Zoom Bingo Bingo is one of the more popular video conference games at the moment. That's because the game transitions well to the virtual setting and is conducive to both large and small groups. Remote Work Bingo is a fun game you can play with remote workers to increase engagement. It has also become the go-to choice for friends and family looking to catch up with each other. That post includes more ideas for online team building and free virtual games for remote teams. This tutorial explains how to host a free virtual bingo game with our web application. Both online, virtual bingo.
Are you hopping on the virtual happy hour bandwagon with your besties at work, long-distance friends from college, or your crush? Finally! Your laptop's camera and microphone have been waiting for this fun moment, and preparing for the games, drinks, and laughs to come. Hopefully, you have a glass of wine or conversation topics ready for when you dial in at 5 p.m. Of course, you can always try virtual happy hour icebreakers, too, and bring everyone closer together.
That is the goal of icebreaker activities, after all. They're meant to get rid of any awkward silences that may come up when you and your friends are still trying to figure out the features in Zoom, or your coworkers are waiting for everyone to sign on. They're made for starting lively debates over which character from Friends is the best, or what condiment could be ditched at the next barbecue. (Ketchup? No, thanks.)
Most notably, if you're hanging out with the people on the other side of the screen for the first time — or even just the first time in a while — an icebreaker activity gives you a chance to get to know them fast. The 14 icebreakers below let you catch up and feel closer to your coworkers, besties, and SO while you hang out ~virtually~.
1. Two Truths And One Lie
The first of these icebreaker activities is a classic: 'Two Truths and One Lie.' In this activity, everybody takes a turn coming up with two truths and one lie about themselves. The group then tries to figure out which statement is the lie, and reveals tons of incredible, or shocking, facts about its members.
2. Picnic Basket
If you were ever a camp counselor or went to summer camp as a kid, you may be familiar with 'Picnic Basket.' This game is an awesome way to get to know everybody's names in your group, and some of their favorite foods. To play with your happy hour crew, take turns saying what item you'd bring to a picnic, with the first letter of the food being the same as your name. Got it? Good.
3. Life-Changing Story Time
Are you and your virtual happy hour crew pretty close already? Sweet! Then give 'Life-Changing Story Time' a whirl. Just tell a story about a time in your life that was super impactful, or led you to the person you are today. Maybe you'll talk about when you studied abroad in college or took a risk. The key is to get deep or creative with this one.
4. Show And Tell
Playing 'Show and Tell' may feel a little old-school, but it'll be a great way to break the ice during your next virtual happy hour. Especially since you're checking in from your individual homes, this activity could really get interesting and funny. Simply send out a big email to everyone who's participating and tell them to prepare an item before signing on. Then, see where 'Show and Tell' takes you.
5. Scavenger Hunt
In 'Scavenger Hunt,' start by picking an item everyone has to find in their house, like a TV remote or an apple. Then, count down and let everyone run to go find it. The first one back to the screen wins that round.
6. Roll The Dice
'Roll the Dice' is an easy icebreaker to set up and play. Assign a question to each of the numbers on a dice. The questions may be, 'If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?' or, 'If you could only eat one food forever, what would it be?' Then, roll the dice and see what everyone says.
7. Think Fast
At the end of the work day, you may not want to use your brain much more. But if your crew is up to the task, then play 'Think Fast.' During this icebreaker activity, everyone has one minute to write down as many things as they can in a chosen category. Whoever has the most when the minute's up wins.
8. Get To Know You Bingo
Everybody likes a good round of bingo, right? If so, then make your entire virtual happy hour session into a giant bingo game, called 'Get To Know You Bingo.' Send a printable board out to your happy hour members with squares including, 'someone who has never been on a plane,' 'someone who lives in NYC,' and 'someone who hates coffee.' Then, as you're talking, see if you all can check off enough to win.
9. Virtual Four Corners
Virtual Office Bingo
If playing 'Four Corners' in gym class was your jam, then you'll love the virtual version of this game. It requires one person on your video chat to close their eyes and count to 10, while every other person holds up a number one through four. The person counting then calls out one, two, three, or four, and the people who held up that number are out.
10. Movie Ticket
'Movie Ticket' will test your crew's knowledge of all things pop culture and film. To play, you have to tell the plot of a movie as if you were one of the characters in it. You have to describe the time you skipped school and joined a parade, with great detail. When you're done, everybody has to guess what movie you're describing — that they 'bought a ticket' to.
11. This Or That
Keep it simple at your virtual happy hour with 'This or That.' Take turns with your people, giving everyone the option to choose this snack or that snack, this trip or that trip. It'll be rewarding to see how other people prioritize things or how their answers differ from yours.
12. Pitch A Product
Have you ever watched Impractical Jokers? Take a tip from the guys and play 'Pitch A Product.' During this game, two people have to pitch a completely random product they've come up with, and everyone else has to decide which one they'd like to 'fund.' It gets competitive and hilarious, so be prepared.
13. Inside Jokers
Set the tone of your virtual happy hour with 'Inside Jokers.' In this activity, everyone sends a short description of a inside joke to one person in your crew ahead of time. Then, everybody logs in, and that person reads out the inside jokes. Everybody has to guess who sent that joke in. The result is a lot of laughing and good vibes for happy hour.
