Four pairs of hands with fists clenched in a circle for 5 minute games

Twelve 5 Minute Games for Virtual Meetings

If you’re looking for some amazing examples of 5 Minute Games for Virtual Meetings you’re in the right place!

But first…

Do you find yourself struggling to keep your virtual meetings engaging?

Are people starting to lose focus and tune out?

Amber (The United States)'s review of My Soul to Save

Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us.

But real talk – it might be time to add in some 5 minute games into them.

These games can help break up the monotony of a long meeting and keep everyone on their toes.

In this blog post, we will discuss 12 different games and virtual team building activities that you can use in your next virtual meeting!

Table of Contents

Why play 5 Minute Games in Virtual Meetings?

Let’s dig into why remote teams need games to punctuate their virtual meetings.

They break up the monotony of a long meeting and combat Zoom fatigue

With more and more people working from home, it’s important to acknowledge that focus and attention is now a commodity. In fact, the average attention span is now a modest 8.5 seconds!

To keep remote teams on their toes

When a remote team knows that a meeting will be punctuated with virtual games, they’re much less likely to stray away from their keyboards.

Sorry mittens, daddy isn’t going to play with you for the next hour!

Sadness sad cat GIF on GIFER - by Gurr

They promote fun in the workplace

Fun in the workplace should be one of your primary goals in building happy virtual teams.

Extended virtual team building activities are great for this.

But when you only have a few minutes, virtual games are a great way to add to company culture.

To bond your team

It doesn’t matter if you have large or small teams, it’s important to focus on team bonding.

Bonding with your employees can help build trust, improve communication, and promote collaboration.

They’re great for developing employee soft skills

If done right, 5-minute games can have many positive outcomes for team building, but also develop individual skills for each team member.

These can include:

  • Creativity
  • Problem solving
  • Patience
  • Camaraderie
  • Engagement

They make great mini virtual team building activities

Virtual team building is hard enough with the barriers that exist running a remote team.

While we’d all love to run full-length team building activities such as coffee tastings or lock picking, often time and budget doesn’t allow for these.

Quick team building games like these can bring the whole team together during mandatory virtual meetings.

Tips on making your 5 minute games successful

Group Of Multi Racial Businesspeople Shaking Hands With Each Other In Office

(OK we mean successful, not awkward, as the above photo clearly implies!)

Create a regular schedule and give it time

If you want to make 5 minute games a regular occurrence in your virtual meetings, it’s important to create a schedule and stick to it. This way, employees will know when to expect them and can be prepared with their game faces on.

Keep the 5 minute games simple.

You don’t have to go all out with games that require a lot of coordination or equipment. Start with simple icebreakers or individual challenges and then work your way up to more complex virtual games.

Mix them up. Try not to repeat too often

If you’re going to make 5 minute games a regular thing, make sure to mix them up so employees don’t get bored. Try different games and activities each time to keep things fresh.

Include everyone.

The goal is to get everyone involved and playing the games, so make sure you choose ones that will allow for that. No one likes feeling left out, so try to avoid games that require teams or pairs.

Leave your ego at the door and accept that you’re going to have to potentially poke fun at yourself

Remember, the goal is to have fun and build relationships, not to show everyone how smart or coordinated you are. So leave your ego at the door and be prepared to have some fun at your own expense.

Enjoy the process.

At the end of the day, these games are meant to be fun so try not to take them too seriously. If you’re not enjoying yourself, chances are your employees won’t be either.

What are some ideas for 5 minute virtual team building activities?

We’ve included a banner for each of these events. Feel free to use it when you host your events¹!

1. Quizbreaker

Quizbreaker 5 minute game

This is a fun and interactive team building activity, with an unlimited amount of ways to customize it.

Instructions

  • Set up a free trial account of QuizBreaker and invite your team to join it.
  • Customize a list of icebreaker questions
  • Send the list to your entire team, who will be able to answer them live in your next team meeting.

Benefits

  • Extremely customizable
  • It can be as long or short as you like
  • You can include in-jokes and compliments for individuals
  • The questions can be changed and the platform reused again and again
  • Very cheap.
  • Great to highlight very remote team members

Difficulty

  • Medium, as you’ll need to brainstorm questions before starting.

2. Virtual Coffee Break

Virtual Coffee Break

A virtual coffee break is a 5-10 minute break that employees can take during a virtual meeting to help them stay focused and energized.

