Team building games for work — in the office or on a call, on your phones

By Martin Nymann (AddonNordic ApS), who made Deadline Day with his son Viktor. Updated 16 October 2026.

On this page: What makes it work · How to run it · Which game · Bigger groups · What it costs · Questions

What makes a quick team building game work?

Everyone plays at once, the rules fit in one sentence, and the result is on the screen for the whole team to see. That is why a live auction works so well: every colleague bids from their own phone, nobody waits for a turn, and the quiet person at the back can win the best player just as easily as the loudest one.

Look for these five things before you pick a game for work:

• One link for everyone. No app to install on work phones and no accounts to create.
• Rules you can explain in a minute. The meeting is short; the game should be too.
• Something to decide, not just answer. Bidding, bluffing and voting get people talking.
• A result nobody can argue with. The game keeps the score, so nobody has to be the referee.
• Works in the office and on a call. Hybrid teams should not need two different games.

How do you run it in the office or on a remote call?

It takes about a minute to set up and five to ten minutes to play:

1. Start a game. Open Deadline Day, tap "Play with friends" and pick Quick draft in any sport.
2. Send one link. Post it in the team chat, or read out the 4-letter room code.
3. Everyone joins on their own phone. Names pop up as colleagues join, and computer managers can fill empty seats.
4. Bid. Players come up one at a time, every team has 100M of play money, and every bid restarts the clock.
5. Watch the match. The strongest line-up usually wins, and the whole team sees who overpaid.

In the office: open deadlineday.app/tv on the meeting-room screen, and the room follows every bid. See the TV party game setup. Remote or hybrid: keep the video call open and let one person share the game screen while everyone bids from their own phone. More ideas in games to play on a video call.

Which game fits your team?

Pick by what the team needs in the next ten minutes. Every game below starts from the same room, so you can switch without sending a new link.

The sports games come in nine sports: football, basketball, handball, ice hockey, racing, darts, rugby, esports and cricket. If one colleague knows everything about football, play basketball or cricket next time and watch the ranking change.

What about a whole department or an office party?

For a small team, everyone is their own manager: up to 20 people in one room. For a bigger crowd, switch to team play. Everyone scans one QR code on the big screen, the game puts each phone on one of up to 8 teams and keeps them even, and each team bids together. Let each department be its own team, or let the game mix people who never talk.

Team play is free for up to 4 teams. For a party or an all-hands, the Event Pass opens up to 8 teams with hundreds of phones on each, for 72 hours. Details on the office party page.

What does it cost?

Whole office? The Event Pass is €99 once, for the whole party.

Questions

This text was generated with artificial intelligence (Geoa Content Studio) and edited for Deadline Day. EU AI Act, art. 50.