Online communication game

The internet is your oyster for virtual group games. Werewolf is one of the best remote team building games, as it is full of cunning deceit and tactful manipulation. The game relies primarily on the spoken word, which makes it perfect for remote teams. To play this game virtually, nominate one person as the narrator and then randomly distribute the following roles to players:. To play, first distribute the roles via private message or email the players in advance.

For a group of five people, you should have 1 werewolf, 1 medic and 3 villagers. For each additional five people add 1 werewolf, 1 special role, and 3 villagers. The ratios are flexible, so can modify them to suit your needs. The narrator then puts the werewolves back to sleep and has the medic and seer wake up in sequence. If the medic selects the same player as the werewolf, then nobody dies during the night.

When the seer points to a player, the narrator can answer yes or no to whether that player is a werewolf. All players can open their eyes, and then debate on who the werewolf might be. To end the round, all players vote on one player to eliminate from the game or can pass and wait until the next round.

Any player that is eliminated either by the werewolves or by vote becomes a friendly ghost that is not allowed to speak for the rest of the game but may observe it in quiet frustration.

To play, divide the attendees of your virtual conference call into groups of four or five people and then give the groups 15 minutes of prep time. After the 15 minute breakout session, bring everyone back to the main virtual meeting and have the teams present their creation.

Vote on the best one with thumbs up and cheers. Spreadsheet Wars is one of my favorite virtual team building games to play with coworkers. Like other games on this list, Spreadsheet Wars is a combination of fun and skill-building, which makes it perfect for remote teams and offices. The best tool wins, and really everyone wins because you are getting better at using one of the most powerful free tools on the internet.

Growing up, one of my favorite games to play was Risk, the game of global domination that meshes perfectly with my own aspirations. Risk is a game of cutthroat collaboration, friendly competition, resource management and other strategic dynamics that make it perfect for team building online. The most flexible way to play Risk-like team games online is to use one of the many clones, for example Conquer Club , which provides a free browser based game.

Here are more online board games to play at work. In the early s, Sudoku took the world by storm; inspiring nerds everywhere to complete numerical logic games instead of the daily crossword.

Today, you can play a version of Sudoku for online team building called Sudoku Throw-down. For Sudoku Throw-down, you can easily up the competitive spirit by including prizes for the top three finishers. I recommend nerd-friendly prizes like more Sudoku puzzles, science kits and white boards.

Here are more problem solving games. Something in common is an icebreaker game that works on video conference calls and similar. To play, first organize your attendees into manageable sized groups of four or five people and gently push them into breakout rooms. Each group has the goal of finding three similarities they have in common with other members of that group. For the round after that, remove pets and preferences. The goal is to make the game increasingly difficult and encourage your remote team to deep dive into what they may have in common.

Check out our list of icebreaker games for large groups for more ideas. Pictionary is a fun game where some people draw while other people guess what the drawing could be. The game includes elements of improv, creative thinking, competition and more.

You can play Quick Draw over Zoom, Webex and other virtual conference call platforms. You can also mix up the game and rules by varying the number of clues each person draws, and drawing verbs instead of nouns. Truth or Dare: Remote Work Edition takes those popular game mechanics and optimizes for team building online. Here is a list with more question games. Still, Jackbox Games provides options you can use for online team building games. The game options include trivia and similar, and the virtual games to play with coworkers have some unexpected and creative dynamics.

To play online, everyone logs into a website via a special URL. Learn more about Jackbox Games. If the train was late and people were standing on the platform longer, sometimes the two dudes would stop playing for a bit.

Neither of those songs was Yellow Submarine. Yellow Submarine is also an online team building game you can play with remote teams. Here is how:. The mechanics work for online team games because the incentive is for each player to show their submarine as many times as they can. If you wait it out, then you may be one of the last players in the game but you will also need to catch-up on points. A few years ago, video game cafes took the world by storm. The idea of going to play Mario Kart or Goldeneye while someone delivers you nachos and beer was a strong pull.

You can host a Nintendo Game Night for your team by using an emulator. The emulator allows you to play team building games online via most modern web browsers. Choose a game like Excitebike, Popeye or Ice Hockey and host a tournament to see who gets the most points. Learn more at Emulator.

The strategy in Ten Strikes is to share facts about yourself that are unique enough that other players will not be able to say it is true of them and will have to put fingers down. Generally the more fingers and toes you start with, the longer the game will go.

The Question Game is a fun and free online team building activity that requires no prep or special equipment. In the chat box, the facilitator will type in a word or a phrase, one at a time. Examples: strawberry, New York, sky, ball ,one year. Participants have minutes to write something about themselves associated with the word or phrase - or something they associate with the word or phrase. Facilitator types a speaking order in the chat box and sets a timer for 2 minutes.

Sentences are shared. The facilitator enters the next word or phrase in the chat box. After one round or more, there can be a brief reflection before going on to the next word. Reflection Invite students to share: What was this activity like for you? Did you discover anything? How did this activity make you feel?

What did you learn about other people today? Steps This is a physical game that requires participants be on camera. Explain that you will start a movement, and everyone should try to follow you and move together.

Keep the initial moment simple and slow, and encourage participants to work together nonverbally. Focus on the movement we all see on the screen, and remind the group your goal is for everyone to move together. Reflection Invite students to share: How is moving together on-screen different than moving in real space?

