Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities

Category: Small Group

Icebreakers for small groups. Have a small group of 3-5 people? These games will work especially well.

  • Botticelli

    Botticelli is a strategic question game similar to other guessing games like 20 Questions. One player takes on the role of a famous person whom all players know reasonably well (when this game was conceived Sandro Botticelli, the Italian renaissance painter of The Birth of Venus, must have satisfied this requirements, hence the name of the game). Questions are asked to work out who this celebrity is, but with some quick thinking and general knowledge the choosing player can avoid answering the questions directly. This makes the game a little more tactical and complex than other guessing games, and great for long car journeys. Botticelli can be played with only two players, or as many as you can fit in a minivan on a road trip.

    Set-Up

    • One player, the chooser, privately chooses a famous figure/celebrity to take the role of. Let’s use Heath Ledger as an example. 
    • They announce the first letter of the celebrity’s name. If the person is best known by their second name or by a pseudonym, the first letter of that name can be used instead. In this example, the chooser tells the rest of the group that the person’s name begins with “H.”

    Play

    1. The other players take turns to guess other characteristics of the chosen person. They should first think of a celebrity for whom the answer to their question is “yes”. For instance, a question might be “Are you an actor?” and the asking player might have the name “Halle Berry” in mind.
    2. The chooser has the opportunity to make a counter-guess of sorts, to avoid answering the question. The are trying to guess the name that the question asker had in mind. The player would say “No, I’m not Halle Berry,” in which case the question asker confirms that was the celebrity he was thinking of, and the game continues. The chooser has therefore successfully avoided having to tell the group that his character was an actor. Note that at this point the player does not answer the question directly, but attempts to dodge it by answering a question that wasn’t asked.
    3. Let’s say that the player guessed incorrectly: they said “No, I’m not Harrison Ford.” At this point the question asker replies “I was thinking of Halle Berry.” Now, the question asker can ask a question (either the same question as before, or something different) that the player has to answer directly, with a yes or no. This way players can gain concrete information. 
    4. The player might not be able to suggest an alternative celebrity that fits the question. If the player doesn’t not know any other actors whose name begins with H, they say “I don’t know who you’re thinking of.” Now, as above, question asker can ask a question, and the player must answer it directly, with a yes or no.
    5. When the player has answered a question directly, the next player in order can ask a question that can be answered indirectly by the player, as in step 1, and the game continues.
    6. As more information about the celebrity is confirmed, the list of potential correct answers are narrowed down, but it might also become easier for the chooser to make a counter-guess.
    7. On their turn, a player can directly guess the name of the celebrity. If they are correct, the guessers win. If they are incorrect, their turn ends.

    Trivia Variation

    Another way to play this game is for the players to ask general knowledge questions that have answers that also begin with the first letter of the chosen celebrities name. For example, “What was the last state to join the USA?”. If the player knows the answer —Hawaii — the other players keep asking questions, but if the player is stumped, the question askers can ask a direct question about the celebrity, as above.

  • The Energy Game (Hands of Power)

    The Energy Game is a drama class warm-up exercise. One player starts by making a sound and a motion, such as a raising fist and growling, or spreading out their arms and roaring. In turn, each player amplifies the energy of this action, as it gets louder and louder around the group.

    Play the Energy Game

    • Everyone stands in a circle.
    • The first player makes a sound and a motion. For example, they might put their hand up and say “Umm”, or wrap their arms around themselves and shiver, or hide their head and whimper, or shake their finger and sigh. Everyone should be at ease doing whatever action and sound they feel like. This is an opportunity to be creative, but part of the beauty of the game is that the player who has the difficult job of starting things off only has to do so in a small and inconspicuous way. From here, things will only get louder.
    • The player to the right mimics the sound and the action of the first player, but they must increase the energy level of the action. The sound must be louder, and the gesture must be exaggerated.
    • Continue around the circle, with each player adding more energy. When everyone has had a turn, the starting player must do the action/sound combo once more at the highest intensity yet, to finish off the round.
    • Another player starts a new round with a new sound and gesture.

