90-minute online adventure, your team members will need to work together to solve 50 engaging scavenger missions. They will need to engage, interact, and connect to complete the mission. Throughout the experience, they’ll learn new things about their teammates and have the opportunity to connect with them on something that isn’t work-related.

Would you rather

For this get-to-know-you game, you’ll want to either have all your team members ask a “would you rather” question to the team, or you’ll want to create a list to provide them with. Everyone will need to ask and respond to the questions. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Would you rather travel in the past or into the future?
• Would you rather be able to talk to animals or fly?
• Would you rather talk to someone on the phone or text someone?
• Would you rather read a really good book or watch a really good movie?

These are just a few questions to get you started! We recommend starting the get-to-know-you game with a few prompts and then allowing your team members to ask ones themselves.

The name game

If you’re looking for a great get-to-know-you icebreaker for a virtual orientation, this may be the one for you! For the name game, one person starts by saying their name. The person after then needs to repeat that person’s name and say their own. This continues around the group until someone messes up.

Workplace bingo

Workplace bingo tests how well you know your teammates. The bingo cards are based on your team members’ responses to a pre-event survey. This means the game is unique to your team. Workplace bingo can accommodate up to 200 people and is a great option for any company looking for a pre-planned and organized get-to-know-you game.

Virtual charades

Who says you can’t play charades over Zoom? For virtual charades, team members will need to pick something to act out by themselves or with the help of a random generator. From there, the rest of the team has a minute to figure out what they are acting out. The winner is the one with the most points in the end.

Most likely to…

To play this get-to-know-you game, you’ll need your team to answer who is most likely to do something. For example, maybe the question is, “Who is most likely to skydive?” Then, they’ll need to say who on the team is most likely to do that.

When you choose to prioritize get-to-know-you games in the workplace, you’ll start to notice your employees can easily create meaningful connections. To take these to the next level, we encourage you to look at our list of virtual events. We have a wide variety of curated events perfect for team-building in the workplace. When you plan your virtual events with Elevent, you can rest assured that we handle everything from start to finish so you can sit back, relax, and join in on the fun.

Originally published at Mar 10 2022, 1:48:46 PM. Updated on May 4 2024.