Remote work offers fantastic flexibility, but it can make building real team connections challenging.
Those "How's your weekend?" Zoom small talks aren't cutting it for real team connection. As the distance between our desks grows, so does the need for meaningful team bonding that doesn't feel forced or awkward.
We've tested dozens of virtual team activities to find what actually builds connection without the collective groan. Here are our top 10 activities that teams genuinely enjoy and that deliver real results for your team's communication, trust, and collaboration.
Table of Contents
Why are Online Team Building Games Important?
Online team building games have become essential tools for maintaining workplace cohesion in our increasingly digital world. They serve multiple critical functions that directly impact organizational success:
According to a 2023 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, remote teams that engaged in regular virtual team building activities reported 37% higher levels of trust compared to those that didn't (Williams et al., 2023). This trust translates to better collaboration and problem-solving.
Harvard Business Review research found that "virtual social activities create psychological safety in distributed teams, increasing willingness to share ideas and take creative risks" (Edmondson & Davenport, 2022). When team members feel comfortable with each other, innovation flourishes.
Note: A good business cherishes human resources from different time zones, embraces diversity (cultural/gender/racial differences), and celebrates it. Thus, online team-building activities help organizations build meaningful relationships and connections between groups from different countries and different races. It shows remote teams new ways to work across boundaries through systems, processes, technology, and people.
10 Fun Online Team Building Games
The following virtual team building activities have been selected based on their demonstrated ability to strengthen psychological safety, improve communication patterns, and develop the social capital necessary for high-functioning teams.
1. Interactive Decision Wheels
- Participants: 3 - 20
- Duration: 3 - 5 minutes/round
- Tools: AhaSlides spinner wheel
- Learning outcomes: Improves spontaneous communication, reduces social inhibition
Decision wheels transform standard icebreakers into dynamic conversation starters with an element of chance that naturally lowers participants' guard. The randomization creates a level playing field where everyone—from executives to new hires—faces the same vulnerability, fostering psychological safety.
Implementation Tip: Create tiered question sets (light, medium, deep) and progress accordingly based on your team's existing rapport. Begin with low-risk questions before introducing more substantive topics that reveal work styles and preferences.
2. Would You Rather - Workplace Edition
- Participants: 4 - 12
- Duration: 15-20 minutes
- Learning outcomes: Reveals how team members think without putting them on the spot
This structured evolution of "Would You Rather" presents thoughtfully crafted dilemmas that reveal how team members prioritize competing values. Unlike standard icebreakers, these scenarios can be customized to reflect specific organizational challenges or strategic priorities.
The rules of this game are very simple, just answer the questions in turn. For example:
- Would you rather have OCD or an Anxiety attack?
- Would you rather be the most intelligent person in the world or the funniest person?
Facilitation note: After individual responses, facilitate a brief discussion on why people chose differently. This transforms a simple activity into a powerful opportunity for perspective-sharing without the defensiveness that can emerge in direct feedback sessions.
3. Live Quizzes
- Participants: 5 - 100+
- Duration: 15-25 minutes
- Tools: AhaSlides, Kahoot
- Learning outcomes: Knowledge transfer, organizational awareness, friendly competition
Interactive quizzes serve dual purposes: they gamify organizational knowledge sharing while simultaneously identifying knowledge gaps. Effective quizzes blend questions about company processes with team member trivia, creating balanced learning that combines operational knowledge with interpersonal connection.
Design principle: Structure quiz content as 70% reinforcement of critical knowledge and 30% lighthearted content. Mix categories strategically (company knowledge, industry trends, general knowledge, and fun facts about team members) and use AhaSlides' real-time leaderboard to build suspense. For larger groups, create team competition with the AhaSlides' team feature to add extra teamwork between rounds.
4. Pictionary
- Participants: 2 - 5
- Duration: 3 - 5 minutes/round
- Tools: Zoom, Skribbl.io
- Learning outcomes: Highlights communication styles while being genuinely hilarious
Pictionary is a classic party game that asks someone to draw a picture while their teammates try to guess what they are drawing. When someone's trying to draw "quarterly budget review" with digital sketch tools, two things happen: uncontrollable laughter and surprising insights into how differently we all communicate. This game reveals who thinks literally, who thinks abstractly, and who gets creative under pressure.
