Most virtual meetings end the same way: a polite wave, a muted goodbye and a group chat that stays quiet for another week. Remote teams are rarely short of goodwill. The standard meeting format simply gives them nothing to join in with.
Google's Project Aristotle looked at 180 teams and found that psychological safety, the sense that you can speak up or make a mistake without being punished for it, mattered more than any of the four other dynamics it measured (New York Times report on the study). Low-stakes games are a quick way to build it when colleagues rarely meet outside scheduled calls.
Below are 10 games for virtual meetings in two rounds of five. Each one works in a standard video call, with an optional AhaSlides presentation if you want live polls and results.
Round 1: five quick openers
These take under ten minutes, need little prep and suit the start of a call.
Five quick openers5 게임
1두 가지 진실과 거짓말
Each person shares two true statements about themselves and one made-up one. The group votes on which is the lie.
It works on two levels: people reveal something real, and the lie usually sparks a follow-up chat. Keep turns to 60 to 90 seconds. For groups above 10, run it in breakout rooms first, then share the best lies with everyone.
베스트Kick-off meetings, onboarding, teams that have not worked together before
2Emoji check-in
Before the meeting starts, ask everyone to drop one emoji in the chat that shows how they feel. Spend 90 seconds looking at the result together.
It is a short moment of honesty. A screen of tired faces is information a manager can act on, and quieter people get a low-effort way to signal how they are doing. A live poll works better than the chat box: responses appear anonymously and you can show the results as a word cloud.
베스트Large teams and managers who want a real read on mood
3단어 연상
One person says a word. The next says the first word that comes to mind, and the chain goes round the group. It ends when someone pauses for more than five seconds or the chain derails.
It is a reliable warm-up before brainstorming because it gets people talking without asking them to take a position.
베스트Pre-brainstorm warm-ups and teams that start calls quietly
4This or that poll
Offer a series of binary choices: coffee or tea, morning meetings or afternoon meetings, spreadsheets or presentations. Everyone votes, you show the results and move on.
The value is in the pattern. A team where 80% prefer asynchronous updates may be running too many calls, and an even split on a working-style question is a natural opening for a real conversation. In AhaSlides you can build it with the Pick Answer slide and watch votes arrive live.
베스트Any meeting size, and a handy recurring slot in weekly standups
5바퀴를 돌리다
Build a digital spinner of prompts such as "Share your screen background story" or "What did you learn this week?". Whoever the wheel lands on answers the prompt.
Random selection removes the pressure of volunteering, so people who rarely speak up often answer comfortably when a neutral mechanism picks them. The AhaSlides Spinner Wheel lets you add names or prompts in advance.
베스트Check-ins at the start of recurring meetings and low-energy groups
우리의 선택 : This or that poll. It takes five minutes to set up, everyone answers at the same time and the results give the team something real to discuss.
Round 2: five team challenges
These need 10 to 20 minutes and work well mid-meeting or as the main event of an all-hands.
Five team challenges5 게임
6Virtual trivia
Split people into teams of three to five and run five to eight rounds across different categories: general knowledge, your industry, pop culture and company history.
The team format matters. Individual trivia rewards the loudest voices and fastest typists, while team trivia needs a short internal discussion, which is where the connection happens. With AhaSlides, each team answers from its own device and a live leaderboard replaces the scoring spreadsheet.
베스트Regular team meetings, all-hands and team competitions
7가상 보물찾기
Give everyone 90 seconds to find items at home: something blue, something older than 10 years, something they are proud of. The first person back on camera with all items wins.
The scramble breaks the static energy of a video call and gives colleagues a glimpse of where others live and work. For teams of 15 or more, give each item a point value and use a poll to vote on the most creative find.
베스트Remote all-hands and long sessions that need a mid-point energy reset
8Pictionary
Use the whiteboard in your video platform. One person draws a word silently while the others type guesses in the chat. Set a 60-second timer and rotate the drawer.
Drawing badly in front of colleagues is a gentle form of the vulnerability that can help build psychological safety over time.
베스트Mid-session energy breaks and creative teams
9Whose desk is this?
