5 Engaging Team Building Games for Remote Workers

The global pandemic has forced businesses owners to switch to remote work. The number of remote workers globally is set to double in 2021, according to a survey from Enterprise Technology Research (ETR). 

Remote work, coupled with the pandemic, can have a tremendous impact on mental health and productivity. Those workplace traditions which kept us together are gone now: shared lunch breaks, conversations in front of the coffee machine, drinks after leaving the office – all put on hold for the foreseeable future. 

What can you do? One option is team building games for remote workers. They’re an excellent way to keep workers motivated, engaged and proactive while working from home. 

We’ve found five engaging games for team building that we think remote employees will enjoy and they will stay connected while social distancing.

1. An Online Quiz

Establishing a quiz as an icebreaker between departments is an excellent way to develop your team’s social interactions despite being far away from each other. 

You can prepare questions related to sports, politics, geography, or many other topics to test how much your employees know. One good quiz tool is myQuiz, which offers a free plan that supports up to 25 players per game.

How to play:

1. The quiz host can visit myQuiz to create the quiz.
2. The quiz host creates text questions, adds images or videos (these can even be embedded from Youtube).
3. The host can also adjust the amount of time players have to answer.
4. After the quiz is set up, the host receives a unique code to share with the players.
5. The players can then visit myQuiz to join the game with the unique code
6. The Quiz begins at pre-determined time or can be started when everyone is ready.
7. After that, the quiz proceeds as normal: players receive points for correct answers and an on-page leaderboard is updated after each question.

2. Virtual Scavenger Hunt 

The scavenger hunt is a classic game, but it works surprisingly well as a virtual activity. You can host a scavenger hunt over the online video meeting software of your choice and – depending on how long you want the activity to last –  you can make it as simple or as difficult as you like.

How to play:

1. Coworkers should be split into two or more teams
2. The organiser comes up with a list of common household items and shares the list with the rest of the players on the video call.
3. The other players will then need to search their workspace or home for the listed items and show them before time runs out.
4. The first team to collect all of the things wins.

3. Drawphone

Do you want to test the drawing skills of your team? This online game is a drawing version of the traditional broken telephone game. You will have to communicate a word only using drawings.

The plot is the same as the broken phone game but drawing; players take turns drawing pictures then the next player will try to guess what the word that the drawing is trying to depict.

If you guess right, nothing happens. However, if you guess wrong, you ruin the chain of drawings, and you will laugh with your colleagues about the results.

How to play:

1. Go to Rocketcrab
2. Start a new game and send the code to your coworkers to join
3. Each player will be assigned a random word and they should draw on their screen
4. The drawing will be “passed” to another player
5. Each player will have to guess the drawing and create a new one until the “chain” of words and drawings is complete.
6. Check the results and compare them with your colleagues!

4. Guess the baby

It is a fun and extraordinary way to get to know each other within the same company. Also, it’s a great icebreaker for new hire joins to introduce themselves in a different way.

How to play:

1. The participants must submit a picture of them from childhood (in digital format or scan the original one)
2. Send the picture to the organiser before the event
3. Every picture will have assigned a number
4. The organiser will share a final doc with the pictures numbered, without names
5. You will have a set amount of time to give your answers and guess which baby picture belongs to each coworker
6. At the end, the player or team with the most correct guesses wins!

5. Two Truths and a Lie (Lockdown edition)

Does your remote team know each other well? This classic guessing game translates very well to a video conference. Every team has to share three statements about themselves: two are truths and one is a lie. 

You can play a lockdown edition with your colleagues. You will need just a Zoom or video call meeting. What your teammates did or didn’t do while working from home? “I eat my breakfast when I start working”, “I take naps during my working hours”, “I watch the tv during the standup meeting”.

How to play:

1. Divide your team into two teams
2. One at a time, each player from the first group introduces themselves with two truths and one lie about themselves.
3. The other group has to guess the statements and come to an agreement
4. They will get one point if they correctly guess one truth
5. Now turn to the other group
6. The organiser will share the scoreboard, the team with the most points is the winner!