Instructions

  • Order coffee for each of your attendees using a delivery service like Uber Eats.
  • Enjoy your drinks together chatting as you would if you were in a coffee shop.

Benefits

  • It’s a great informal way of team building, as long as you keep it about anything but work.
  • Remote teams often don’t have the ability to meet in the same physical space, so this captures some of that magic.

Difficulty

Surprisingly hard: Delivering coffee is time consuming and getting it to arrive at the same time is stressful.

An alternative is to hire a live host who will send your attendees a coffee kit. Then you can all nerd out about the flavours in a virtual session together.

Click here for more information about hosted coffee breaks.

3. Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie 5 Minute Game

This is a classic team building activity that can easily be played virtually.

Instructions

  • Each person takes turns sharing three facts about themselves – two truths and one lie.
  • The rest of the group then has to guess which statement is the lie.
  • This game is great for getting to know your team members better and for some good laughs!
  • The two truths can be as elaborate as you like.

Benefits

  • These types of virtual team building activities are great for loosening up tense groups.
  • Often hilariously funny.
  • Everyone gets to participate equally.
  • Minimal effort to set up.

Difficulty

Easy

4. Would You Rather?

Would You Rather 5 Minute Game

This is one of the classic team building games that has existed for longer than ‘virtual’ was even a word!

Instructions

  • Ask the group a “would you rather…” question
  • Let everyone share their answer.
  • For example, you could ask “would you rather take a vacation to the beach or the mountains?” You can make the questions as lighthearted or hilarious as you want!
  • Be sure to watch that everyone gets an opportunity to contribute

Benefits

  • Puts communication skills to the test
  • Great for small groups
  • A great way to get to know new team members

Difficulty

Medium. Your skills as an organizer of this team building activity will be put to the test by those in the team that need encouragement to contribute.

5. Team Props

Team Props 5 Minute Game

The ultimate 5 minute game to make your team catch a case of the warm and fuzzies!

Instructions

  • This game is simple – it’s 5 minutes for team members to recognize each other’s amazing skills, traits and personalities aka giving them ‘props’.
  • Each team member gets the opportunity to highlight why another team member is awesome.
  • They verbalize it in a virtual session, or if you want to make it anonymous you can collect the props beforehand and read them out.
  • OR use a platform like Kudos and spend 5 minutes sending recognition to team members.
    Animated GIF of Kudos tool being used

Benefits

  • Great for team morale.
  • Encourages team bonding.
  • If using Kudos, your employees can also redeem points for rewards.

Difficulty

Medium. You’ll need to spend some time setting up Kudos beforehand.

6. Who is That Baby?

A hilarious way to engage your entire team with minimal effort and zero cost.

Instructions

  • 48 hours in advance of the meeting, ask each team member to send you a photo of them as a baby/small child.
  • The group then discusses which team member is in each photo.
  • To make this game more elaborate you can assign points to anyone that guesses correctly and remove points from anyone that guesses incorrectly. The most points wins.

Benefits

  • Encourages the entire team to contribute.
  • Some people go all out with their baby photos, making this a great team bonding experience.

Difficulty

Medium – Hard. Let’s face it, you’re going to be great at this but your other team members might need some chasing up. This is why we suggest getting started 48 hours before the meeting/event.

7. Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time

About as hilarious as team building activities get. Each virtual team member gets to play in this rapid quick fire game. After a few rounds, you’ll find your team’s morale has shot up.

Instructions

  • You start each round with the phrase “Once upon a time…”
  • The host then chooses who to start the story.
  • Whoever is chosen has to start a story with one sentence only.
  • They then pass the story to someone else.
  • This person continues the story. One sentence only.
  • This is passed to each person in the team until the final person.
  • At this point, the story has to reach a conclusion.

Benefits

  • Great for developing creativity and for team building.
  • Communication skills are put to the test for each of your team members.
  • Great to bring new team members out of their shells.

Difficulty

Easy. Don’t be afraid to be the first person to start the story, to get things going

8. Last Word Stories

Last Word Stories

Similar to “Once Upon a Time”, only you use the last word of the previous sentence.

Instructions

  • As the organizer, you ask an attendee a question. For example, where did you go on vacation this year?
  • Whoever is chosen has to answer the question. For example, “I went to Mexico and the weather was hot”.
  • They then pass to someone else.
  • This person creates a story using the last word of the previous person’s sentence. For example, “Hot stuff, coming through, said the manager of the deli as he carried a bowl of soup”
  • This is passed to each person in the team until the final person.
  • At this point, the story has to reach a conclusion.