Before the meeting, collect a photo of each person's desk or a distinctive corner of it. Show them one at a time while everyone guesses whose it is.
It suits teams that have never met in person. A workspace says a lot, from books and plants to cable management, and the chat after each reveal often outlasts the guessing.
베스트Distributed teams, new hire introductions and quarterly all-hands
10Team bingo
Make a bingo card of common remote-work moments: "has a pet on camera", "joined from a car", "said you're on mute this week", "has a plant visible right now". Players mark squares as the meeting goes on and shout "Bingo!" on a line.
It runs in the background, so it does not eat into the agenda. Ordinary moments, like a cat wandering into frame, become shared events rather than interruptions.
베스트Long all-hands and quarterly reviews where attention drifts
우리의 선택 : Virtual trivia. Teams force a short discussion before every answer, which is the closest a video call gets to chatting at the coffee machine.
Choosing the right game for your meeting
| 회의 유형 | Game to try |
|---|---|
| Weekly standup (15 min) | Emoji check-in, This or that poll |
| Monthly all-hands (60 min) | Virtual trivia, Team bingo |
| 온 보딩 세션 | Two truths and a lie, Whose desk is this? |
| Brainstorming kick-off | Word association, Spin the wheel |
| Long workshop (90+ min) | Scavenger hunt as a mid-point break |
Ways to host these games with AhaSlides
Most of these games run with a chat box and a timer. For 40 people, anonymous answers or a wheel that participants can join, a purpose-built tool removes the coordination work. Participants join from a phone or browser, with no app to download, and results appear live on the shared screen.
Here is which slide type fits which game:
| 슬라이드 유형 | 그것을 사용하는 방법 |
|---|---|
| 답변 선택 | This or that poll and the multiple-choice rounds of virtual trivia, with a live leaderboard. |
| 유형 답변 | Trivia questions where teams type the answer, and scavenger hunt confirmations. |
| 단어 구름 | The emoji check-in and word association, shown as one shared picture. |
| 평가 척도 | A quick "how is the team feeling today" check at the start of a standup. |
| 오픈 종료 | Two truths and a lie, where each person submits their three statements and the group votes. |
| 스피너 휠 | Spin the wheel, with prompts or team names on the segments. |
If you run these every week, reusable templates save the 20 minutes of setup that would otherwise eat into each session.
Tips for running games in virtual meetings
Remember why you are doing it. Project Aristotle found psychological safety to be the strongest of five team dynamics across 180 teams, and a game where it is fine to be wrong or silly is one of the cheapest ways to practise it.
Announce the game beforehand. People who feel ambushed by unexpected participation tend to disengage. A calendar note such as "we will start with a five-minute trivia round" removes the friction.
Do not reward only extroverts. Speed-based trivia and open-mic word association favour the loudest person. Use formats with a simultaneous input channel, such as a live poll or a typed answer.
Let the call settle first. Starting a scavenger hunt in the first 60 seconds produces awkward silences. Give people 90 seconds to say hello and check their audio.
Debrief the results. If 70% of the team votes for fewer recurring meetings, say so out loud, even if nothing can change immediately. Ignoring the output makes the exercise feel like a formality.
FAQ
What are good games for virtual meetings?
Two truths and a lie, virtual trivia, spin the wheel and an emoji check-in are the easiest to start with. They need little or no prep and work on any video platform.
How long should a virtual meeting game last?
Five to ten minutes is enough for most meetings. Save 15 to 20 minutes for team trivia or a scavenger hunt in longer sessions.
How do you run games for a large remote team?
Use breakout rooms or a tool where everyone answers on their own device at the same time. Live polls, word clouds and team trivia scale to hundreds of people.
Are virtual meeting games free to run?
Yes, most need nothing beyond your video call and a shared screen. AhaSlides has a free plan for polls, quizzes, word clouds and the spinner wheel.
관련 게시물
더 많은 아이디어를 보려면 다음을 참조하세요. 41 Zoom games with easy prep, 17 icebreaker games for teams 170 icebreaker questions for work.