    Each player will naturally unleash the energy with a little of their own personality. This, combined with the increasingly absurd exaggeration and volume of the actions, can make for a very funny game. To outperform their peers each player will put aside any self-consciousness and be able to simply shout and show-off a little.

    When everyone has had a chance to be both loud and quiet, the group will be both more at ease with, and more receptive to, themselves and each other. This exercise gets endorphins flowing and smiles showing.

    Bonus Exercise: Hands of Power

    When your vocal cords have been stretched, take up this leading and following exercise for a different style of play. Also regularly deployed at the start of a drama lesson in schools, Hands of Power is a game of trust and awareness and is fun for all ages.

    Play

    • Make up pairs of players.
    • One player, the leading player, holds their hand in front of the other player’s face, so that the second player’s vision is obscured. The leading player starts moving around the room.
    • The second player must follow the first so that their face follows the first player’s hand. With a large group and lots of pairs moving around, this can get quite chaotic, and their are both concentration and trust elements to this game. It is the leader’s role to guide the follower safely around the room!
    • The leader might want to try raising their hand low and high or twisting their palm to see how their partner reacts.
    • After a minute or two, have the players switch roles in their pairs, so the leader becomes the follower and vice versa.

    There may be no winners in these exercises, but they’re still great fun.

  • Word Association Game

    Thinking is all about making connections in the brain. Reveal something about how you and your friends think using this simple Word Association game of making connections between words!

    Play Word Association with a small group of two to eight players. It works nicely as a conversation starter, a car game, or as a drinking game.

    How to Play Word Association

    Everyone sits in a circle.  The first player, chosen randomly, says one word out loud.  The next player, in clockwise order, has to quickly say a word that has some connection with the previous word. What counts a connection is down to the parliament of players to determine: if somebody doesn’t like a connection, they can challenge it, and everyone votes on whether or not to allow it. In the event of a tie, the word is allowed.

    A player is eliminated, or takes a forfeit, if any of the below happen:

    1. They take more than three seconds to make a connection.
    2. They repeat a word that has already been said in this game.
    3. They are challenged and loses the vote.

    Eliminated players can still make challenges and cast votes.  The last player standing is the winner.

    For example, one sequences of words might be:

    • Jumper
    • Athlete
    • Javelin
    • Greek
    • God
    • Jupiter
    • Planet
    • Pluto

    At this point one player makes a challenge, on the grounds that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Scientists are outnumbered at the table, and the word is allowed, so play continues clockwise.

    • Hades
    • Hercules
    • Hero
    • Spiderman
    • Marvel
    • Batman

    Another challenge: a player protests by pointing out that Batman is not a Marvel superhero. Pop culture justice is done, and the vote goes against the player. That player is eliminated, and a new round starts with the next player in order.

    Creative connections and creative challenges are encouraged. Don’t take this game too seriously. Just let the ideas flow and see if you don’t find it interesting or funny!

    Psychology of Word Association

    Famous psychologist Carl Jung speculated that how somebody responds in a word association exercise might reveal something about their character.  

    The connections of ideas, feelings, memories and knowledge in somebody’s brain all influence the word associations that occur to them. So, the questions is, why would one person’s first thought when they hear the word “cat” be “companion,” and another person’s as “claw.” Does that indicate a difference in a person’s feelings or experiences with cats? 

    What about how long it takes somebody to respond? One suggestion Jung made was that a fear of embarrassment at revealing their first thought was behind. But then, some words are just harder to make connections with.

    Feel free to interrupt the flow of the game to offer your off-the-cuff psychoanalysis of other players. As long it’s light and playful this game can be the source of many amusing observations. And it might even get you to ask questions about yourself, and how you think about things.

  • Bango Card Game

    Bango brings some of the atmosphere of the Bingo Hall to the family table. It is a very simple card game that can be played with children of almost any age. Play for counters, coins, or candy in a game of pure luck, where the toddlers can have the thrill of claiming victory over their elder siblings and parents.

    This game should be played with between three and ten players using two decks of cards, and more decks of cards can be added for even more players to join in (the more players, the better) until you’ll need a hire a hall and an announcer of your own.