Benefits

  • Great for developing listening skills. This is because the players will need to listen to each other’s answers.
  • Rapidly brings new team members out of their shells.

Difficulty

Easy.

9. Believe It or Not

Believe It or Not in Neon

We took inspiration from the UK TV show 8 out of 10 cats for this one! Hey, if a bunch of celebrities can pull this off, surely we can too!

Instructions

  • As the organizer, you will need to come up with a statistic.
  • This can be true or false.
  • Your remote team must discuss among themselves to decide if the statistic is true or false.
  • It’s recommended that you make your stats as believable as possible.
  • OR, you find true stats that are unbelievable!

Benefits

  • Discussion encourages team building.
  • It’s often hilarious.
  • Teams grow their collaboration skills, as they discuss as a group.

Difficulty

Easy! You just need to come up with some stats.

10. Fun Fact Guessing Game

Fun Fact Guessing 5 Minute Game

This is a fun way for new team leaders to get to know team members. But it’s also one of the best quick team building activities to bond remote workers.

Instructions

  • Reach out 48hrs in advance and ask each attendee for one fun fact about themselves.
  • Read the fact out to the group.
  • Then the group discusses who that fact is most likely to apply to.
  • The use of a virtual whiteboard can make this more interactive (you’ll need to run that part).

Benefits

  • As far as simple team building activities go, this is one of the most effective at building trust with each other.
  • It’s a great way to fast track team bonding, as people get to know each other better.
  • Everyone loves to talk about themselves!

Difficulty

Easy.

11. Mystery Amazon Delivery

Mystery Amazon Delivery

This one requires a bit of a budget and even more planning, but the payoff is incredible. Plus who doesn’t love free stuff!

Instructions

  • Assign someone in your team as a gift giver.
  • Decide a budget per person (For example $10)
  • Send an amazon gift card to the gift giver with enough money to buy everyone on your team a gift within that budget.
  • The gift giver must order something from Amazon for each person on your team.
  • In your meeting, everyone must open the mystery box at the same time.

Benefits

  • The gift giver is empowered with an important task.
  • The air of mystery is a fun way for remote teams to feel together.
  • It’s true to the 5 minute team building idea, as it can be done quickly.
  • Team members get to know the gift giver in a more personal way.

Difficulty

Hard. It requires time and a budget.

12. Word Association

Word Association 5 Minute Game

This team building game is simple and quick but it always gets a few laughs.

Instructions

  • One person starts by saying a word.
  • The next person then has to say a word in response that is associated with the first word.
  • For example, if the first person says “summer,” the second person might say “vacation.”
  • This game can be played with as many people as you want and you can make the associations as creative as you want!

Benefits

  • Encourages quick thinking.
  • Keeps attendees on their toes.

Difficulty

Very Easy

How can I measure whether my virtual team-building activity was successful?

When assessing the success of a virtual team-building activity, there are several factors to consider.

One key aspect is the satisfaction of the participants.

Did they enjoy the activity and find it worthwhile?

Additionally, you may want to consider whether team members feel they have strengthened relationships with their colleagues as a result of the activity.

Gauging success can also be done by looking at participation and engagement levels throughout the session.

Finally, asking participants for feedback after the event can be helpful in determining how well the activity was received.

What are virtual activities?

Virtual activities are online activities that can be done remotely, often via video conferencing software such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Skype.

These activities can be used to build relationships, communicate better, and increase morale within a virtual team.

How do I make my 5 minute games fun?

There are a few things you can do to make your virtual work fun:

  • Make sure everyone has a chance to be involved and heard
  • Add some elements of competition
  • Encourage creativity
  • Make it interactive and engaging

5 Minute Games for Virtual Events Conclusion

Virtual meetings and remote work doesn’t have to be boring!

With these fun games, you can easily keep your team engaged and excited during your next meeting.

So try out one (or all!) of these games next time you meet virtually—your team will thank you for it!

Book a Virtual Event With Us

If 5 minute games are too short for you and you’d like to book a longer virtual team building event, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected], or use the below form.

Our events include coffee tasting, lock picking, tea tasting and many other events.

    Addendum

    ¹Event images and animations are free for use in any event that does not involve an entrance fee.