Research shows that low levels of employee engagement negatively impact productivity and workplace morale, leading to frequent absenteeism and even high employee turnover. This is especially the case for hybrid and remote teams. Keeping your employees productive, connected, and ultimately engaged on Zoom and other virtual platforms requires a customized game plan.
This article will reveal 15 of the best virtual team building games on the market. From fast-paced icebreakers to trivia and other team building challenges, you’ll discover appropriate activities, no matter your team’s size or unique dynamics. With the right choice of virtual games to play on Zoom, you can keep your employees connected, strengthen your workplace culture, and have fun doing it.
Why Virtual Games to Play on Zoom Matter for Remote and Hybrid Teams
In today’s tech-heavy world, digital fatigue is a common issue for employees and the general population. Introducing virtual games to your employees can combat isolation, disengagement, and other symptoms your hybrid and remote workers may be experiencing.
Creating room in your employees’ workday for fun team building activities strengthens team relationships and collaboration, improves on-the-clock communication, and fosters shared experiences that build connections and a fortified workplace culture, regardless of distance. The benefits don’t end there. Virtual team games also demonstrate to your employees that you prioritize their camaraderie and value their well-being.
How to Choose the Right Zoom Games for Your Team
Selecting the best combination of virtual games for your team requires careful consideration. You should take the following factors into account before making your decision:
- Size of your team
- Time available to dedicate to virtual games
- Team dynamics, including the team members’ level of comfort and familiarity with one another
- Technical requirements and capabilities
- Team goals (i.e., to encourage collaboration, innovative thinking, etc.)
Your choice of Zoom games to play with coworkers should be driven by the outcomes you’re seeking. For instance, icebreaker challenges are appropriate for introducing new team members, while creative activities are a good way to foster innovation in established teams.
To ensure the right fit, do a test run of a few of the games with a small group of employees. That way, you can assess their comfort level and gather feedback after the fact, allowing you to select games that resonate the most with your team culture.
The best approach often involves having a wide selection of virtual games on hand and rotating them to make your employees’ gamification experience fresh each time they participate, while also appealing to your staff’s diverse personalities and preferences.
15 Fun Games to Play on Zoom with Coworkers
We’ve selected 15 of the most popular virtual games to play on Zoom, showcasing a variety of formats and time commitments that will appeal to diverse needs and preferences for any team.
You’ll be able to facilitate some of the activities below in-house. However, professionally facilitated games offer higher production value and ultimately deliver deeper levels of team engagement.
1. Virtual Trivia Blast!
Best Corporate Events’ Virtual Trivia Blast is a high-energy virtual game that fosters friendly competition and boosts team engagement. This fast-paced trivia game is ideal for most teams (ranging from 30 to more than 1000 members) and requires a low time commitment–from one hour to 75 minutes at the most.
A professional host will facilitate each trivia round using state-of-the-art gaming technology for a fun and immersive knowledge-sharing experience. You’ll also be able to customize the trivia questions ahead of time to include industry-related or location-specific questions and more.
2. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Remote and hybrid workers often have sedentary workdays, which can negatively impact their physical and mental health. Get them moving (and laughing) with a virtual scavenger hunt. Participants will race to find specific items in their workspace or home to share with other participants within a specified time frame.
Most scavenger hunts last about 1 hour and can accommodate both small and large corporate teams.
3. Virtual Best Corporate Feud
Based on the popular family-trivia TV game show, our Virtual Best Corporate Feud is a fun trivia game challenge with customizable questions and friendly team challenges. Professional trivia hosts facilitate each round and manage logistics while keeping participants fully engaged. Virtual Best Corporate Feud is ideal for teams of 30 to over 1000, and only takes 1 to 75 minutes to complete.
4. Pictionary or Drawing Games
Participants don’t need to be artistically talented to enjoy virtual Pictionary or other drawing challenges on Zoom. By leveraging Zoom’s whiteboard and screen-sharing features, participants can divide into teams and sketch the prompt at hand while others guess what they’re drawing.
Creative games like these are perfect for groups of six or larger and typically last about 1 hour. They also invite your team’s diverse talents and innovation to the surface, with a healthy dose of humor in tow. In fact, the more imperfect their drawings, the more fun participants will have, forging stronger bonds between team members.