5. Book (or Podcast/Article) Club
- Participants: 2 - 10
- Duration: 30 - 45 minutes
- Tools: Zoom, Google Meet
- Learning outcomes: Creates shared references that strengthen team bonds
The secret to a successful team book club? Short content and clear connection to your work. Instead of assigning entire books, share articles, podcast episodes, or specific chapters focused on challenges your team is facing. Then structure the discussion around "How could we apply this to our current project?"
Keep it fresh: Rotate who chooses the content and leads the discussion — this develops leadership skills across the team while keeping perspectives diverse.
6. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
- Participants: 5 - 30
- Duration: 20 - 30 minutes
- Tools: Any online conferencing platform
- Learning outcomes: Gets everyone moving, creates instant energy, and works for any size team
Forget complicated prep work! Virtual scavenger hunts require zero advanced materials and get everyone equally engaged. Call out items people need to find in their homes ("something older than you," "something that makes noise," "the weirdest thing in your refrigerator") and award points for speed, creativity, or best story behind the item.
Implementation hack: Create different categories like "work-from-home essentials" or "items that represent your personality" to add themes that spark conversation. For larger groups, use breakout rooms for team-based competition!
7. Werewolf
- Participants: 6 - 12
- Duration: 30 - 45 minutes
- Learning outcomes: Develops critical thinking, reveals decision-making approaches, builds empathy
Games like Werewolf require players to reason with incomplete information—a perfect analog for organizational decision-making. These activities reveal how team members approach uncertainty, build coalitions, and navigate competing priorities.
After the game, talk about what communication strategies were most convincing and how trust was built or broken. The parallels to workplace collaboration are fascinating!
All about Werewolf's rules!
8. Truth or Dare
- Participants: 5 - 10
- Duration: 3 - 5 minutes
- Tools: AhaSlides spinner wheel for random selection
- Learning outcomes: Creates controlled vulnerability that strengthens relationships
A professionally facilitated version of Truth or Dare focuses exclusively on appropriate revelation and challenge within clear boundaries. Create growth-focused options like "Share a professional skill you wish you were better at" (truth) or "Give an impromptu 60-second presentation on your current project" (dare). This balanced vulnerability builds the psychological safety teams need to thrive.
Safety first: Always give participants the option to skip without explanation, and keep the focus on professional growth rather than personal disclosure.
9. Cognitive Skill Competitions
- Participants: 4 - 20
- Duration: 10 - 15 minutes
- Tools: Skill-testing platforms
- Learning outcomes: Friendly competition, skills assessment, learning motivation
Speed typing contests, logic puzzles, and other cognitive challenges provide lighthearted competition while subtly establishing baseline skills. These activities provide natural opportunities to identify both strengths and development areas in an ego-safe context.
Use text from your company's documentation or marketing materials as the typing content — sneaky reinforcement of key messaging!
10. Guided Visualization Challenge
- Participants: 5 - 50
- Duration: 15 - 20 minutes
- Tools: Your regular meeting platform + AhaSlides for responses
- Learning outcomes: Engages imagination while remaining professional and accessible to everyone
Take your team on a mental journey that sparks creativity and creates shared experiences without anyone leaving their desk! A facilitator guides participants through a themed visualization exercise ("Imagine your ideal workspace," "Design a solution to our biggest customer challenge," or "Create your team's perfect day"), then everyone shares their unique visions using AhaSlides' word cloud or open-ended question features.
Implementation tip: Keep the visualization prompts related to work challenges or team goals for professional relevance. The real magic happens in the discussion afterwards as people explain their different perspectives and build on each other's ideas. It's a refreshing mental break that often generates practical insights you can actually implement!
Making These Activities Actually Work
Here's the thing about virtual team building games — it's not about filling time; it's about creating connections that make your actual work better. Follow these quick tips to ensure your activities deliver real value:
- Start with why: Briefly explain how the activity connects to your work together
- Keep it optional but irresistible: Make participation encouraged but not mandatory
- Time it right: Schedule activities when energy tends to dip (mid-afternoon or late in the week)
- Gather feedback: Use quick polls to see what resonates with your specific team
- Reference the experience later: "This reminds me of when we were solving that Pictionary challenge..."
Your Move!
Great remote teams don't happen by accident — they're built through intentional moments of connection that balance fun with function. The activities above have helped thousands of distributed teams develop the trust, communication patterns, and relationships that make work better.
Ready to get started? The AhaSlides template library has ready-to-use templates for all these activities, so you can be up and running in minutes rather than hours!
📌 Want more team engagement ideas? Check out 14 Inspiring Virtual Team Meeting Games.
