How to Run a 60-Minute Team Game Session at Your Offsite

Most offsite games go wrong in one of three ways. One loud person or one team runs away with it. The host spends half the time adding up scores while the room goes quiet. Or it simply runs too long, and by the third round people are checking email. A plan for the hour fixes all three.

This is the shape we recommend for a 60-minute session: open with something low-stakes, build to a competitive middle, and finish on laughs. It works for 10 people or 80, in one room or with remote colleagues dialled in.

The hour at a glance

Before the day

• One shared screen. A projector or a big TV in the room, or a screen share if people are remote. Everything the room needs to see goes there.
• Phones on Wi-Fi. Players answer on their own phone or laptop. Check the venue's guest network works before people arrive; it's the one thing you can't fix in the moment.
• A host who isn't playing. The host reads questions, keeps the pace and reveals answers. Hosting and competing at once is how scores get disputed.
• Teams of four to six, mixed on purpose. Split up people who sit together every day. Meeting someone from another team is half the value of an offsite.
• A small prize. Bragging rights work, but a trophy, first pick of lunch or a donation to the winners' chosen charity makes the last round count.

0:00–0:05 · Join and form teams

Put the room code on screen as people sit down, so joining happens while they settle rather than as a separate step. Five minutes is plenty. Shuffle the teams if you planned to mix departments, and let each team rename itself. It's a small thing, and the first time they act as a team.

0:05–0:15 · Warm-up: get people talking

Start with a game where the answers come from the people in the room. Two truths and a lie is the classic for a reason: one person writes three statements about themselves, and everyone else votes on which is false. You learn that the quiet person in finance once worked on a cruise ship, and that's the story people repeat at dinner.

If the group is large or doesn't know each other at all, a quick poll is gentler. Ask a light question ("What's the best snack at an offsite?") and reveal how the room voted. No one is on the spot.

0:15–0:30 · Quiz: the competitive core

Fifteen minutes is about ten to twelve questions. Use multiple choice so there is never an argument about whether an answer counts, and order them from easy to hard so every team scores early. If you need questions, here are 50 tested ones.

Two formats work well. In head to head, every team answers every question at once and the fastest correct team scores most; it's lively and nobody waits. In pass and play, one team answers while the room watches, which suits a smaller group that enjoys a bit of theatre. A category round, where each team picks a subject it knows (films, sport, TV), gives specialists their moment.

0:30–0:45 · Puzzle: work it out together

After a quiz rewards knowing things, a puzzle rewards thinking together, and different people shine. Good options:

• Rebus puzzles: a word or phrase drawn as a picture puzzle. Teams shout out guesses to each other and type the answer.
• Logo zoom: a brand logo starts zoomed right in and slowly pulls back. The fastest team to name it scores most.
• Sudoku battle: every team races the same puzzle. Surprisingly loud for a number game.
• Word scramble: unscramble as many words as you can before the clock runs out.

Pick one. Two puzzle games back to back is where energy starts to dip.

0:45–0:55 · Social closer: end on laughs

Finish with something where being funny or knowing your colleagues matters more than knowing facts. In survey says, teams guess the most popular answers to questions like "Something people do in a meeting instead of listening." In a punchline round, everyone writes the funniest ending to a prompt and the room votes, anonymously, so it's the joke that wins rather than the popular person.

This is also where trailing teams can catch up, which keeps the last ten minutes tense right to the end.

0:55–1:00 · Results

Reveal the final standings with a little ceremony: count down from last place. Hand over the prize, take a team photo, and stop while people are still enjoying it. Ending five minutes early beats ending five minutes late.

Hosting tips that make the difference

• Keep moving. The gap between rounds is where you lose people. Have the next game ready before the current one ends.
• Make the reveal the moment. Pause before showing the answer. Read out which teams got it.
• Don't score by hand if you can help it. Adding up a whiteboard while 40 people wait is the single biggest energy drain.
• Include remote colleagues properly. If people are dialling in, put them on mixed teams with people in the room, and make sure they can answer from their own device rather than shouting into a laptop microphone.
• Skip questions that exclude. Avoid politics, religion, alcohol-centred rounds and anything that needs one country's pop culture.

Run the whole hour in one place

TeamPlay groups its games the same way this plan does: warm-up, quiz, puzzle and social. Pick one from each and you have a session. Players join from their phones with a room code, every team answers at once, and the app marks the answers and keeps score while you host. It runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install. The free plan covers up to 15 people; larger groups are on Pro and Business.

Short on time? Try a ten-minute icebreaker at the start of a regular meeting instead.