20 Quick & Fun Office Games to Play at Work in 2023

Here is our list of fun office games to play at work.

Office games to play at work include activities that help bring teams together and foster communication among employees. Examples include Office Bingo, the Do Not Smile Challenge, and the Human Snake Game. The purpose of these games is to improve collaboration among employees while boosting participants’ morale.

These activities are examples of team building games, competitive team games, team challenges, office challenges, and team building exercises. These ideas are methods of improving cooperation in the workplace and doing team building quickly.

This list includes:

• fun games to play in office
• quick fun office games
• fun work games
• team games for office workers
• office games ideas
• indoor office games for employees
• the best games to play at work
• office team games to play with coworkers

Here we go!

List of office games to play at work

Playing office games is an effective way to keep the work environment fun for employees. From Blind Drawing to Office Typing Race, here are fun games you can play in your workplace.

1. Office Bingo

Bingo is one of the most popular work office games during work celebrations, conference breaks, or even lunch breaks. To play office Bingo with employees at work:

1. First, prepare the bingo cards. You can download a themed card online or create yours with a free bingo card generator
2. Print out the cards and gather the players
3. After distributing the cards, each player will mark an ‘X’ in a box containing an action or phrase relating to them
4. The first participant to completely mark an entire row wins

Some Bingo prompts to try out include:

The winner must complete an entire row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally based on the set rules.

Here is an icebreaker Bingo card generator.

2. Childhood Photo Guessing Game

As the name implies, this game involves guessing which employee is in a particular childhood or baby picture. To play this guessing game:

1. Ask the employees to bring their childhood photos. The employees cannot show the images to one another before the game
2. Pass the pictures around to the participants to check and name the employee they believe is in the picture
3. Take note of the participant’s guesses for each picture. Automatically, an employee gets a point for their personal photo and a point for every correct guess.
4. The player with the highest points wins.

This game functions as an excellent icebreaker for office teams. Also, if you intend to award a gift to the winner, then a mini picture frame will be a great idea.

Check out more get to know you games.

3. Two Truths and One Lie

Two Truths and One Lie is one of the interesting office games to play at work with your teammates. Participants will take turns making three statements about themselves. Two of these statements are true, while one is a lie. Then other employees have to guess the falsehood. The first employee to guess correctly wins a point. You may round up each participant’s points and name the player with the highest points as the winner.

You can also play the game in a reverse variation. Instead of two truths and one lie, the participant will tell two lies and one truth. Also, the game’s subject matter may revolve around other areas like participants’ interests, office matters, or even subjects relating to the country.

Check out more group question games.

4. Pitch a Desk Item

The most fun games to play in the office on Fridays include Pitch a Desk Item. In this highly improvisational game, participants compete by exercising their marketing skills. All you need to have this contest are items on your office desk. To engage in this activity, ask the participants to pick up any item on their office desk. Participants can play individually or in small teams if the group is large.

The game’s objective is for the participants to act as the manufacturer of a chosen office item and develop marketing strategies. Also, the team can design their logos and slogans.

After the exercise, each team will pitch their products, identify their target customers, and specify how their products can be helpful. The team with the ‘perfect pitch’ wins. You can appoint judges or have non-participating employees vote for the best pitch. Also, the game can last for just several minutes or hours, depending on how much time the office has to spare.

For more games like Pitch a Desk, check out this list of virtual Fun Friday ideas.

5. Statue Challenge

Statue Challenge is a simple game you can play in the office to help employees have fun and relieve stress while working. The challenge is ideal for workers in an open office space. Participants will freeze after the ‘statue player’ does the same in the game. You can play the Statue Challenge in these steps:

1. Appoint a participant as the lead player
2. The lead player will randomly freeze at any point in the office
3. Other players who notice the freeze must also stop and take their statue form
4. The last participant to notice and freeze loses. Then this participant will have to be the next statue player.

The good part of the Statue Challenge is that the game functions as a great entertainer and stress reliever for employees while working. Also, this game will help employees improve their observation skills.

