Remote Team Building Apps & Ideas Your Team Won’t Hate

Team building is important whether you work remotely or not. Working remotely has its challenges when it comes to building culture and developing relationships between employees. Being a remote team ourselves, we've come up with a few different approaches to create a culture of teamwork, hard work, and fun. Here are some of the apps, games, and tactics we use with our teams to build intra-office friendships and boost morale by having fun.

Online Hearts

The objective of the popular card game Hearts is to avoid taking penalty cards like those in the heart suit and the Queen of Spades, with the goal being to minimize one's points. The game requires a mix of strategy and observation, especially when a player attempts to "shoot the moon" by taking all penalty cards, which reverses the scoring dynamics.

The addictive game can also be enjoyed on several online platforms like Hearts Land or downloaded on iOS and Google Play. Hearts is not only a competitive game but also fosters teamwork and camaraderie, making it an excellent choice for team-building activities.

Online Spades

A beloved classic, Spades is a trick-taking card game that combines strategic thinking and teamwork. In Spades, players form partnerships and try to predict and win a specific number of tricks in each round. The game involves bidding, strategy, and careful observation of opponents' moves, making it both challenging and engaging. Successful teams coordinate their play to outmaneuver their opponents, which enhances collaboration and communication skills.

Online Spades can be played on various platforms, providing an accessible way to enjoy this classic card game with friends, family, or colleagues.

Skribbl

Skribbl is like Pictionary, but an online version. You can create your own words for your team to draw. Or you can use the words that Skribbl already has in its system. This free game is fun, interactive, and can create a level of competition that is a great way to unite teams. The example here is actually from one of our team-building activities.

Not everyone is good at drawing.

(But the answer to this drawing in particular was... Reddit. :D)

Among us

If you haven't heard of Among Us, you've definitely been missing out! There's a reason this game is popular with both kids and adults! Among Us supports up to 10 players, so if you have more than that, you'll need to create multiple games. Basically, the idea is that someone is an "imposter" and you have to figure out who the imposter is in order to win. Or, if you're the imposter, you have to kill everyone and not be considered "sus" (i.e. suspicious).

It's a hilarious game, and we really enjoyed playing it here on our teams at Workast. Have your team download the mobile app (available on Android and IOS), and you can create your own room for the game. You simply enter a code number, and you're ready to create your own private game. Our team also likes to tune into Zoom calls so we can debate amongst ourselves who the imposter is and watch every devious facial expression.

Virtual lunch dates

We recently introduced virtual lunch dates. Since our team is scattered all over the world, we can't meet face-to-face for lunch. Instead, we've set up Doordash, Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub (depending on which subscription works best for the individual and their region) and let our team members order what they like. We all go on Zoom, present our food, and enjoy a meal just like we would if we were in the office together.

It's a fun way to see what people like, talk and discuss, and also see different types of food around the world. Bonus points, it's a free lunch of your choice!

Guess who

Have your team members answer a short survey using a form. Then, jump on a Zoom call and guess who’s answer is who’s. Did you know that Katie’s favorite color is pink? You win! This is a great way to get team members to learn more about each other.

Kahoot

Kahoot is a gaming and trivia platform that makes it easy to create quizzes or play online games in minutes. You can either create your own quiz or use one of the many that have already been uploaded to the system. They also have a lot of games that you and your team can play as well. Just share with everyone the URL and code, and you can play trivia or unique games in minutes.

Storytelling/sharing

Have each team member pick a photo of their favorite vacation, pet, or something else that is unique to them and take turns telling the story. Listening to people talk about their favorite things is a great way to get involved, socialize, and learn more about each other. In remote settings, it's sometimes harder to get to know each other, so this is a great way to overcome that.

Movie night

Technically, this doesn't have to be at *night*. Grab a box of popcorn during the day, and have everyone watch a movie together on Zoom. It can be the latest motion picture, an old classic, or something inspirational that relates to your industry. Getting everyone together to relax and watch a movie is a great way to break up the stress of daily work routines, and you can talk about the movie online in real-time. Movie morning, movie lunch, movie night - it's been a hit with our teams.

Get to know each other with Workstyle

Workstyle is a great app that helps teams understand how to better work with one another. Learn more about your colleagues, and how they prefer to work by taking this assessment. You can learn about individual personalities, as well as personality preferences. Workstyle is a fun way to learn more specifically about individuals on your team.

Book club

Pick a book and read it together! Then have a discussion about it. It can be a business book, self-help, fiction, or any other genre, it doesn't matter. Reading books together and then discussing them is a surefire way to get conversations going, spark debate, and build relationships between your team. Open up the club by allowing participants to suggest their own favorite books. You can never go wrong with reading, and this is another great way to build relationships and friendships within your team.

Virtual Escape Rooms 

Team Building Hub offers a wide variety of games, including escape rooms, online game shows, and mystery games and are a fun way to promote virtual team building. They have experienced guides and hosts that take you through the games.  Take their escape rooms, which are not only fun and engaging but also promote problem solving and team work. But it isn't all dashboards and Zoom calls, there is an actual room you have to escape from which your team can see through a live feed. Your team can also see an interactive dashboard where you can see the clues and inventory. The escape rooms also have different themes like heists and prison breaks to choose from.

What strategies, apps, tools, games, or tactics is your remote team using to build teamwork? We’d love to hear from you and showcase your ideas on our blog! Send us a tweet or drop us a line to get featured. Here’s to happy and productive teams!