    Set Up

    1. Two packs of cards are used, but are not mixed together (therefore to avoid confusion it is better to choose decks with different colored backs). Shuffle both decks separately.
    2. A dealer is decided. One classic method is to deal out cards one at a time to each player, face-up. The first player to be dealt a jack is the dealer. Retrieve the cards and shuffle that deck.
    3. All players put in an equal stake in whatever currency is being played with, to make a winner’s pool.
    4. The dealer deals out five cards to each player, including himself, from one of the two decks. This deck is now put to one side: it is not used until the next round begins.

    Play

    1. The dealer takes the second deck of cards and draws one, placing it face up in the centre of the table and announcing the name of the card.
      If any player has the duplicate of that card in front of them, they turn in over, face-down.
    2. The dealer continues to draw and announce cards, the other players turning over cards that match announced cards, as above.
    3. The winner is the player that turns all five of the cards in front of them face-down. They proudly shout “Bango!”, and have the glory of claiming the pool of winnings.

    Playing with more than ten people

    There are only 52 cards in a deck; not enough for eleven players to have five cards each. If playing with more than ten players, take a third pack of cards. Shuffle two of the packs together. The resulting deck is the one that will be dealt out to players. The other regular-sized deck is where cards are announced from.

    It is possible for there to be duplicate cards face-up on the table. When this a card is also announced by the dealer, all players that have the matching cards turn them over. As such, it is also possible for two players to win simultaneously. If one player has two identical cards and that card is announced, they turn over both of their cards.

  • Fake Artist

    Can you work out what is going on in another person’s mind just from a single line they have drawn? All players in this game are handed the same piece of secret information on slips of paper: a codeword. All players… except one. One player is given a blank slip of paper, and they are the spy. Everyone trying to work out who the spy is, while the spy tries to stay hidden. One problem: everyone can only communicate by drawing a single line on a shared sheet of paper.

    RULES

    1. An organizer, who is not playing, takes a number of slips of paper equal to the number of players. On all but one of these slips, they write the same word. This word is the codeword. The codeword could be an activity, a place, a person, or any noun. They leave one slip blank.
    2. One slip is dealt to each player. The player with the blank slip is the spy.
    3. The organizer gives the group a clue to the word, usually a category that relates to the word. For example, if the word was “dog”, the clue might be “pets.”
    4. Each player is given a pen or pencil. A piece of paper is placed in the centre of the table.
    5. A starting player is chosen randomly. They draw one line on the piece of paper, which should demonstrate to the other, non-spy players that they know what the word is, which will make it easier
    6. for everyone to identify the spy at the end of the round. However, they don’t want to give away too much information with their drawing, because the spy will have a chance to guess what the word is at the end of the round, and if they do, the spy will win.
    7. Play continues clockwise, each player drawing one line on the paper.
    8. When all players have had two turns, the drawing phase of this round is over.
    9. Everyone votes on who they think is the spy. Everyone raises their fingers and, on the count of three, points at who they think is the spy. When the votes are counted, the spy can reveal themselves.
    10. If more fingers are pointing to a player who is not a spy, the spy has won. If more fingers are pointing to the spy, the spy has one last chance to save themselves. They must guess the codeword. If they guess correctly, or close enough to satisfy the other players, the spy wins.

    Imagine that you have just been given that blank slip of paper. You hope your face gives nothing away as you nonchalantly place the slip of paper facedown again on the table. Behind everyone else’s eyes there are cogs turning as they think about what to draw based on the word they have just seen. You, too, furrow your brow, to look as if you have something to ponder, though you have nothing yet to work from.

    The first player takes their turn. It’s… a triangle? It means nothing to you. Some players aren’t sure either, but others nod, knowingly. You say nothing.

    The next player draws a circle a little way out from the triangle. A few players laugh: “What is that?” they ask.

    You take a chance. “I think I get it.” you say, though you still have no idea.

    “What is it, then?”, somebody says.

    “Well, I can’t give it away to the spy. Just look at it again.” They find this answer acceptable, and look again at the picture.