6. Office Typing Race

Office Typing Race is an intriguing game you can play in the office. You will only need keyboards and maybe a board to write on. To play:

1. Gather the interested participants in the office with their keyboards
2. Then display the words for participants to type within a set time
3. Once the time is up, all participants will stop typing
4. The player with the highest number of correct words wins the game

This game is a fun contest that can help participants develop their typing skills and strengthen hand-eye coordination.

7. Find the Matching Animal

Find the Matching Animal is one of the exciting quick work office games. You will need to prepare animal vocabulary cards with pairs of matching animals. After, randomly distribute a card to each player. You should ensure the distributed cards are in sets of two similar animals. Also, players cannot reveal their cards before or during the game. The goal is for players to find the second card having the same animal as theirs.

Each player can make sounds related to the animals on their cards but cannot give clues in words. With these sounds, players will try to locate the other employee having a similar animal on their card. The first ‘animal team’ to pair up wins the game.

8. Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing is one of the best communication office games to play at work. The game’s objective is for a player to draw an object described correctly.

This game is similar to a charade where a player tries to guess a word based on gestured hints and clues. However, Blind Drawing involves sketching instead of gestures. Also, you do not need any special drawing skills to participate. The items required are a pen or pencil, pieces of paper, and a space to draw.

To play, pair up two players as a team. One player will make gestures to describe an item for the artist participant to draw. After the set time runs out, the players will reveal their gestured words. The pair with a correct sketch of the described item wins the game.

Check out more communication games.

9. Chess Tournament

This activity is one of the best office games for employees particularly fond of chess. You can organize your chess tournament in different ways. For instance, the game can start with two players competing in one round. Then the winner proceeds to play with another player until every participant gets their turns.

Alternatively, you can have all participants play simultaneously in pairs of two. The winners in each pair get to compete against one another until a final winner emerges. The tournament can be a quick office game lasting just one short session. On the other hand, you may play a short round in several days. Playing chess at work doubles as a fun activity and a great way to help employees improve their planning skills.

10. Human Snake Game

Human Snake is one of the highly effective team building games for the office. This exercise teaches participants the value of trust and collaboration. The game requires participants to follow the lead of the first player on a line to escape obstacles and win. To play:

1. Prepare a space in the office large enough for your team. Then place items like books, tissues, or folded paper on the floor as the obstacles
2. Have participants line up in a straight line
3. Then cover the eyes of all participants with a blindfold, excluding the first player on the line
4. The first player will walk through the obstacles while other participants carefully follow the same trail
5. If a participant steps on any obstacle, then the game is over, and the team will start again

If your group is large, then you can have participants play in smaller teams. Each group will compete to be the first to successfully finish in time without any participant stepping on an obstacle.

Check out more trust building games.

11. Count 20

Count 20 is one of the office games great for boosting employee morale. The game involves players counting from 1 to 20. For instance, when a player says ‘one,’ any other player will say ‘two,’ and the counting continues up to 20. To play Count 20:

1. Gather the participants to sit or stand in a circle.
2. Once the game starts, any player can say the first number
3. Then another player will say the next number
4. Two players must not say the same number at the same time. Otherwise, the game will start over

Count 20’s challenging aspect lies in not knowing exactly when a player will speak. Therefore, participants must be on their toes and follow their instincts to talk at the right time.

12. Indoor Office Olympics

Indoor Office Olympics is one of the best indoor office games for employees. You do not have to engage in actual Olympic games inside your office. Instead, you can come up with fun challenges like:

• Basket paper ball: You only need a basket, rolled paper, and a team of basket paper-ballers. The team that throws in the highest number of paper balls inside the basket wins the round
• Olympic Trivia: Teams will compete to correctly answer the highest number of trivia questions to be the winner. You can set a time limit for teams to provide an answer for each question
• Pencil Javelin: Find out which team has the most skillful player who can correctly throw pencils inside a cup from a distance

Employees may play in several teams or individually. You can award points in each game based on team performance. Then the team with the most cumulative points wins.

Here are some DIY Olympic ideas.

13. What Can You Feel?

In this game, a blindfolded player will determine what certain items inside a basket are by touching them. To play, gather several office objects around the office. The items should not have sharp or unsafe parts capable of causing harm. Then have each blindfolded participant line up and take turns to examine the objects in a basket or bowl. The player who guesses all or most things correctly wins the game.