5. Would You Rather
Ideal as a meeting warm-up or a post-meeting cool-down activity, employees will love the virtual version of Would You Rather? The basic premise involves asking participants questions, prompting them to choose one of two options, and then explaining their rationale. Your team members will get to know one another’s beliefs and values and enjoy follow-up conversations that promote deeper connections.
You can customize the questions to make them as fun and lighthearted or thought-provoking as possible, depending on your goals. This connection-building activity works for all team sizes, from 2 people to 1,000 or more. The duration can range from 10 minutes to an hour, making this game perfect for the beginning, middle, or end of any meeting.
6. Virtual Speed Networking
If you’re looking for a virtual game that allows new hires, seasoned employees, or cross-functional teams to build camaraderie, then Best Corporate Events’ Virtual Speed Networking fits the bill. Professional hosts will guide your team members through an initial icebreaker challenge and energizer activities before participants head to designated breakout rooms to get to know one another through engaging challenges and discussions, fortifying their relationships as team members.
This virtual activity works best for most group sizes, particularly those with 30 to well over 1000 employees. It also only takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete.
7. Virtual Name That Tune
Tap into the diverse musical tastes of your team with Best Corporate Events’ Virtual Name That Tune — a music trivia competition spearheaded by a professional host. Teams compete to identify songs and artists across multiple genres and time periods.
With interactive technology at their fingertips, your teams will answer musical trivia that can be customised in advance by genre, decade, artist, and more. Not only will this game evoke musical nostalgia, but your team will feel energized rather than weighed down by screen fatigue. Virtual Name That Tune works best for groups of at least 30 members, to teams of well over 1000. Plan to allocate 60 to 90 minutes from start to finish.
8. Virtual Charades
Virtual Charades is a modern spin-off of a classic in-person game for all ages. Your team members will act out words or phrases on camera, without speaking. As they do, their respective teammates must guess what they’re acting out within a specific time frame.
This activity gives staff permission to openly express themselves and be silly, so they can step out of their comfort zones and inspire laughter and stronger connections en masse. You’ll need at least two team members for this activity, or well over 1000, making it a suitable connection-building game for most teams.
9. Zoom Bingo
Another modern, nostalgic spin-off, Zoom Bingo, is an entertaining way to strengthen connections among team members through gamification during regular meetings, encouraging active observation and engagement. Preparation involves creating bingo cards that participants can mark off during the meeting, with common scenarios including:
- Common remote meeting occurrences (e.g., leadership requesting everyone to turn on their camera)
- Remote meeting mishaps (e.g., a screen freezing, someone yawning, or a dog barking)
- Inside jokes
- Company culture themes and values (or even buzzwords) mentioned during the meeting
This virtual throwback works for small and large groups and can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the number of participants and the duration of the meeting.
10. Guess the Baby Photo
Although Guess the Baby Photo requires preparation in advance, the effort will pay off by allowing participants to see each other as more than just colleagues in this low-energy, yet fun activity that inspires storytelling about each participant’s childhood photograph.
On a practical level, participants will submit a childhood photo anonymously to a designated facilitator. From there, their fellow teammates will guess which baby photo belongs to whom. This engaging virtual game works for teams of all sizes, ideally from 5 participants to 30 or more. It’s also a relatively short game, averaging 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of participants.
11. Virtual Jeoparody
When it comes to fostering friendly competition and knowledge sharing for your team, the answer is: Best Corporate Events’ Virtual Jeoparody. This entertaining virtual game is our modern, polished take on the classic TV game show. The professional production quality and guidance of our expert facilitators give participants an authentic gameshow experience.
Participants will enjoy state-of-the-art graphics and sound effects while they compete in designated teams, answering customized trivia questions–from general knowledge to industry-related, and more. Virtual Jeoparody works best for medium to large groups, ranging from 30 to more than 1000 members, and lasts roughly one hour to 75 minutes.
