Team Building Exercises
That Rock8

There's nothing better than a fun, well-thought out
game to learn about your colleagues and build some
camaraderie. Unfortunately the odds are high that your
team building exercise is cheesy.
Because we want you to steer clear of boring &
predictable games, we're listing 8 of our favorites:
Game On!

Human Knot
Skills: Teamwork &
communication
Gear: None
Rules: Create a group with an
even number of people and
stand in a circle facing each
other, shoulder to shoulder. Put
your right hand out and grab
the hand of someone across
from you. Put your left hand out
and grab a hand from someone
else across from you. Within a
certain time limit, your team
members needs to untangle
themselves without anyone
letting go.
1

Zombie Escape
Skills: Creative problem solving &
collaboration
Gear: 1 rope, 1 key, and 5-10 puzzles
or clues, depending on how much
time you want to spend on the game
Rules: Team is "locked" into a
conference room. One volunteer
member, the zombie, is tied by a rope
in the corner of the room with 1 foot
of leeway. Once the game starts, the
rope is let out another foot every five
minutes, bringing the living team
members within reach. Team must
solve a series of puzzles to find the
hidden key that will "unlock" the door
and allow them to escape before the
zombie eats them all.
2

Salt & Pepper
Skills: Communication
Gear: Tape, a pen & a small piece
of paper for each person, and a
list of well-known pairs (e.g.
peanut butter and jelly, Mario and
Luigi, salt and pepper).
Rules: Write each of the pairs on
the sheets of paper (Mario on one,
Luigi on another). Tape one paper
to each person’s back, then have
everyone guess the word on their
own back. Only yes or no
questions allowed. Once you know
your word, find your other half.
When you find each other, sit and
find three things you both have in
common while game continues.
3

Plane Flying
Skills: Collaboration
Gear: A long hallway, tape to
mark launch line, measuring
stick, card stock
Rules: Each team gets a
piece of card stock to
construct one paper plane.
Show them a variety of
airplane designs and let
them work together to
construct one. The team
whose plane flies farthest
wins! Bonus award goes to
best decorated.
4

Scavenger Hunt
Skills: Problem solving & collaboration
Gear: Pen and paper, watches
Rules: Small teams get a list of goofy
tasks that can include taking a selfie
with a stranger, taking a picture of
something in the area that is hard to
find, etc. Teams have a set amount of
time to complete all tasks. Winning
team is the one that completes the
most tasks.
At Wrike, we had our own scavenger
hunt using our software to track each
team's tasks. Check out that fun
afternoon right here!
5
Click to read!

Frostbite
Skills: Creative problem solving &
collaboration
Gear: 1 packet of construction
materials (e.g. card stock, popsicle
sticks, rubber bands, sticky notes) for
each team, an electric fan
Rules: Teams of 5 are Arctic explorers
who must construct a shelter to
survive a snowstorm. Each team
elects a leader — but the leader has
frostbite and can only give verbal
instructions. The rest of the team has
the construction materials but are all
snow blind. Start the timer and let
the teams build. When time runs out,
turn on the electric fan’s arctic winds
and see which shelter survives.
6

Perfect Square
Skills: Leadership, communication,
teamwork
Gear: Long piece of rope tied
together, timer, and a blindfold for
each person
Rules: Have everyone stand in a circle
holding a piece of the rope. Then,
instruct everyone to set the rope on
the floor and put on their blindfold.
Everyone must step away from the
circle. Next, ask everyone to return
and try to form a square with the rope
with blindfolds on. Set a timer limit to
increase difficulty. Or have instruct
some team members not to speak.
7

Barter Puzzle
Skills: Collaboration,
communication, decision making
Gear: Different Jigsaw puzzles for
each group
Rules: Small groups are given
different jigsaw puzzles but with
the same difficulty level. Thing is:
some of your pieces are in
another team's pile. The goal:
complete your jigsaw puzzle the
fastest. Each team must come to
a consensus on how to get
missing pieces back — either
through negotiating, trading, or
exchanging team members.
Whatever they decide to do, they
must decide as a group.
8

Need More?
See our blog post for a lot more team building exercises
Click to read!

Brought to you by
www.wrike.com

ImagesPotipot Jump by Ego Faylona. https://flic.kr/p/6n4k3z
Human Knot by Elmira College. https://flic.kr/p/9pCPRo
Subscribe & Like by Elisanth. http://fav.me/d56qfnq
Salt N’ Pepper by William Warby. https://flic.kr/p/bBkGM5
You Take the High Road, We’ll Take the Snowdrift by Andrew. https://flic.kr/p/qzjKZ5
Holding Together by Tom Good. https://flic.kr/p/7bJwDp
Jigsaw Puzzle by Bjorn Larsson. http://www.bjornlarsson.se/