21 Virtual Team Games [With Tried & Tested Activities]

Written by:
Eli Robinson
Updated:
February 15, 2024

Virtual team games have rapidly become the go-to way for remote teams to bond, break the monotony, and reenergize.

But let's be real – not all online games are created equal.

Some leave us yawning while others just don't hit the mark. Sound familiar? That's where we step in.

You're here because you're seeking engaging and exciting virtual games to inject some fun into your team's dynamics.

Tired of the same old recommendations, games that aren't interactive enough, or simply don't resonate with your team? We've felt that too.

Having explored, tested, and laughed our way through countless online games, we've compiled the crème de la crème, ensuring maximum fun and connection.

This article is for:

  • For remote teams looking to strengthen bonds.
  • For team leaders wanting to spice up their regular virtual meetings.
  • For organizations aiming to promote a fun, cohesive online culture.

Remember the joy of playing an unexpectedly fun game at a party or gathering?

5 Benefits Of Virtual Team Building Games

When you host virtual team building activities and games, you:

  1. Enhance team communication and collaboration by providing opportunities to interact outside of normal work settings.
  2. Boost morale and create a sense of community even when team members work remotely.
  3. Break down barriers and encourage relationship building by facilitating fun, shared experiences.
  4. Introduce healthy competition and problem-solving challenges that translate to positive work habits.
  5. Provide a refreshing break from the usual routine, leading to better employee engagement and overall job satisfaction.

Best Virtual Team Games: My 21 Ideas

My list includes:

  • Virtual team icebreakers for sparking connection.
  • Virtual team games for improving collaboration.
  • Fun online activities for make meetings less boring.
  • Easy virtual team building games to help foster camaraderie.

Water Cooler Trivia

When it comes to virtual team games, it doesn't get any easier than Water Cooler Trivia.

You choose the schedule. We write the questions and provide the results. It's that simple.

Water Cooler Trivia offers a free four-week trial with no credit card required.

With 1,200 groups playing every week and 25,187 quizzes sent this week, Water Cooler Trivia is nothing short of a hit with virtual teams.

Virtual Escape Rooms

Everybody loves completing a classic escape room and reveling in that feeling of immense satisfaction once those doors open. 

This is a great activity to do with friends or colleagues as a fun group bonding exercise. 

But did you know that there are virtual escape rooms that you can solve together as well? 

These escape rooms are remotely playable, rewarding, and help switch your brain on. Solve puzzles, uncover clues, and break out of your virtual prison with the help of your teammates!

Bunch

With Bunch, you can play games within a fully fleshed-out virtual world! 

Players can customize avatars, visit each other's houses, and play games together within the Bunch universe. 

There is a wide range of exciting new worlds to explore, and a huge variety of games to check out. 

This virtual setting is a great way to wander around and play games in an environment that mimics the real world. Plus, designing an avatar to reflect your personality and style is insanely entertaining! 

Two Truths and a Lie

Two truths and a lie is a common icebreaker game used in workplaces and education facilities. It is a great way to get to know new people, or even to test how well your friends really know you. 

If you can’t get together with a group to play a few rounds of two truths and a lie, don’t worry! There are several online platforms that allow you to play this game virtually. 

Virtual Scavenger Hunt

A staple childhood (or even adulthood) experience is running around and searching high and low for scavenger hunt clues. The good news: you can experience this again, in the virtual world!

Hunt for clues all over the internet as you race against the clock and other players. 

There are several ways to construct an online scavenger hunt, and they can be customized to fit the interests of your group! 

Pictionary

Virtual Pictionary is something that has become increasingly popular due to how well the game translates to online platforms. 

This game is a party classic (and for good reason), but playing it on a virtual platform brings a whole different level of excitement. 

Using a mouse, trackpad, or phone screen to draw your pictures can result in some unique and hilarious outcomes. 

There are many different types of online Pictionary to choose from, so pick one and start practicing those drawing skills! 