    The next player draws a line from the triangle. Again, the other players aren’t convinced. Feeling confident, you try to pin down a scapegoat: “Yeah, that could be anything. That’s pretty suspicious.”

    The line-drawer groans. “No, it makes sense. You just don’t get it yet…”

    There is one more player before you have to take your turn. What is this picture supposed to be? A boat? A landmark? A logo? You need to work out what that codeword is — and quickly!

  • Spoons

    Spoons is a game of speed, silliness, and having a sharp eye. It’s engaging, fast paced, and intense!

    The first thing you need to play Spoons is a pack of playing cards. The second thing you need is… spoons. To be precise, you will need one less spoon than the number of players who will play.  In other words, for seven players, you will need six spoons. Plastic spoons are totally fine.

    In the absence of spoons, please don’t attempt this game with knives or forks. Other than being inconsistent with the title of the game, it could actually cause injury. Still, if the scoopers cannot be acquired, play Spoons with sticks, beer mats, pens, or coins.

    The ideal number of players is the number that will fit comfortably in a circle around a pile of spoons — five to eight is ideal. The energetic nature of Spoons means it can be a favorite for any member of the family, except those with brittle knuckles.

    Set-Up:

    • All players sit in a circle.
    • Place one less spoon than the number of players (eg. for five players, place four spoons) in the centre of the circle, so that the pile is an equal distance away from all players.
    • Deal four cards to each player.
    • The dealer should keep the remainder of the deck near them to their left. The dealer will be the only player drawing from the deck.

    Rules:

    1. The dealer draws a card, then passes a card from their hand to the player on their left. When that player receives their new card, they must too choose a card from their hand to pass along to the left. Meanwhile, the dealer is simultaneously picking up a new card from the deck, and will then pass a card along. In this way cards a continuous flow of cards is created: as soon as a player has five cards, they must choose a card to pass to the left. The trick is to choose and pass quickly, so that there is a frantic pace of play.
    2. The player to the left of the dealer does not pass their chosen card to another player, but instead places it in a discard pile.
    3. When a player has a set of four matching cards, they may take a spoon.
    4. After one spoon has been taken, the race is on: all other players are allowed to grab for a spoon, and the player left without a spoon is the loser of this round.

    A player with four of a kind will usually make an immediate grab for a spoon, sparking an outburst of furious grabs and knuckles getting bruised.

    They could also make a more discreet acquisition while other players are paying attention to their cards. The spoon holder can then enjoy the ignorance of the rest of the circle (keeping their matching hand by always passing on all new cards given to him) until another player notices that a spoon is missing. In this way Spoons resembles the popular drinking game of observation and sneakiness, Thumb Master.

    Variation:

    If you have a little space (free of tripping hazards or antique vases — outside would be ideal), take the spoons some distance away from the players. No, instead of a grab, it’s a run and a dive!

  • 1000 Blank White Cards

    1000 Blank White Cards is a unique and hilarious game that involves zaniness and creativity.  Each person is handed ten blank white cards. These are the cards this game will be played with — but first, you have to write something on them to create interesting rules.  In other words, you have to decide the effect of the cards, how points are scored, what people do on their turn, and even how the game is won. Being presented with a blank canvas like this might be intimidating at first, but after you see how it works, everybody will be brimming with crazy new ideas.

    This is a game that takes on the personality of you and your friends — because it is created by you and your friends!  It can be simple, or if play with experienced gamers — the sort that play Hearthstone or Poker — you might end up with more complicated cards that favor combos, strategic thinking, and careful point scoring. Other groups will create cards that demand that players complete silly dares: “Speak like a pirate for one turn, then disc-ARRR-d this card.” or “Whilst this card is in front of you, you must do 10 jumping jacks before you take your turn.”

    Either way, as this is a game in constant flux it will surely be very unpredictable, chaotic, and hysterically silly. It can be played with two players — all the way up to large groups — but works best with four or five.

    Set Up For Your First Game

    You’ll need to have writing utensils and about 1000 blank white cards.  You can get white notecards, for example for about $10 at Amazon.  Hand out 10 blank white index cards and a pen or pencil to each player.  Each player should create cards that can be used to play this game. If this instruction sounds too vague — it’s supposed to be! — read the next section for more information on how the game is played. Then there are some guidelines below to help you get started.  Shuffle all the created cards that were created together, along with an additional 10 blank cards, to form a deck.  Deal out five cards to each player.

