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8 quick & easy brain teaser games for virtual team building

If you’ve been searching for engaging team building ice breakers and brain games ready to challenge your teams and aid communication, the hunt is over. We look at 10 quick virtual team building brain teasers so you can take your pick.

The best brain teaser games for team building & meetings

1. Solitaire Challenge

Time: 15 minutes

Turn the solitary game of Solitaire into a team strategy session. First, set up a card deck or virtual Solitaire game on a shared screen visible to all team members. Together, strategize each move, with everyone suggesting strategies based on the game's current state. This exercise promotes teamwork, critical thinking, and collective decision-making as you aim to complete the game in the fewest moves possible. It's a unique way to foster communication and collaboration, making Solitaire not just a game of individual skill but a shared team-building adventure.

2. Complete a team crossword

Time: 10 minutes

Set a timer, open up a shared screen displaying a crossword, and have your team try to solve it within the time limit. If you don’t want to search for brain teasers for your virtual meetings, this makes a fun icebreaker that brings together many different challenges in one game. Perfect for getting everyone working together.

3. Try a Rebus

Time: 10 minutes

A Rebus is a picture, word, or illustration that represents a name, work, or phrase. For a short brain teaser game, open up a Rebus on a shared screen and have your team decipher its meaning. We’ve found them surprisingly tricky! Find Rebus examples to try here.

Saskia Crawley

Remote worker & content writer

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Free

15-30 min

No

No

Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

01. Yes

share-fun-facts-and-bond-with-a-team-quiz

Free

15-30 min

No

No

Run a guided recognition activity

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

01. Yes

run-a-guided-recognition-activity

Paid

1-2h

Yes

No

Organize a virtual cooking class

Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.

02. No

organize-a-virtual-cooking-class

Paid

15-30 min

No

Yes

Hire a stand-up comedian

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

02. No

hire-a-stand-up-comedian

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If you’ve been searching for engaging team building ice breakers and brain games ready to challenge your teams and aid communication, the hunt is over. We look at 10 quick virtual team building brain teasers so you can take your pick.

The best brain teaser games for team building & meetings

1. Solitaire Challenge

Time: 15 minutes

Turn the solitary game of Solitaire into a team strategy session. First, set up a card deck or virtual Solitaire game on a shared screen visible to all team members. Together, strategize each move, with everyone suggesting strategies based on the game's current state. This exercise promotes teamwork, critical thinking, and collective decision-making as you aim to complete the game in the fewest moves possible. It's a unique way to foster communication and collaboration, making Solitaire not just a game of individual skill but a shared team-building adventure.

2. Complete a team crossword

Time: 10 minutes

Set a timer, open up a shared screen displaying a crossword, and have your team try to solve it within the time limit. If you don’t want to search for brain teasers for your virtual meetings, this makes a fun icebreaker that brings together many different challenges in one game. Perfect for getting everyone working together.

3. Try a Rebus

Time: 10 minutes

A Rebus is a picture, word, or illustration that represents a name, work, or phrase. For a short brain teaser game, open up a Rebus on a shared screen and have your team decipher its meaning. We’ve found them surprisingly tricky! Find Rebus examples to try here.

Get-to-Know Activity

Guess What

Core dimension

Familiarity

Duration

20-30 min

Always wanted to know more about your team? Wish they understood you better? Go on, let’s get started then!

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The best riddle activities for virtual team building (+ answers)

For riddles to bring into any virtual meeting, save these team building brain teasers with answers. 

4. One thing your team has in common

The riddle: What does nobody want, yet nobody wants to lose?

Answer: A job

5.  A perplexing piece of trivia

The riddle: What runs but never walks, murmurs but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, and has a mouth but never eats?
Answer:
A river

6. An injection of sarcasm 

The riddle: Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?

Answer: Mount Everest, it just hadn’t been discovered yet.

7. One man and an elevator

The riddle: A man lives on the 30th floor and hates taking the stairs. Every day he takes the elevator down to the lobby floor to go to work. When he comes home from work, he takes the elevator to the 20th floor and walks the rest of the way up, except on days when it rains. Those days he takes the elevator all the way home. Why does he walk the last ten flights of stairs if he hates it so much?

Answer: The man is too short to reach the button for the 30th floor. He can only reach the 20th-floor button. On days when it rains, he uses his umbrella to hit the button for the 30th floor.

8. No fear in the face of a bear

The riddle: One Saturday morning, a mother was walking hand in hand with her young child when they spotted a grizzly bear in the distance. Rather than running away in fear, the mother picked up her child and ran towards the bear instead. Why was that?

Answer: They were at the zoo!

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Why are brain games so great for team building?

Free and accessible to all, brain teasers are the perfect ice breaker!

Brain teasers and riddles are powerful team building tools, helping to exercise the mind, encourage communication, stimulate creativity, and sharpen critical thinking. 

The benefits of effective team building include: 

  • improved relationships
  • increased trust
  • enhanced communications
  • a wealth of strengthened skills for your teams

When you’re looking to take your team-building to the next level, Gomada knows how important it is to find activities matching your team’s needs. Our platform measures exactly what your employees struggle with before matching you with activities to strengthen your team. 

Interested in more team building activities?

The hunt for team building ideas for work is over. We know how hard it is to come up with team building activities as a manager who’s got one-hundred-and-one other things to do! That’s why you’ll find loads more ideas elsewhere on our site:

Team building is only a small part of the employee engagement puzzle

To learn more about why employee engagement is vital to your organization’s success and discover the tools to help you engage your teams, see these:

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