Charades

Whether it's done through Zoom or an online platform designed specifically for the game, Charades can work surprisingly well in a virtual arena. 

This beloved game is great for cultivating teamwork – not to mention how fun and hilarious it can end up!

There are many great prompts for Charades online, but you can always customize your own as well. This can be a great pick if you want to tailor the game to fit the tastes and demographics of the group you are playing with.

Virtual Karaoke

That’s right – karaoke night from the comfort of your own home! Warm up your vocal cords and get your favorite songs queued up. 

This is another game that you can either play through a platform created specially to host the game or through Zoom

This is a more laid-back way to bond with a team or group, and can be a great way to wind down and show off your hidden talents. 

5-Second Rule

If you’re looking for a fast-paced game that’s going to get your brain active, then 5-Second Rule is a great pick! 

This game is a quick-fire question game that includes over 1,000 hilarious questions, and it can be played entirely virtually. 

Something to keep in mind is that the questions in this game are completely uncensored, so it’s definitely more geared towards friend groups rather than work environments. 

Jackbox Games

Jackbox Games has skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years and contains a wide range of virtual games to play as a group. It can be played on your phone or computer and requires very little setup. 

There are several different Jackbox Packs that you can install – all of which contain different games for you to enjoy! Let’s go ahead and take a look at some of the most popular Jackbox Packs: 

The Jackbox Party Pack 10

The Jackbox Party Pack 10 contains a variety of games that include drawing, role-playing, and trivia. 

This pack is great for building teamwork skills; some games require players to make music together, while others include roleplay scenarios that will need you to make some strong alliances in order to secure a win. 

The Jackbox Party Pack 5

This pack is one of the largest that Jackbox has to offer and contains some of their most iconic games!

This pack is definitely more high-energy. In some games, players engage in rap battles with each other using lyrics they’ve written themselves. In others, you’ll debate hilarious hypotheticals with a this-or-that style scenario! 

The Jackbox Party Starter

If you’ve never played Jackbox games before and want to dip your toes, the Party Starter is the way to go. 

This pack contains their three most beloved games so you can try them for yourself: Quiplash 3, Tee K.O., and Trivia Murder Party 2. 

20 Questions

There are many different ways to play 20 Questions virtually, whether it be playing solo on an online platform or playing with others on Zoom. This is a simple game that is great for an icebreaker or a game night. 

There are some great websites that convert this game into a multiplayer, virtual game. This game is easy to understand, making it a great pick if you need something hat players can learn quickly!

Mad Libs

Mad Libs is another game that translates incredibly well to a virtual platform. This fill-in-the-blank game is absolutely hilarious and is great to play with friends, coworkers, or family. 

Simply hop on a Zoom or video call, fill out your mad libs with your group, and enjoy the resulting story!

This is another game that is simple to understand and can be played fairly quickly, making it a great wind-down activity after a meeting. 

Story Cubes

Unlock your inner author by playing a round or two of Story Cubes!

This impromptu storytelling game will give you several image prompts, which you will then convert into a narrative. 

This game is a seriously great pick if you’re trying to get your creative juices flowing, and is incredibly entertaining when played with a group. 

The stories that result from this game can range from beautiful and poetic, to absolutely hilarious!

This game is great to play with family, friends, or coworkers and can be enjoyed completely virtually. 

Hop on a video call, read out your hastily-crafted narratives, and enjoy the other stories that emerge over the course of the game. 

"Would You Rather?" Game

Would you rather play a small part in a bad movie or play the lead role in a terrible one? 

Never get sick again, or never stuck in traffic? 

Decisions, decisions – some that are extremely difficult!

In this would you rather game, you can pick your side in a range of different dilemmas and even see what percentage of other players agree with your choice. 

This is a nice, quick game that requires very little work – a great after-work pick for when your brain is completely fried. 

Virtual Murder Mystery Parties

Murder mystery parties are incredibly fun and thrilling, and that remains true for virtual murder mystery parties as well. 

These games are great for team building, and you can enjoy a compelling narrative at the same time! 