How is moving on-screen different than talking on-screen? What skills are we building as a team when we move together nonverbally? Advanced challenge: If the group likes movement and finds this to be easy, challenge everyone to move together without any single leader. Steps The facilitator explains that the group is going to create a story together with each person contributing one sentence. The speaking order is assigned via the chat box.

If there are an odd number of participants the facilitator will start the story. What skills are we building with this activity? What does it require as a group to create a story together? Steps Set up a speaking order and list it in the chat box. You will make a first statement i. Encourage the pair to see how long they can continue their scene. Reflection Invite students to share: How does it feel to have your ideas accepted? Steps A pair volunteers. One will be A and the other B. Using the chat box, the facilitator provides two active verbs to Participant A: one is positive e.

The other is negative e. Participant A says their line exactly as written to B, with the intention of fulfilling one of the action verbs through the way they say the phrase. The rest of the group tries to guess the action verb and explain what they hear that makes them say that.

The facilitator moderates the feedback. Participant A reveals the action verb they used. Then, A says the same line again with their other action verb. The group tries to guess that action verb as well. Again, what did they hear in the voice or tone that made them make that guess? Participant A reveals their second action verb. Participant B then shares how they felt hearing that line with two different intentions.

Three players act out a scene, with one for each of the word types. You do not have to use the statements in order, but must use all phrases equally.

The game makes players think before speaking and give each other nonverbal cues. Pro tip: Play Questions, Statements, Exclamations, Alliterations by adding a fourth player that can only speak in alliterative phrases. In So Many Words is one of the best communication skills games. This activity teaches participants to be more brief and express points concisely. The leader repeats the request, lowering the word count.

Players must revise their answers to fit within the new word count, without losing the meaning of the original message. Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread, jelly on the other. Combine slices, wet ingredients inside. This game shows how the meaning of messages can change or stay the same depending on the number of words used, and can help teammates decide how lengthy or brief to be when sending emails, delivering updates, or giving presentations.

Shuffled Storyboards is a storytelling game that encourages players to talk through a chain of events. To play the game, first split the group into teams. Give each team a randomly shuffled series of related illustrations. In five minutes or less, the team must put the cards in the sequence they think is correct, and come up with an accompanying story.

Teammates will have to communicate why they believe an image comes before or after another picture, and work together on a coherent story. At the end of the activity, teams present their stories to the rest of the group.

Pro tip: After each team presents, the gamemaster can reveal the intended story, and if the two tales are radically different, then the audience can vote on which version is best. Say It With Feeling is a communication game that stresses emotional intelligence.

Each round, a player receives a random phrase and a random emotion. The player must read the sentence in that specific style, and teammates must guess the feeling. Telephone is one of the most popular communication games.

To start the game, one player whispers a phrase to the next closest player. This process repeats until every player has heard the message. The last player in line says the sentence out loud, and the first player reveals how close the end phrase was to the beginning phrase. The game emphasizes clear communication and careful listening.

Another fun version of the game involves players taking turns alternately writing or drawing a phrase, and seeing how close the end result comes to the original meaning of the message. Charades is one of the most classic nonverbal communication games for work. In this game, players take turns acting out words while the rest of the team guesses the phrase.

Players can use a charades generator to come up with terms, and leaders can time rounds or allow participants to guess until correct. You can also play themed games, for instance, classic literature, movies about work, or moments from history. Charades can improve communication skills because the game encourages participants to communicate in unconventional ways and to pay attention to body language.

Frostbite is a problem-solving game that requires good communication. The premise for this exercise is that players are arctic explorers who must build a shelter to withstand the harsh winter weather. However, due to a sudden blizzard, the group leader has frostbitten hands and the rest of the group is snowblind.

The follower teammates wear blindfolds, and the leader must talk the group through building a shelter. Players can erect full tents, or build replicas of a shelter out of cards and tape.

At the end of the activity, the gamemaster turns a fan on in front of the shelter to determine whether the hut can withstand the arctic winds. Tree or Bob Ross? Each round, a thinker decides on a random object, and guessers try to figure out the object by asking this or that style questions. For example, if the object was a pumpkin, then the answer would be tree. If the object was a wood nutcracker, then the thinker would use their best judgment when responding.

Guess the Emoji is one of the easiest virtual communication games. Players send messages to each other using strings of emojis, and other players must decode those messages.

The first player or team to figure out the phrase wins a point. You can give the game a theme, such as songs, movie titles, or famous phrases, or leave prompts open-ended.

Twenty Questions is one of the best communication activities for work. In this version of the exercise, a teammate chooses a phrase or concept. Then, other players must guess that thought by asking no more than twenty questions.

Since there is a limit to the number of questions, players must come up with smart and thoughtful questions that quickly narrow down the options. Leaders can award each question a point value, and players who figure out the object quickly can earn more points.

This activity teaches teammates how to effectively gather information, which can come in handy when collaborating and working on projects with busy colleagues. This exercise is a group storytelling activity that focuses on communication.

First split the group into teams of three to five, then give each team a comic panel to complete. Or, you can use Canva to add speech bubbles to existing pictures. Give groups five or ten minutes to complete the comics, and then ask each team to share their creation with the rest of the group.