Here is our list of fun virtual meeting games.
Virtual meeting games are group activities to play on platforms like Zoom, Teams, and Webex. These challenges use websites or simple onscreen activities to connect players. For example, online escape rooms, trivia games, and virtual happy hours. The purpose of these activities is to energize online meetings and to help remote coworkers interact.
These exercises are online versions of team meeting games, and are examples of video call games, activities for conference calls and virtual team meeting ideas, and are a way to make virtual meetings fun.
This list includes:
- virtual meeting room games
- games for virtual meetings
- online meeting energizers
Here we go!
List of virtual meeting games
Virtual meeting games include guided online activities, competitive tasks, and board games. Here is a selection of virtual meeting room games and activities that are easy to use, including many free options.
1. Buzzword Bingo
Buzzword Bingo is an easy virtual meeting game. Simply email your team Bingo cards filled with common meeting phrases. Each time players hear a phrase on the card they can mark it off. The first player to have five marked squares is the winner. You can also make requirements for horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines.
Some fun Buzzword Bingo Words to use:
Get Just the Bingo Card
by teams at FedEx, Amazon, Deloitte and 73,930+ others
For more card options, check out this icebreaker Bingo generator.
2. Online Drinking Games
Online Drinking Games are great virtual meeting games for large groups. There are many challenges to complete with teams during online happy hours. For instance, the group can compete in an online cocktail mix-off, drink every time a word or phrase appears, or play truth or dare. Your team can also raise a few toasts to accomplishments and face off to create the best toast on the spot.
If participants do not drink alcohol or if you would rather not encourage on-the-clock drinking, then players can use non-alcoholic drinks like coffee, soda, or water.
Check out this list of online drinking games.
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- icebreaker games
- bingo cards
- DIY guides
by teams at FedEx, Amazon, Deloitte and 73,930+ others
3. Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts send your teammates around their houses and are an excellent way to get meeting participants moving and energized. The meeting leader creates a list of unique objects for players to find. You can organize the list using items from specific rooms in the house. Hyper-specific objects like one used eraser, one red jellybean, and one blue button, will make the search extra challenging.
Here are virtual scavenger hunt starter lists.
4. Search Engine Savvy
Search Engine Savvy is a virtual meeting game that uses internet searches to lead players around the World Wide Web! You can create a treasure map that identifies exotic items in various locations. Your team then searches for those images. Each player makes a catalog by pasting screenshots into a document or spreadsheet to present to the team. Each participant will end up with a unique take on the hunt.
Some starter suggestions:
- Exotic animals
- Expensive cars
- Landmarks
- Special flowers, plants, and trees
- Unique buildings
- Flags
- Monuments
- Street signs with specific names or words
You can also include meaningful items to your team members or your organization.
5. Coffee Talk
Online coffee talk sessions are fun virtual meeting games to play with employees as a get-to-know-you activity. Using an app like Donut, you can pair up your team members and encourage participants to schedule a 15 or 30 minute video call. Partners can discuss hobbies and interests, friends and family, or work and professional goals. The only rule is to avoid work talk! During meetings, you can also facilitate the activity by sending attendees to breakout rooms in random pairs.
The goal of this game is to help team members become more familiar with one another.
Check out more get to know you activities, and this guide to virtual coffee breaks.
6. Virtual Team Trivia (Popular)
With Virtual Team Trivia, you can tailor all the questions to match your employees’ answers during this fully hosted event! Virtual Team Trivia brings the ambiance of a bar trivia night from the comfort of your own space. This head-to-head competition sparks excitement and fosters friendships among participants.
Virtual Team Trivia offers the following features:
- a 60-minute session guided by a talented host
- icebreakers, small groups, and catchy team names
- themed trivia or customized questions
- lively group discussions and clever pun-based wordplay
To make the experience more like a bar trivia night, consider adding on cocktail and s’mores kits. Virtual Team Trivia is a fantastic choice for improving your team’s relationships and boosting morale!
Learn more about Virtual Team Trivia.
7. Murder in the Speakeasy (Highly Rated)
Players can fully immerse themselves in the glitz and glamor of the vibrant Roaring ’20s with Murder in the Speakeasy! Participants will dive into a world of clubs and characters inspired by real-life personalities from the 1920s. Throughout this captivating journey, participants will solve a historical murder mystery.
Here is what you can look forward to:
- a 90-minute experience led by an expert host
- an intriguing story centered around a mysterious murder
- clues and puzzles that reflect the glamorous era
- renowned politicians and musicians who frequented the famous Krazy Kat club
Teams will travel back in time and work together to uncover the truth behind this jazz-era crime. So get ready to showcase your problem-solving prowess with Murder in the Speakeasy!
