{"id":247483,"date":"2022-04-08T14:42:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T14:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teambuildinghub.com\/?page_id=247483"},"modified":"2022-10-28T17:34:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T17:34:11","slug":"free","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/teambuildinghub.com\/team-building\/virtual\/activities-games\/free\/","title":{"rendered":"Online Team Building Games: 16 Free Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]\n

Virtual teams need opportunities for team building if they want to stay engaged in their work and grow in their skills. Online team building games<\/a> are productive and fun solutions to keeping your employees happy at work and invested in your company. Keep reading to get the know-how on free and fun online team building games!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why start a virtual team meeting with an activity or game?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do all virtual team building games cost money?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you get virtual team building games for free?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the best online team building games for free?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why start a virtual team meeting with an activity or game?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Activities and games are great ways to grab your team\u2019s attention at the beginning of a virtual meeting. They can also give you an opportunity to do some team building with your online team<\/a> or make a meeting fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working outside of the traditional office space can present some challenges to a team working together. For starters, they have to learn how to effectively communicate, how to trust each other, and how to stay engaged in their work. Something like a quick team building activity<\/a> at the start of a meeting can help boost employee engagement and keep your team members productive throughout the workweek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can even consider hosting a virtual happy hour<\/a> near the end of the workday. These moments give your team a chance to relax together and chat about something other than work. The benefit you see on a daily basis is a team that\u2019s able to trust each other more and that has high relational equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do all virtual team building games cost money?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not all virtual team building games<\/a> cost money, which is great news for teams who are adjusting to working remotely or facilitating team building online. Team building is definitely worth the investment. However, free options help iron out any kinks with the team before you start adding virtual activities into the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free online team building games give you the testing opportunity to see what video platform might work best for your team, such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Skype. You can also pique your employees\u2019 interest with these free games before going into paid games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team building<\/a> truly is a valuable investment for both your employees and your company, especially if you work with an online team. By surveying business professionals<\/a>, we found out that 63% of leaders felt team communication improved after participating in team building activities, and 61% of leaders felt team morale improved. These activities are worth your time to explore when thinking about how you can develop your employees, better your team, and boost your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How do you get virtual team building games for free?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of free online team building games that you can play and plenty of sites that list them out (including our list below<\/a> and our list of unique virtual activities<\/a>!). Some games are hosted on third-party sites, or you can play a game through your virtual meeting platform. Depending on what you want to get out of team building, you can select a game that centers on communication, teamwork, fun, or creativity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to playing these games is planning before you play. Someone who\u2019s organizing a virtual team building<\/a> game has to take a few things into account\u2014schedules, length of meetings, virtual platforms, and how to keep engagement. Don\u2019t let those stop you from putting a virtual team building game on the calendar! They\u2019re just factors to be aware of. Your team will appreciate the effort you put into their employee and team development, and your company will benefit from more engaged employees. Once your team has gone through some of these free online team building games, you can try something really exciting with them like a virtual escape room<\/a>, which is perfect for problem-solving, communication, and creativity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out our list below<\/a> of some of the best online team building games you can play for free and tips on how to make your activity fun and successful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the best online team building games for free?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve gathered 16 of the best online team building games, from the easiest ones to organize to the ones that will take you the most time to explain and jump into. There is a myriad of games hosted on third-party platforms, but there are also online team building games where you just need to gather your team on a video call, lay out the rules, and get playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free Online Team Building Games Hosted on Third-Party Platforms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you opt for an online game that is hosted on a third-party platform (even something that can be played on a mobile phone while teammates are chatting live on Zoom), you save some time and effort in planning and gathering material. Third-party platforms might require your team members to create accounts to play, but they\u2019re really engaging with sounds, graphics, and videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Skribbl<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Skribbl<\/a> is basically an online version of Pictionary, but the challenge comes in having to draw each picture using your cursor! Each team member will have a chance to draw a generated word while everyone else tries to guess what the word is. Team members rack up points with each correct guess in the allotted time, and the members with the highest score win!

We suggest creating a private game room for your team. There\u2019s a lot of customization that you can use in these rooms: choose how long your team has to guess each picture, how many rounds you will play, and even input your own words or phrases that your team will have to draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Words with Friends<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re unfamiliar with Words with Friends<\/a>, you might recognize it when you see the virtual game board. Each player is given seven letter tiles that they must use to create (real) words on the board, and they must connect their new word to an existing letter on the board. This virtual, interactive kind of Scrabble allows your team to stretch their creativity as they look for solutions.

Each player signs up with their email address and a username, and Words with Friends has the option to search for people that you want to play. Have everyone create a username ahead of time and have them written down in a Google doc or somewhere everyone else can see so they can search for each other. If you want to make it interesting, create a tournament-style order of play!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Scattergories<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Scattergories is a fairly easy game to both explain and play, and it\u2019s so much fun, your team might not want to stop! Pick as many categories as you\u2019d like (or you can even create your own) and the Scattergories<\/a> site will randomly pick a letter for you. Fill in the blank with an answer that starts with that letter in the time frame given, and play as many rounds as you\u2019d like. At the end of the rounds, the site automatically shows you who the winner is, so no counting necessary! This is a great individual game to build up competition and fun, but you can also create smaller teams so that people can work together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. Playing Cards<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Playing Cards<\/a> has nearly 60 free games for you to choose from for your online team building activity, including well-known games such as chess, rummy, and go fish that require little to no explanation for most people. All you have to do is jump on the site, create a room code to share with your team, and gather everyone on a video call to play (there\u2019s even a handy Overview page<\/a> that gives you the basics of how to play). Most of their games are multiplayer, but this site is full of great options for smaller teams where your teammates can face off in a little friendly head-to-head competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Games on Slack<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If your team uses Slack for communication during the workday, you should know about the free games and apps that are available to you right on the platform. There\u2019s a variety of apps that you can explore and download that will connect your team, even through appreciation notes and gifs. Some online team building games that you want to search for on Slack in their Social & Fun category<\/a> include<\/p>\n\n\n\n