Playing office games with your co-workers is something that helps to keep an organic balance between work and play. Well-known world brands like Google, Facebook, Nike and others have a variety of games available to their employees in the office. And it doesn’t really matter what industry you’re in — games are for everyone!
Benefits of playing games in the office are limitless: from simply releasing the stress and improving relationships within the team to boosting memory and concentration allowing employees to easily focus on the work at hand.
So why not implement this element of fun into your Friday lunch with the list of free games we’ve prepared for you? Let’s get started!
1. Great Minds Think Alike
Name of the game speaks for itself: you have to choose what you think everyone else would choose: the more same answers you get, the more points you gain. We’ve saved you the bother and prepared top 10 questions to start with. But you surely can use your imagination and create your own questions depending on occasion or people involved.
2. Wink Murder
The game has few versions, ours has two main roles in it: The Murderer and The Detective. In the beginning of the game one player is secretly assigned the role of a murderer (you can use a deck of cards with one special card to appoint the murderer) and another is chosen as a detective.
The Detective stands in the middle of the circle. That player’s goal is to identify who the Murderer is as quickly as possible.
The Murderer meanwhile kills people by winking at them. When a player is killed, that player should lie down or leave the circle. (high time to perform your dramatic talents!) The aim of the game is for the Murderer to kill as many other players as possible without being identified.
The Detective has three chances to guess who The Murderer is. If the detective does not guess correctly, he remains The Detective for the next round. If The Detective does guess right, The Murderer becomes the Detective for the next round.
This dynamic game doesn’t take much time but surely brings some fun and laughter during your office lunchbreak!
3. React and Act
One of the best icebreakers! It involves some preparations but trust us, it’s worth it and preparation is one of the funniest parts of this game. Everyone should create some sort of event and write it down on a sheet of paper (Examples: You just won the lottery / You just have been proposed to marry / You just got fired before your birthday / You just met a huge lion in the jungles / whatever your imagination can think out). Once everyone completes the first task, fold the paper and put them in a basket/bag and divide people into the teams. Ask one member from each group to randomly select an event from the basket/bag. Instruct them to react to this event, without explicitly giving away what the event is. Choose a time limit (usually 30 seconds to a minute works well). When you say “Go!” have them simultaneously react to their event using exaggerated gestures, facial expressions, and their voice. This game is a great way to break the ice while watching people act out silly (yet hilarious most of the time) dramas!
Who am I?
One of our classic favourites!
Simply print out these index cards and mix them in a bowl. Split co-workers into the teams. One by one each player pulls out a name from the bowl. The player tries to get his teammates to guess the person he has drawn by giving clues about them. Limit the time each team has to guess. The team who guesses the most names right wins.
Don’t say Yes!
There are pretty lots of ‘taboo’ games but trust us, this one going to be quite a challenge. Guests aren’t allowed to use the word ‘yes’ or any variation of it. You can have them wear a sticker or a yarn necklace if they say the word during the office party. It will be fun to see who’s the most “decorated” at the end of the day. And the most interesting part is the questions. Don’t just ask closed-ended questions – throw in some open-ended questions to try to catch your co-workers off guard. For instance, you could try the following series of Yes Or No game questions (those in bold are yes/no questions):
- Do you have any pets at home?
- Did you say two?
- What are their names?
- So how do you spell your pet’s name?
- Was that ……… (repeat how the pet’s name was spelled)
- Do you ever play with him?
Use your creativity and imagination!
Now, what’s next? We’ve prepared something bigger for your next office party: office game scripts for you which will boost your creativity and get your mind fired up. Let’s go!
