Games for a work party: 15 that work for 30 to 100 people
A work party of 30 to 100 people has a shape. The first hour, people stand with the colleagues they sit next to. After dinner, the room splits into the dancers and the bar. In between there is a window where the right game gets the whole room playing together, and the finance team meeting the warehouse team.
Here are fifteen games that work at that size, most of them from our own Games Night, with what each one needs and how long it takes. They work for a Christmas party or a summer one. None needs more than the venue's own screen and speaker.
Before you pick: three rules for a big room
- Mix the teams on purpose. Teams of six to eight, made up before anyone arrives, with each department spread across them. If people pick their own teams, the game confirms the cliques instead of breaking them.
- Amplify it for a big room. A host without a microphone can carry a room of 30. Beyond that, the back tables stop hearing and start talking.
- Keep each game short. Ten to fifteen minutes a game, a few games in an evening. A game that runs long kills the room faster than no game at all.
As people arrive
1. Sticker mixing. One of our Games Night rounds. The do-it-yourself version: a sticker on arrival sorts everyone into a team they didn't choose, by colour, by number, or as half of a famous pair they have to find the other half of. Finding your team is the icebreaker.
Needs: stickers and a plan of the teams. Time: the first ten minutes, while the drinks go round.
2. Find someone who. A card of squares ("has worked here longer than ten years", "has never been to the office kitchen", "speaks three languages"), each to be signed by a different colleague. A prize for the first full card.
Needs: printed cards and pens. Time: runs in the background for the first hour.
3. Guess the colleague. Baby photos, or "my first job" facts, collected from volunteers beforehand and shown on the screen. Teams guess who.
Needs: a screen, and someone to collect the photos a week ahead. Time: 10 minutes.
The main event: team games
4. A quiz round about your company. The one round nobody can Google: the office in its first year, the worst stock photo on the website, the leadership team's guilty-pleasure song. We write one into every hosted quiz.
Needs: a screen, or printed sheets. Time: 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Speed Drawing. A teammate gets a prompt and draws it for their team to guess. Ten seconds a drawing, and the first team to guess all ten right wins. Always a hit, and it works for people who hate quizzes.
Needs: a pad and pen per team. Time: 10 minutes.
6. Closest To. Number questions where nobody will know the exact answer: how many cups of coffee the office drank this year, how many steps from reception to the lifts. Nearest team takes the points.
Needs: nothing but a host. Time: 5 minutes, and it makes the perfect tiebreak.
7. Higher or Lower. Two facts, one call: higher or lower. Play it standing up: the room splits to either side, and the wrong side sits down. The last few standing win. It is the round the people who didn't come for the quiz can win on nerve alone.
Needs: a screen helps, a microphone for a big room. Time: 10 minutes.
8. The blind taste test. Teams take turns in the sparkly blindfold to guess the item. We've done retro sweets and bar snacks, and theme it to the event: mince pies from five supermarkets at Christmas, crisps at a summer party. Check allergies first.
Needs: the snacks, a blindfold and a table per team. Time: 10 to 15 minutes.
9. The sculpture round. Ten minutes, a pile of newspapers and a roll of washi tape per team, and a theme. A tiny object, a contestant dressed up, or a sculpture made of three people. The host shortlists three and the room votes.
Needs: table space and newspapers. Time: 15 to 20 minutes with the judging.
10. The music round. Intros stopped just before the good bit, or the year a song came out. Theme it to the decade most of the room grew up in.
Needs: a speaker. Time: 10 minutes.
11. Two truths and a lie. Collect three statements from five brave colleagues beforehand. The host reads them out; teams spot the lie. People learn more about each other in ten minutes than in a year of stand-ups.
Needs: a host and some forward planning. Time: 10 minutes.
After dinner: the louder ones
12. Star Turn. Our take on the karaoke talent show: a costume box, a stage and songs the whole room can sing along to, with duets for anyone who would rather not go up alone. Volunteers only, and the room does the rest.
Needs: a speaker, a microphone and a screen for the words. Time: 20 to 30 minutes.
13. Blind Pick. Our take on the blindfolded dating game show: a volunteer in a sparkly blindfold picks between contenders on their answers alone. At a work party, play it where the room wants it and entirely for laughs.
Needs: a microphone and a few chairs. Time: 10 to 15 minutes.
14. Treachery! Our Traitors-style game of hidden traitors, accusations and votes, hosted. It is not a games-night round but a session of its own: up to 30 players, about 50 minutes, any room with chairs. A party of 60 plays two sessions, half before dinner and half after. More on Treachery!.
Needs: chairs in a circle and a host. Time: about 50 minutes a session.
For a summer party
15. Sports day. Egg and spoon, a sack race, a three-legged race, a tug of war for the finale. Teams from the sticker mixing, points on a board. Have a quieter option for anyone who would rather keep score, and a plan B for the rain.
Needs: outdoor space and a box of kit. Time: 30 to 45 minutes.
A running order for two hours
- Arrival: sticker mixing and find someone who.
- Dinner or canapés, with a company quiz round between courses.
- Speed Drawing, the taste test and the sculpture round, with Closest To as the tiebreak.
- Higher or Lower to settle the winners, then the prizes.
- Star Turn to hand over to the DJ.
A hosted Games Night is built from the same rounds, themed to the occasion. For a Christmas party, our Christmas party page has everything we run in December, and office Christmas party ideas in London has the prices side by side.
Running it yourself, or having it hosted
You can run all of this yourself with a confident colleague, a microphone and a week of preparation. What goes wrong is usually the host: the person running it is the person who organised the party, and by the time the sculpture round starts they have spent two hours dealing with the venue. The other thing is pace. A game that has to be explained twice is a game the room has given up on.
Hosted, Games Night is £12 a person with a minimum of £950 a night, for 30–100 people. Get Social is not VAT registered, so the price you see is the whole price. Travel outside London is extra. If you are running a quiz as well, our guide to how to host a quiz night covers the marking and the pace.