Icebreaker games for work.
A good icebreaker takes ten minutes, needs no IT ticket, and ends with somebody having been caught lying about a stapler. Here is the imposter word game as a team round, set up for a meeting room or a remote call, and five other icebreakers that need nothing at all.
The ten-minute imposter round
Everyone gets the same secret word except one person, who only gets the category. Round the room, one word each. Then everyone points at who they think was bluffing. Pick Office Life and the words are Reply All, You’re on Mute, Water Cooler, Spreadsheet and Swivel Chair. Two rounds is ten minutes; the second round is the one where the quiet person from finance turns out to be a born liar.
- In the room: one phone passed round for the cards, then it sits in the middle. Or the host’s phone and the meeting-room screen showing whose turn it is.
- Remote: start a room, paste the link in the Teams or Zoom chat, and everyone plays from their own phone or a browser tab. Nothing to install, no accounts, nothing for IT to approve. How that works.
- Three to twenty people. A bigger team splits into two rooms.
A pack about your team
Side Eye can write a pack about the people on the call: it asks each person a few questions on their own phone and makes words only your team understands. That is the one thing in the app that costs money (one AI pack each time), and the packs it ships with are free. Jobs, Brands and Travel & Landmarks are safe bets without it.
Five more that need nothing
- Two truths and a lie
- Three facts each, the team votes on the lie. The classic, because it works.
- Show and tell, desk edition
- Everyone holds up one thing within reach and gives it thirty seconds. Remote-friendly and oddly revealing.
- The one-word check-in
- Round the call, one word for how your week is going. No follow-ups allowed until everyone is done.
- Worst advice
- Each person shares the worst professional advice they ever got. The room guesses whether they took it.
- Guess the desk
- Everyone sends the host a photo of their workspace. The host shows them one by one; the team guesses whose.
Running it in a meeting
- Ten minutes, then stop, even if it is going well. Especially then.
- The manager is the imposter at least once. It is good for everyone.
- Scoring off, unless the team asks. The reveal is the point.
- Keep the 18+ packs out. Side Eye never picks them unless someone chooses them, and Kids safe hides them if you want to be sure.
Questions
Does anyone need to install anything?
No. One phone in the room, or a link that opens in any browser for a remote team. No accounts.
Does it work on Teams or Zoom?
Yes. The call carries the voices; Side Eye runs in a browser tab beside it. Share the TV page on screen if you want a big sign, which never shows a card.
Is it appropriate for work?
The packs it ships with are, apart from two marked 18+ that only come up if chosen. Office Life, Jobs, Brands, Travel & Landmarks and Food & Drink are the usual picks.
How big a team?
Three to twenty in one game. Larger teams run two rooms side by side.