Learn more about Murder in the Speakeasy.
8. Online Karaoke
Online karaoke is one of the top online meeting energizers to get your teammates engaged. You can coordinate an online karaoke session featuring your choice of genres or eras. Attendees take turns following the lyrics on the screen and sing into their microphones. You can encourage team members to prepare food and drinks to snack on to recreate the atmosphere of a real karaoke bar.
There are online karaoke sites like Karafun and Singa that give you a platform for your event. Some offer free versions, while other sites require a subscription.
9. Talent Showcase
You can host a talent showcase that lets your attendees become stars of the virtual meeting. Employees can perform a skit, sing a song, or demonstrate a talent. Encourage team members to choose their most incredible talent to showcase. Bizarre and unexpected talents make for an especially fun event. To do the showcase during an online meeting, spotlight each performer accordingly.
Pro tip: Performers with similar talents can team up for group acts and practice collaboration.
Check out this guide to doing online talent shows.
10. Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a familiar activity you can adapt for virtual staff meeting games.
How to play:
- The game leader creates a playlist of well-known songs.
- The game leader asks player one how many seconds they need to hear to guess the name of the song. Then, the game leader asks player two the same question.
- The player who bids the smaller number tries to guess the name of the song after hearing their chosen length.
- If that player cannot guess the song, then the other player has a chance to guess.
- The player who guesses the correct answer wins and moves on to challenge another player. If neither player guesses the answer, the leader moves on to two new players.
Here is a list of high energy songs for conferences that work well for this game.
11. Headline or Head Lie?
Headline or Head Lie? is a virtual team meeting game that tests the internet savvy of your team.
Here are the rules:
- The game leader gathers true headlines from around the internet.
- The game leader creates two alternate headlines for each headline.
- The game leader asks the attendees to choose which of the three is the true headline.
Pro tip: You can try to make your Head Lies as believable as possible to confuse players!
12. Story-Go-Round
Story-Go-Round is an interactive virtual game that encourages creativity from your team. The meeting host can collect a series of simple story prompts such as “Once upon a time,” “Deep in the woods,” and “On a planet far, far away.” The host then begins the story with a prompt and one or two lines before passing the tale to another teammate. This player adds a line or two before passing to another teammate. The story grows and changes each time a new storyteller takes the lead.
13. Show and Tell
Show and Tell can turn your virtual meeting into an online showcase. In this exercise, your teammates select a favorite item to share during the event. Then, participants can spend a few minutes describing the significance of the item and what makes it special. If your teammate is reluctant to share a sentimental possession, then you can ask them to choose a random item and create an entertaining story about it. This game is good for setting a relaxed tone at the beginning of a meeting.
14. Pizza vs. Burgers Challenge
Surveys like Pizza vs. Burgers are fun virtual meeting games to play with employees who like competition. The game leader creates a series of items to vote for, pairings such as pizza vs. burgers, coffee vs. tea, or chocolate vs. vanilla. The winning item from each round moves on to the next round. For example, if you begin with chocolate vs. vanilla and chocolate wins, then the next challenge is chocolate vs. mint. If mint wins, then the next challenge is mint vs. strawberry, and so on. You can list enough options for 10 or 12 rounds.
This game is similar to This or That.
15. Virtual Pet Day
You can invite your teammates to show off their pets with a virtual pet day! If a member does not have a pet to share, then you can suggest that they choose their favorite would-be pet. Participants can pick any animal they want, give it a name and present a fictional account of the chosen pet. Any imagined animal will count, even lions and giraffes!
For more online animal fun, check out virtual Take Your Dog To Work Day ideas.
16. I Spy
Online versions of I Spy make simple yet enjoyable remote meeting games for employees. Your teammates can use items in their home offices as items to “spy.”
Here are the rules:
- The leader chooses an item found in the background of an onscreen player.
- The leader declares, “I spy with my little eye something…” and describes a quality or characteristic of the item.
- The other players search their screens and try to figure out what item the leader describes.
- The first person to call out the correct item is the next leader.
- If the item is not identified after the first clue, the leader gives another clue, until a player guesses the item.
You can encourage your team members to choose an item to place in a visible part of the room before the game begins. This step will ensure that all players can see the object.