14. Guess the Secret Word

Guess the Secret Word is an intriguing game you can play in the office requiring basic materials like sticky notes and a pen. To play:

1. Write an action, object, or any other word down on a paper
2. Place the paper on a participant’s forehead. The participant must not know what is on the paper
3. Other workers will gesture to give clues without saying the exact word
4. Then the participant will try to guess this secret word

Guess the Secret Word is a zero-point game, and employees can take turns to participate. Also, this game is great for getting the team to bond while improving employees’ communication skills.

15. Do Not Smile Challenge

One of the fun games to play in the office on Fridays include the Do Not Smile Challenge. The game’s rule is that a player must not laugh. To play:

• Gather the team to sit together
• Then assign the role of the ‘comedian’ to a team member
• The designated comedian’s task is to perform actions and say words to make other employees laugh
• The first employee to laugh loses and must take up the designated comedian’s role

This game serves as a tremendous stress-relieving activity for players. Also, you can have all participants who lost the game join the comedian to make other players laugh.

16. Never Have I Ever

Icebreaker games like Never Have I Ever are classical team building games for the office. To play, compile a list of prompts like never have I ever,

• Missed a flight
• Been on TV
• Written a book
• Broken a bone
• Went late for an interview

Each participant will raise both hands. Then a caller will read out the questions. Team members will bring one finger down if they can relate to a question. The team member that puts all fingers down or has the highest number of fingers down wins.

Here is a list of clean Never Have I Ever questions.

17. Rock Paper Scissors Tournament

You can include rock paper scissors as one of the fun games to play with your office teams. There are three signs in the game, which are:

• Rock represented with a fist
• Paper represented with a flat hand
• Scissors represented with a horizontal peace sign

To play, you need to assign numbers to players. Players will take turns playing in order of their numbers. The first two players will say, ‘rock paper scissors shoot.’ At the call of ‘shoot,’ each player will make just one sign to determine the winner. For example:

• Paper wins over rock
• Rock wins over scissors
• Scissors wins over paper

The winning player in a round will compete with the next player until there is a final winner. You can award a point for winning each match. So the player who has the most points wins the game.

18. Charades

Charades is a game that challenges teams to test their communication skills. The game involves players trying to guess a word or phrase based on gestures. To play, prepare a list of words or phrases unknown to the players on pieces of paper. Then the first player will pick a piece of paper and act out the written word or phrase.

Other players will guess what the word could be, while the first to guess correctly wins a point. Then another player will take turns picking a word and gesturing.

Here is a Charades prompt generator.

19. Tower Building Challenge

The Tower Building Challenge is one of the engaging indoor office games for employees. You can also play the game in an appropriate outdoor space. You will need basic materials like:

• Sticks of spaghetti
• Tape
• String
• Marshmallow

The game aims to build the highest-standing tower from these basic items. After the construction, the teams must place the marshmallow on the building without deformity.

To play, you need to prepare a space in the office where the participants can conveniently build their structures. If you have a large team, then you can play in smaller groups. The first team to build the highest tower wins. You can also set a time limit to make the game more challenging. In that case, the team that created the tallest tower before time runs out wins.

20. Human Knot

Human Knot is one of the most fun office games to boost morale and build teams. As the name suggests, the game requires participants to form a human knot. The challenge lies in trying to untie the knot without breaking the chain.

First, you need to prepare a space to play. Also, a large team can play in small groups. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a small circle, players will hold hands to form a knot. Each player must hold two different team members’ hands. Then the team will strive to untie the knot without any player releasing hands. Otherwise, the game will start over. The first team to untie the knot without breaking the rules wins the game.

Here is a guide to doing the Human Knot.

Conclusion

Office games are great for keeping the workplace lively and interesting. Apart from the fun employees get, other benefits come with the games. One of these benefits includes building a team, whether large or small. In addition, office games can help with improving collaboration and nurturing a strong team spirit.

For more ideas, check out these lists of large group icebreaker games, connection games, relationship-building games, and problem-solving games.