    Creating Cards

    A good guideline to follow is to give each card:

    • A title.
    • A picture.
    • An effect.

    Here are some examples of names and effects of card created by real 1000 Blank White Card players who have posted their creations online:

    • Bruce Willis Fails to Destroy the Asteroid and Everyone is Killed – everybody loses 1500 points.
    • Super Chewie – Can’t be discarded, ever! All cards featuring animals, breakfast food and stick figures are worth double points.
    • Winter Is Coming – Play in the center. At the end of each turn, discard the top card in the draw pile.
    • Grave Robber – Every turn, play the top card of the discard pile on yourself. +1000 points.
    • Sally’s Revenge – Play in the center. Any player called Sally draws three cards and puts them in play in the center. -500 points.

    Play

    1. On a player’s turn, they first draw a card from the deck. Then they play a card from their hand.
    2. Typically, a card is either played on oneself, placing it on the table in front of you, or played on another player, placing it on the table in front of them. For instance, you could play a card that said “+100 Points” on yourself, or play a card that said “-100 points” on another player. However, depending on what is written on the card, this might change. Cards could go into a discard pile, be played to the center of the table (which means they have an effect on all players), end up ripped up and thrown away after they are used — or anything else you can think of!
    3. Any player that wants to go first can start by drawing a card from the deck, starting their turn.
    4. If you have a blank card in your hand, you can write on it to turn it into a playable card at any time.
    5. After the first player has finished their turn, play continues clockwise, either until there are no cards left in the deck, or until some card effect has determined the end of the game.

    If you’re not sure what to write on a card, just ask yourself what cards you would like to see in the game. This might be a reaction to another card — for example, if one player makes a card that says “When this card is played, you win the game”, you might make a card that reads “Opposite day: If a player wins the game, play this card out of turn. That player loses the game.”.

    At the end of a game, you can discuss as a group which cards should be kept for play in future games (if you don’t want to keep them all). You might consider that the real aim of 1000 Blank White Cards is not winning, but making cards that get the approval of the group.

  • Sticker Ninja

    What is Sticker Ninja?  Well, it’s a game that requires stealth, agility, deception and the use of a hidden weapon to stick your opponents. Sticker Stalker makes for a nice, casual side-game at walk-around events where all guests are standing up and moving from group to group. Play it with any number of players — even as few as two, for a slightly absurd but intense competition. Stick another couple of tens of players in and that works well, too.

    Set-Up

    • You will need to purchase a set of sticker sheets — ten stickers per sheet is a quantity that works well.
    • As guests enter the event, give them each a sheet of stickers.  For “Pro” Sticker Ninja, give each player a different color or design of sticker, so you can verify a win (useful if there is a prize at stake). Regardless, some variety in the sticker stock will make this a more colorful game. Extra laughs if the stickers are absurd or childish; extra difficulty if they are large.  Explain the rules to everyone present before fidgety guests start sticking stickers on your TV set and pets.

    Rules

    Players must stick their stickers on other guests at the party.   Each of one player’s sticker must go onto a different guest, though oblivious guests might find themselves with a back full of stickers from several other players. If a player is “caught in the act”, by the guest they are targeting, that guest can remove the sticker and give it back to the player. However, if a guest doesn’t notice a sticker being placed on them immediately, they have to leave it — no removing stickers until the end of the night!

    The first player to get all of their stickers stuck to other guests can announce they they have won. That’s it! As mentioned, if you want to check that a winner hasn’t disposed of their stickers, you can ask that player to call all of their supposed victims to the centre of the party to be examined and shamed!

    You will never have had as many friendly “slaps-on-the-back” as you will at the start of this party, but if targets aren’t fooled by this tactic players will find more creative ways to prevail. A sticker on the back of the shoe, where the guest won’t feel the pressure of your fingers, is one possibility.

