Office party games have a bad reputation, and most of it is earned. The problem is rarely the game. It is that the game runs long, or it involves touching a colleague, or it puts one person on the spot in front of the department, or it demands a performance from people who came for the food. Any game with one of those four problems will be remembered, and not warmly.
Every game below avoids all four. They are short, they are easy to watch rather than join, nobody is singled out, and everyone can sit one out without it being noticed. They are grouped by the situation you are actually in: a holiday party, a room of a hundred, a night with no prep time, or a team on a video call.
Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.
The Four Ways Office Games Fail
Before the list, the filter. Run any game idea through these and the bad ones fall out.
- It runs long. Fifteen minutes is the ceiling. Anything that needs rounds, or a bracket, or "let's just finish this one" has already lost the room.
- It involves physical contact. Anything with hands on colleagues, blindfolds, or sitting on laps belongs at a different kind of party.
- It singles someone out. One person performing for a silent room. Karaoke without volunteers, "tell us about yourself", anything where you can lose alone.
- It requires a performance. Acting, singing, dancing on demand. Fine as an option. Never as the game.
Every game here passes. Some are famous, some are not, and all of them have been run in real offices.
No-Prep Games for Any Office Party
Zero equipment, or nothing you do not already have.
1. Guess the Baby Photo
Collect a baby photo from everyone in advance, number them, print a grid or put it on the screen. Everyone guesses who is who. Quietly the best office game there is, because it works on the people who hate games: nobody performs, nobody loses alone, and the reveal is genuinely funny.
2. Two Truths and a Lie
Constrained to something: this year, this job, this city. The constraint keeps it from getting too personal and gives people an easy out. Run it in groups of six rather than the whole room.
3. Company Trivia
Half general trivia, half questions about the company's own year: screenshots from the all-hands, the most-used emoji in the channel, whose calendar had the most meetings. Teams of four, answers on paper or phones, one round of fifteen questions. The company half is the point; nobody remembers the general half.
4. Emoji Pictionary
Emoji strings that spell out film titles, songs, or departments, projected on a screen. Everyone shouts. No prep beyond typing ten of them into a slide.
5. The Desk Decoration Contest
Runs for the week before the party instead of taking party time. Judged at the party with a category for Most Effort and one for Least Effort Most Impact. It decorates the office for free and the people who care get their moment.
6. Human Bingo
A grid of traits: has run a marathon, speaks three languages, has met a celebrity, has never seen Star Wars. People walk around finding a colleague for each square. The only mingling game that works, because the grid gives shy people a script.
7. Guess the Manager
Leadership submits an answer to a question in advance (best concert, worst job, first car). Teams guess which manager said which. Works only where leadership can take a joke; check first.
8. The Photo Scavenger Hunt
A printed list of shots to capture during the party: someone mid-laugh, the best outfit, a group of five, the CEO holding a plate. Everyone plays by shooting on their phone, which makes it the one game that doubles as getting the party photographed, something most parties fail at entirely. Have the photos land in one shared album rather than forty camera rolls or the game has no ending; a party disposable camera setup, with a limited roll per guest, does exactly that.
Holiday and Christmas Party Games for Work
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.
The office Christmas party is the one night a year most companies attempt a game at all, so these are the ones that have been tested the hardest. Several also appear in our Christmas party themes guide as full themes.
9. Ugly Sweater Awards, With Categories
The classic, but with a ceremony: Most Technically Impressive, Best DIY, Most Subtle, Least Effort Most Impact, People's Champion. Printed certificates and a charity-shop trophy. The mistake offices make is "wear an ugly sweater" with no payoff; the awards are the payoff.
10. White Elephant, With a Steal Counter
Everyone brings a wrapped gift under a cap, numbers are drawn, gifts are opened or stolen in turn. The upgrade that makes it a spectator sport is a steal counter projected on the wall, plus one seeded gift that is obviously excellent. We wrote up the complete rules and variations, including the dice version for big rooms.
11. Christmas Song Intro Quiz
Two seconds of each intro, teams of four, twenty songs. Fifteen minutes start to finish, and the arguments about whether that was Mariah or Wham are the entertainment.
12. Guess the Gift
Wrapped mystery objects, guessed by shape, weight and sound. Points for accuracy. Reveals at the end.
13. Holiday Emoji Pictionary
The emoji game with carols and Christmas films. Zero prep, zero equipment beyond a screen.
14. Gingerbread Build-Off
Teams get identical kits and forty-five minutes. Categories for Structural Integrity, Best Concept, and Most Catastrophic Collapse. Genuinely funny to watch and the results decorate the office for a fortnight. Order kits early; they sell out.