12. Desert Island Scenario
The Desert Island Scenario virtual game asks players to share three objects (or people, songs, etc.) they would take with them to a desert island and explain the reason behind their choice. This game highlights your team members’ unique personalities and preferences while encouraging impromptu discussions and debates.
Participants aren’t restricted to the desert-island variety of the game, either. Instead, they can enjoy countless variations, such as time-travel, zombie apocalypse, or other creative versions. You can use this game for any number of employees. Duration will depend on the number of participants, but the initial explanations and follow-up discussions warrant at least an hour.
13. Virtual Competition to Collaboration®
Best Corporate Events’ Virtual Competition to Collaboration is a facilitator-run, activity-based workshop that initially divides teams into breakout rooms, asking them to complete challenges separately before bringing them together to collaborate.
Participants will practice and learn that their collective efforts are more valuable than the sum of their individual efforts, thereby developing collaborative skills they can leverage in their respective roles. Suitable for any size group, this virtual competition can run anywhere from one to three hours, depending on the number of participants and their unique group dynamics.
14. Storytelling or Campfire Stories
Storytelling is a natural part of the human experience, with its origins dating back to our early ancestors. One by one, participants can share personal stories inspired by prompts, such as:
- “What is your most memorable childhood experience?”
- “When was the last time you invested in yourself?”
- “What was your favorite vacation and why?”
Sharing personal stories fosters active listening skills and empathy, ultimately creating a deeper emotional connection among team members. Teamwide storytelling activities work best in smaller groups or even in private breakout rooms, where each participant feels safe enough and has time to participate.
Plan for at least one hour to complete this virtual game. However, duration will vary depending on the number of participants and their comfort levels, particularly what and how much they’re willing to share with their group.
15. Virtual Office Party
If you’re looking for a unique virtual experience for your team’s social hour or downtime, Best Corporate Events’ Virtual Office Party is a casual yet structured program designed to encourage remote team members to get to know one another through recreational activities and stimulating conversations.
Here, team members can build or continue to strengthen professional relationships organically. You can use this virtual experience for groups of up to 500 people, with total participation time ranging from 60 to 75 minutes.
Tips for Hosting Successful Zoom Games with Coworkers
Even the most straightforward virtual games require proper planning and facilitation. Consider the following tips and best practices before and after hosting virtual games for your team members:
1. Test your virtual platform and other gaming technology before the session, including:
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- Internet bandwidth
- Video capabilities
- Audio features
- Screen-sharing capabilities
- Breakout room functionality
2. Set clear instructions before each game.
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- Offer time-management tips
- Discuss and model ways to avoid distractions
- Advice on team collaboration and staying on task
3. Gather Participant Feedback Post-Game
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- Solicit anonymous feedback about what your staff enjoyed and what could be improved.
- Query participants for their preferences for future virtual gaming opportunities.
- Implement team preferences to create a more tailored gaming experience that they’ll enjoy.
When to Schedule Virtual Games for Maximum Impact
To maximize your ability to improve workplace culture, you should carefully plan when you schedule virtual games for your team. As the saying goes, “Timing is everything,” and, in this case, you want your team members to ensure participants are energized and ready to participate fully.
Consider scheduling virtual games when staff aren’t shouldering full or excessive workloads. For instance, you can take advantage of the slower, off-peak periods to offer these virtual team building sessions.
Different circumstances and occasions are better suited for certain virtual games and activities than others. For example, leverage virtual icebreakers for onboarding activities. You could also invite team members to participate in a high-energy virtual activity to combat their mid-week slump. No matter what, it’s always best to analyze your team’s needs and offer them virtual fun when they need it most.
Taking Your Virtual Team Building Beyond DIY Zoom Games with Best Corporate Events
Informal DIY virtual games can be an effective, short-term remedy for encouraging quick, member-to-member connections. However, a professionally designed and facilitated team building program will have a greater impact on your employees, fostering innovative and collaborative thinking while building deeper connections.
Our team at Best Corporate Events custom designs immersive virtual experiences that check every box, no matter your team’s size. We infuse high-quality entertainment into skill-building activities across communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and leadership.
Explore Best Corporate Events’ virtual team building programs today, and discover how you can foster meaningful, teamwide connections while driving measurable results.