14. I Spy
Last but not least, play 'I Spy' with your crew to get everybody in the right #mood. Ask someone to 'spy' something and give everyone else clues. They could pick a brightly-colored pillow or cat that's sleeping in behind your coworker and her wine. If you find the item, you win and break the ice.
In this chapter, we're going to explain the rules to Ice Breaker Bingo. Keep in mind that there are multiple versions out there, but that this one is our favorite.
As an added bonus, we'll also include some downloadable cards that you can print off and use with your group of people.
A fun alternative to Ice Breaker Bingo is a game we built called QuizBreaker.
Thousands of teams around the world play QuizBreaker as a fun way to learn more about each other and bring their teams closer together.
People at organisations such NYTimes, Google & Coca Cola have reported how it's a really easy to run a team building activity.
Click here to learn more about QuizBreaker and try if for free.
If your team is working remotely at the moment then you should check out our guide on virtual team building activities and games for remote teams. In there you'll find 100 ideas with instructions that you can try with your newly remote team.
Chapters
Why We Love It
We can all admit, we love a game of bingo - even if it is for old people.
It’s fun, engaging and can get competitive; and that’s exactly why it's one of our favourite ice breaker games.
Furthermore, we adore people bingo (also known as the ‘autograph game’ or ‘did you know?’) because it is fun, easy to organise and even easier to teach.
Simply put, the objective of the game is for employee’s to wander around the room and get signatures of people who have the facts listed on the bingo sheet - but we’ll explain it in more detail in a second.
It might sound almost too simple, but being simple leaves nothing to be over complicated and allows employees to interact with each other without feeling any pressure. It's a great way to run an easy ice breaker game for the first day of your new team.
How To Set Up Ice Breaker Bingo
We got you covered and written step by step directions for you to follow for your next bingo game!
Step 1: Create bingo questions
If you know your employees reasonably well, make a list of 25 interesting things that you know describes different aspects of them.
For example “lived in Sweden”, “Can speak two or more languages”, “plays the guitar” or “has a red porsche” (alright for some, hey!).
If you don’t know your employees at all, make a list of 25 general ice breaker questions. For instance, “has brown hair” or “works for the HR team”.
You can make your questions easy or difficult, depending on how long you want the game to last.
Step 2: Make a people bingo card
It is very easy to make your own people bingo cards.
You can either use a regular printer, or there are many places online where you can create customised people human bingo cards; which you can find further down the post.
How To Play Ice Breaker Bingo
We recommend playing this team building activity with no more than 30 people. If in larger groups larger, divide your employees into small teams of equal sizes.
Step 1
Give each participant a bingo card, either homemade or found on the internet, and a pen
Step 2
Explain that the group has 30 minutes to mingle with each other. During this time, they should be introducing themselves to one and other and finding people who match the traits on the bingo card.
Step 3
Once they have found the person with the correct trait, they must put the person’s name in the corresponding box, or have the person sign the appropriate square
Step 4
Just like a normal game of bingo, the clock continues to tick until the first person to fill five boxes across or down yells “Bingo”.
If you want the game to go on for a little longer, you could have multiple opportunities to win. For example, the first person to get a full horizontal line of words, the first to get a vertical line and then the first to get a full house.
To involve employees even more in the game, perhaps ask them at the beginning what they think a completed game should be.
Step 5
To make the game more exciting and motivating, have a prize (or prizes, if playing the longer game) ready to give the winners.
In our opinion, a bottle of nice wine will do but you could always offer gift vouchers.
How To Reflect
One way to reflect at the end is to ask participants to introduce themselves and share an interesting trait they learned about someone else.
You can also get your employees or school students to describe how they feel now that they know their peers a little bit better.
Handy Links
For a sample printable bingo card, you can download and modify this People-Bingo printable template.
You don't even need to put in an email address to download it, and their privacy policy says you can edit it as much as you like.
Alternatively, you can take QuizBreaker for a spin which is arguably even more fun than ice breaker bingo!
Frequently Asked Questions
- How to host a bingo event?
It is super easy, all you need to do is invite your friends or colleagues to play and be sure to have your bingo board and pen ready.
- What are some fun icebreaker questions?
We got you covered! Check-out our favorite icebreaker questions.
- What is the history of the game Bingo?
Bingo is traced back to 1530 and started off as an Italian lottery called 'Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia' and still played every Saturday in Italy. In the United States Bingo was called 'beano'.
- Can you play bingo virtually?
Absolutley! You will need to start a video chat using your preffered video confercing platform. Make sure everyone in you team has a bingo card and a pen. From there it is just like playing a normal bingo game in person.
Conclusion
So there you have it!
Ice breaker bingo is a great option for a birthday party game or as part of some bridal shower games. We've even heard from some teachers who use it in special education & english language arts to produce interesting facts during free space in the day.
That's our tutorial on how to play the ice breaker bingo game with your group.
Looking for more activity ideas?
Bingo Questions For Coworkers
Check out our list of 32 awesome icebreaker games or 49 fun team building activities.