15. The Wrap Battle
Teams wrap an awkward object, a bicycle pump, a pineapple, a mop, against the clock. Judged on presentation. Three minutes, loud, over quickly.
16. Secret Santa Reveal Round
If the office runs Secret Santa, open the gifts one at a time at the party and have the room guess the giver before the reveal. It turns a five-minute handout into a twenty-minute event.
17. Holiday Party Bingo
Cards of things that will inevitably happen: someone spills a drink, someone talks about work, the playlist plays Last Christmas, someone leaves before the speeches. First full card wins.
Games for a Large Office
Past thirty people, anything played one person at a time dies. These are played by everyone at once.
18. Projector Trivia With Phone Answers
Questions on the screen, answers submitted from phones, a live leaderboard. Any of the free quiz platforms do this. Scales to three hundred people without changing anything.
19. Company Bingo
Human bingo's big-room cousin. Squares are things about the company rather than people, and they are ticked off from the stage: a department is named, a product is mentioned, the founder tells the story about the first office.
20. The Balloon Countdown
Twelve balloons, one popped at intervals through the night, each with a task inside for the whole room: a toast, a group photo, everyone swap seats, the loudest table sings. Gives the evening a rhythm without anyone running a game.
21. Table vs Table
Each table is a team for the night. Small challenges are announced between courses, a paper-plane distance contest, the tallest structure from the centrepiece, and points accumulate on a board. Winner announced with the dessert.
Virtual and Hybrid Games
For remote teams, and for the half of the company dialling into the party from another office.
22. Baby Photos on Slides
The same game, through a shared screen. Works better remotely than almost anything else.
23. Home Background Bingo
A grid of things that might appear behind someone on the call: a plant, a pet, a bookshelf, a child, an unmade bed. Ticked off as they are spotted.
24. The Desk Show-and-Tell
Two minutes each, the worst thing on your desk. Voluntary, and the volunteers are always the right people.
25. The House Scavenger Hunt
The host names an object, everyone runs to fetch one from their own house, first back on camera wins the round. Something red, a hat, a book you have not read, a mug with writing on it. Ten rounds, twelve minutes.
How to Run Them
Photo by Anastazja Mazur on Pexels.
Three games, maximum. One straight after food to break the room up, one about an hour later when energy dips, one at the end if the room still wants it. Six games is a school sports day and people came to eat and talk.
One MC for the night. Someone who calls the games, keeps time and rules on disputes. Rotating the job does not work and neither does "whoever organised it".
Announce the time limit before you start. "This is fifteen minutes" gives people permission to commit, and gives the MC permission to stop.
Make opting out invisible. Team games and whole-room games do this automatically. Anything that goes around a circle does not.
Have prizes that are worth having. One genuinely good prize changes the energy of every game. A stack of junk prizes changes nothing.
Capture the reactions. The face of someone whose gift has just been stolen, or who has just seen their own baby photo on a screen, lasts a second and is the best photo of the night. It is worth having every phone in the room able to shoot into one album for exactly that moment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some fun games to play at an office party?
The reliable ones are Guess the Baby Photo, a company-edition trivia round, Two Truths and a Lie, the Wrap Battle relay, emoji Pictionary on a projector, a desk decoration contest run the week before, and a photo scavenger hunt during the party. All are short, watchable, and nobody is forced to perform.
What are the best holiday party games for work?
Ugly Sweater voting with real categories, White Elephant with a projected steal counter, a Christmas song intro quiz, Guess the Gift by shape and weight, holiday emoji Pictionary, and a gingerbread build-off judged for structural integrity. Keep to three across the night.
What games work for a large office party?
Games where everyone plays at once rather than in turns: bingo built from company in-jokes, a trivia round on a projector with phone answers, a photo scavenger hunt, human bingo, and the balloon-pop countdown. Anything played one person at a time dies past thirty people.
What are good virtual holiday party games?
Ones that survive a video call: a trivia quiz through a shared screen, Guess the Baby Photo with photos on slides, home-background bingo, a two-minute show-and-tell of the worst thing on your desk, and a scavenger hunt where people fetch objects from their own house against a timer.
How many games should an office party have?
Three at most. One right after food to break the room up, one about an hour later when energy dips, and one at the end if the room still wants it. Six games is a school sports day, and people came to eat and talk.
Related reading:
- 25 Christmas Party Themes for Work: Ideas, Games and What to Skip
- White Elephant Rules: How to Play, Every Variation
- New Year's Eve Party Ideas: Themes, Games and the Midnight Plan
- 15 Photo Booth Alternatives Your Guests Will Actually Use
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