10 Free Team Building Games for Your Next 15-Minute Break

7 min read

share on:

We probably don't need to explain to you anymore how important teambuilding is. But how does teambuilding work when your teams are sitting in the home office and you hardly have time for elaborate games? Don't worry! In our article, we'll introduce you to 10 virtual team building games and activities that can fit into any 15-minute break (and are free!).

Ready?

Then let's get started.

What are the best team building games for under 15 minutes?

Game 1: Two truths and a lie.

We'll start with a classic that's great for home office teams to implement. Simply host a video conference and ask each participant to tell three truths and one lie about themselves (the lie should be realistic!). The other team members then have to guess which of the statements are true and which statement is a lie. Such a team game is a great way to get to know each other better in an entertaining way.

Game 2: Who types the fastest? ⌨️

This game offers your remote team a fun competition: use a free tool like 10FastFingers or Typing-Speed and let your team members compete against each other in a typing speed race! It's simple: With these tools, each team member types a single task and receives a result at the end. You can then share those results via Slack, email, or another platform to compare your typing speeds.

Pro tip: You can also divide your employees into teams and have them test their typing speed together like in a relay race. At the end, simply add up the cumulative number of points to get the team's overall speed.

Game 3: Guess the refrigerator

"Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are." We put this motto to the test in this game: all team members take a picture of the inside of their refrigerator and post the picture to a group chat. Now you have to guess together which refrigerator belongs to which team member. An entertaining game that allows a glimpse into the personal spaces of the team members and is guaranteed to get a laugh!

Game 4: Guess Throwback Songs 🎼

For this game you need some preparation. Before your next meeting, create a playlist of songs that were popular ten or more years ago. Or use a pre-made playlist (for example from Spotify). Then play the songs over your video chat during the meeting and have participants guess the songs. Those who know the song quickly type an "x" in the chat and say their answer. If you want a little competition, you can give a point for correct answers and a minus point for wrong answers.

Game 5: Common ground puzzle

Divide your home office teams into groups. Each team now has the task of finding three things that all group members have in common. For example: None of us was born in Berlin, we all have a cat and we love pizza. After that, we move on to the next round with the same teams - but this time there is a rule that places or physical similarities are not allowed as commonalities. Then, in the round after next, you cross out pets and likes. This way, the game gets more difficult from round to round. Which team can find the most commonalities despite restrictions?

Game 6: Trivia

Trivia is fun in the home office too! Test the knowledge of your team members with a series of multiple-choice or true/false questions. These questions can be company-specific (for example, who has worked in which department the longest) or focus on topics related to news, sports, movies, music, and more. You can design your own questions or use an online quiz (for example, funquizzes or number 42).

Pro tip: This game can also be easily adapted as a program item for a virtual Christmas party by changing the questions to Christmas movies and music, etc. We played a quiz ourselves at our 2021 Christmas event and had a lot of fun doing it!

Game 7: 10-Finger Strike 👐

The game 10-Finger Strike is a fun team building game to get to know each team member better. How it works:

All participants:inside hold up 10 fingers. One person starts and tells a true statement about themselves. For example: "I was in Thailand".
Now all participants have to lower one finger for which the statement is not true. When all fingers are down, you are out of the game. The game is played until only one player is left.

The strategy for the 10-finger strike? Tell a truth so unique that it doesn't apply to anyone else. Depending on the team size, you can also start the game with five or three fingers instead of ten. Then it will be over faster.

Game 8: Emoji story 💬💁

This game is suitable even for a 5-minute break: write a maximum of 6 emojis in a chat area. Then one team member must try to tell a short story from those emojis. Once that is done, the team member adds five more emojis to the story and the next team member tells the second part of the story and adds five more emojis again. You can keep going until each teammate has had a turn or until you run out of ideas.

Game 9: Can You Hear Me Now

It's great for virtual team building activities and is uncomplicated to implement:

Appoint one person as the "describer" and one player as the "artist."
The describer must now explain to the artist how to draw a certain object. The trick? Only geometric terms may be used for the description.
For example: "Draw a large square", "add a line at a 45-degree angle from above" or similar specifications.

After the drawing, the artist must guess what he or she has drawn. If successful, both describer and artist each receive a point. As a rule, three minutes per round are sufficient.

Game 10: Who am I?

A virtual teambuilding game for new or old teams: Before the meeting, ask your team members to tell you one to three facts about them that the team does not yet know about them. Then, during your meeting or break, read these facts aloud, one at a time, and have your team members guess which fact belongs to which team member. The first fact should be the hardest. Can anyone already guess the team member after one fact? If not, then you name the second fact and at the end the third fact.

Conclusion: Online team events don't have to be complicated

Make it easy on yourself with these virtual team building games. You need hardly any preparation time, have no costs and can offer your team a fun breather quickly and easily. Remember, sitting in front of your laptop in your home office can quickly become exhausting. Entertaining teambuilding methods lighten up your meetings & events, strengthen cohesion and ensure that you can get back to work with renewed energy after the break. That's what we call a win-win-win situation!