    If you managed to get a sticker onto the front of somebody’s belt buckle without them noticing, well, I think you should give yourself a pat on the back — though, if you don’t, I’m sure everyone else will be happy to “pat your back” for you!

  • Sequence

    This is a team-building game of communication and pictures. Every member of the group will need to describe the picture they are given, and then as a group they must put the pictures in the correct order.

    The pictures for this game could come from children’s books, or comic books, and you can pick the source to fit the group. For groups of teenagers and young adults, a game involving a Batman or Spider Man story is bound to get an enthusiastic response. Children’s books, like The Tiger Who Came to Tea or Where The Wild Things Are, work well for nostalgic adults, and those who have children of their own.

    In everyday life we rarely describe pictures — we just show them! This game will warm up thinking muscles as well as talking muscles, which makes it an ideal start to a day of team-building activities, or as an a icebreaker to introduce new work colleagues.

    Set Up:

    • As the game organizer, who will not be playing, find a children’s book or comic book with at least as many pages as the number of players.
    • Make copies of each page.
    • Identify each of the pages with a unique number or letter, but not in their original order. If you had ten pages, you could first shuffle the pages, and then go through them numbering them 1 to 10.

    Rules:

    • Players are not allowed to read the text on the pages. They must describe what is happening in their own words. The same rule applies to speech/speech bubbles on the page. They cannot read this speech directly, but can only vaguely describe what is being said.
    • Players cannot show their page to any other player until the very end of the game, when the order has been decided.
    • When deciding on an order, pages should be placed facedown on the table.
    • The goal of the game is to have all the pages placed facedown in the correct order.

    Play:

    1. Randomly hand out the pages to all the players, so that everyone has at least one page. If there are more pages than people they should be distributed as evenly as possible.  The goal of the game is to have all the pages placed facedown in the correct order.
    2. When an order has been agreed upon by all players, the players turn all pages face-up and check that the story is in the right order. If there is any doubt, they can check with the organizer.

    Some books will be harder than others. Children’s book with a simple story and only a few images per page will be easier than a comic book with a page full of images and text, and a more complex story that might jump from scene to scene. The harder books will really get people talking, describing, discussing, and debating, and it will be a more rewarding when if the succeed, and more

    If you have a lot of players, you can turn this into a competitive team game by making two copies of the story pages, splitting the group into two teams, and timing them

    Nightmare variant:

    Players cannot describe their images in words, but must re-enact the scene on their page in mime.

    Okay, I don’t think anyone has ever really tried this, but does sound funny!

     

  • Hot Potato Camera

    Hot Potato Camera is like Russian roulette with selfies.  Not as fatal as the original game — but still pretty embarrassing — the loser will end up getting a naturally terrible photo that will have everyone laughing.

    This game will work with a regular camera as well. You just need to know how to use the timer function. You can play with two players up to many, but have a second camera sent around the circle if playing with more than ten.

    Set Up:

    • Grab a smartphone and open the camera app, or grab a dedicated camera.
    • All players sit in a circle, or around a table. They just need to be sat close enough together to pass the camera to their neighbor quickly.

    Rules:

    1. The player who starts with the camera sets the timer to whatever delay they want, whether a single second to half a minute. A longer timer will build more tension, but don’t set it so long that other players get bored.
    2. The player points the camera at themselves, smiles, then immediately passes the camera to the player on their left. The trick is to be quick about it. You don’t want to let any player look at the camera for more than a second, or they might accidentally get a good photo! If anyone tries it, give them a firm shove on the shoulder, and hope you hear a “click”.
    3. The player now with the camera repeats the previous step.
    4. Eventually, and without warning, the camera will go off! This will very rarely happen at an opportune moment, so you can enjoy many photos with your friends with half open mouths, awkward and anxious expressions, and unflatteringly blurred features.

    The magic of this game is that it makes use of a smartphone as a tool for having fun and interacting in-person, rather than through a phone network. This makes it equally appealing for smartphone-frustrated parents as it is for internet addicted teenagers. Play it with friends at a party, or with family in a lazy evening, and it is bound to be a laugh either way, and by the end you will have a whole album of horrible photos that everyone will be begging you not to put online.