There are a variety of games to choose from, each transporting you to a new world to uncover clues and solve the case. 

Let’s go ahead and take a look at some of the most gripping Virtual Murder Mystery Party games that you can try out:

Werewolf

This game assigns all of the players the role of a villager apart from one, who will be the werewolf. 

Each night the werewolf will attack, eliminating a villager. Players must work together to discover who the werewolf is before they’ve all been picked off. 

Murder in Ancient Egypt 

In this game, you and your teammates will become detectives solving a notorious murder in Ancient Egypt. You’ll put your heads together as a group to solve puzzles and decipher clues. 

Murder in the Speakeasy

This game transports the players back to the 1920s in order to uncover the mysterious death of a professor. Many suspects in this case are real historical figures! 

That Show About Love

Parodying a reality dating show, this game requires players to solve a murder in which all of the potential romantic suitors in the show become suspects. 

The all-female cast of characters in this game makes it a great pick for any group looking for female-led narratives. 

Perspective Drawing

If you want to look at life from a new perspective, then perspective drawing is the game for you!

In this game, players are given a prompt word and will all draw a representation of the word. When everyone is done, the group shares their drawing. 

For example, the word that everyone is given may be ‘winter’. Some may draw a cartoonish snowman, while others might sketch out an elaborate landscape scene of pine trees and snowflakes. 

It’s very interesting to see the many different ways people can interpret the same prompt! 

Scattergories

Scattergories is a creative-thinking, category-based party game! The goal is to come up with unique words or phrases that fit specific categories, all starting with the same letter. 

Each player gets a list of categories, such as "Fruits", "Animals", " or "Movie Titles". 

Using the Scattergories site, a letter will be randomly chosen for the round. For example, if "L" is picked, all answers for that round must begin with the letter "L". 

Players then come up with an answer for each category.  So, with "L" as the letter and "Animals" as a category, "Lion" might be a potential answer.

When the timer stops, players compare their answers. Only unique answers get points! If two participants both note down "Lion" for the "Animals" category, neither earns a point for that!

Pancakes vs Waffles

Pancakes vs. Waffles is a this-or-that game where players who don’t choose the most popular option are slowly eliminated. 

The categories of the game slowly change one option at a time, as players are gradually dropped. 

Pancakes or Waffles may lead to the question, “Pancakes or Kittens?”. Then, to “Kittens or Puppies?”, and to “Puppies… or Pizza? “

This game is a great way to see how opinions differ and can pose some seriously difficult choices!

Codenames

This fast-paced virtual game follows two rival spies and a cast of secret agents. This game can be played in large or small groups and is a great way to get your brain warmed up!

This game includes the option to use either audio or video chat and can be accessed through a private URL. 

This one is a great pick if you’re willing to do some serious puzzle-solving and spying!

Spreadsheet Wars

Spreadsheet Wars is great for anyone who is tech-savvy or is looking to improve their coding skills. 

Players are given a prompt such as ‘design a mini game’, and will need to code a solution using only spreadsheet software!

It’s a game that is a bit more on the difficult side but can teach you some valuable skills when it comes to coding and online programming. This is one game that will seriously get both your creative and logical sides working. 

Who Am I?

Similar to the board game ‘Guess Who’, you will join this virtual game with an assigned character that others in the group will try to guess. 

You must also try to guess the other players assigned characters by asking only yes or no questions. 

This is a simple, straightforward game that can get surprisingly intense – not to mention hilarious!

It also takes very little puzzle-solving or difficult questions, making it a great game to play casually.

Virtual Games For Team Building: Try Water Cooler Trivia

Virtual team games offer a fantastic way to connect and have fun with friends and colleagues. Whether you're looking for brain teasers, creative challenges, or simply a good laugh, there are numerous options to choose from. 

From virtual escape rooms that require teamwork and puzzle-solving skills to classic games like Pictionary and Charades adapted for online play, there's something for everyone!

Get started with Water Cooler Trivia today or request a demo.

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