17. Have You Ever?
Have You Ever? is a fun icebreaker or get-to-know-you activity for virtual meetings. For this virtual meeting game, the team leader reads from a list of possible behaviors, such as breaking a bone, traveling to a foreign country, or riding in a limo. Then, players check off actions they have experienced. Each item is worth one point. At the end of the game, players share their answers for each item and total points. The player with the highest point total wins.
Here is a list of Never Have I Ever questions you can use for this game.
18. Bake Shop Recipe Swap
Bake Shop Recipe Swap gets your teammates in the kitchen for a tasty homemade treat. This activity requires prep work. You can send out instructions several days before the meeting. For this game, each team member chooses a favorite baking recipe. Team members create a batch at home to sample on screen. The bakers describe what their creation is and what makes it so unique. Teammates or judges can score the products based on presentation and perceived deliciousness. Participants can also type up recipes to send to the rest of the group.
Pro tip: The team leader can print the recipes and create a recipe book as a thoughtful keepsake for team members.
19. Taste Test
Taste Test gives your team a chance to test powers of deduction. For this virtual meeting game, each player chooses a food or drink to taste test, keeping it out of view of the camera. The snack can be a favorite item or new food. The player turns their camera off to taste the item and describes the flavor and texture. The other attendees try to guess the food. The teammate who guesses the answer is the next taste tester.
20. Read My Lips
In the virtual game Read My Lips, one team member mutes their microphone and speaks a well-known phrase, title, or name. The other team members try to guess the phrase by reading the player’s lips. You can create a list of phrases for the players to use, with category headers for each item. Some subjects that make great categories are song lyrics, cereal names, celebrities and movie titles.
21. Pyramid Guessing Game
Pyramid Guessing Game is a virtual meeting game modeled after the popular television game show.
Here are the rules:
- The game leader prepares several lists of six familiar topics. Some examples: Things You Might See at a Beach, Items in a Fridge, and Things You Might Take Camping.
- The team divides into smaller teams of two.
- The game leader sets a one-minute timer.
- Player one receives a list of topics.
- Player one provides player two clues without using any words in the topic.
- Player two tries to guess the topic.
- If player two guesses the topic, player one gives clues to the next topic.
The team that scores the highest wins the round.
Check out more virtual game show ideas.
22. Teammate Talk Show
Teammate Talk Show is an easy virtual meeting game that puts your teammates in the spotlight. For this exercise, you can select a guest of the week and create a list of 10 get-to-know-you questions to send them. During the meeting, the leader interviews the guest of the week, expanding the conversation based on answers given by the guest. The audience can raise their hands and ask questions of the guest.
Here are some random questions.
23. Virtual Gift Exchange
Virtual gift exchanges are great holiday virtual meeting games when an actual gift exchange is impossible. In this activity, your teammates email each other ultimate wish lists. Then, players can “shop” online to find an image of the perfect gift to send to the recipient. The team members open their gifts one by one and share their reactions. If your team is too large to shop for all team members, then you can trade names beforehand for a secret swap to help the game move quicker.
Check out these guides to virtual Secret Santa and Virtual White Elephant exchanges.
24. Emoji Guessing Game
For this game, attendees try to figure out everyday items and phrases using a series of emojis. Players can work alone or in teams to decrypt the messages. You can create a list by selecting emojis in Word and emailing your list to your team members. A list of 15 to 20 phrases works well.
Here is an online version of an emoji guessing game you can use, too.
25. You Know What They Say
You Know What They Say is a virtual meeting game that tests the collective knowledge of your team.
These are the guidelines:
- The leader gathers a list of familiar proverbs, sayings, and phrases.
- The leader prompts players with single-word topics related to the list.
- Each player offers their best phrase, idiom, or saying based on that word. For example, the topic “dog” might inspire the phrases “Every dog has their day,” “Let sleeping dogs lie,” and “When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”
Here is a list of familiar phrases you can use for this exercise.
26. Sharing GIFs
Sharing GIFs is a virtual meeting game that helps your teammates express thoughts and feelings. In this activity, your teammates share the GIFs that best illustrate their spirit, feeling, or mood during the meeting. Players can also choose GIFs to express their feelings about how their day or week is going. Before starting, you can specify that the GIFs should be work appropriate.
Conclusion
Remote teammates can find it challenging to stay engaged with one another. Virtual games for meetings help folks remain connected. These activities also offer co-workers an opportunity to see a more personal side of each other. Virtual games that require cooperation and collaboration can help the whole team feel included and involved.
Next, check out this list of team meeting ideas, this collection of virtual morning meeting ideas, and these virtual energizers for work. Plus this list of fun online team games.