9 unusual team building activities that will get your team excited (online & offline)

In 2023, the importance of team building activities cannot be overstated. Games, events, and exercises are a great way to encourage team members to work together as a singular, cohesive unit. 

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That said, reusing the same exercises over and over again can cause them to lose their effectiveness, which is why you need to keep things interesting by organizing unusual team building activities. 

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These are generally fun, out-of-the-box, and sometimes weird team activities that spice things up by keeping employees engaged, excited, and on their toes.  We’ve compiled a list of creative team building activities and games for your convenience. Let’s gooooooo.

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Unusual online team building activities 

1. Murder mystery party

Price range: $200-400

Best for: Mystery lovers

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This is one of our favorite intellectual team building games for work because it involves communication, problem-solving, and teamwork, all of which are great skills for teammates to develop. More than that, it’s fun, interactive, and a perfect way for employees to act like detectives for the day.  

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Ideal for both small and large groups, an event like this allows your team to investigate and solve murders using clues included in the game. 

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You can organize it yourself or hire a company to help you set it up. For example, a company like The Murder Mystery Co. can help you organize your corporate team building murder mystery events and even provides the option Zoom parties for remote teams.  

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2. Board game tournament

Price range: $30-60

Best for: Small, large, and mid-sized teams

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Board games are a great team bonding game idea because pretty much everyone in the office can participate and enjoy them. 

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For a tournament, you’ll need to:

• Purchase a variety of board games if you don’t already have them. Chess, checkers, ludo, and monopoly are popular options and are widely loved. 
• Have different stations for each game (a large conference room works best).
• Set up a scoreboard to keep track of the contest.

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You can also put together a grand prize for the winners for some extra motivation. 

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3. Dragon’s Den 

Price range: $10-20

Best for: Encouraging creativity

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If you’re on a limited budget but still want to organize an interactive team building activity, Dragon’s Den is one of our cheaper and more creative options. 

More than being budget-friendly, this activity is great because it helps team members connect better and improves communication. 

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To play this office team building game:

• Divide your team into smaller groups of 3 to 6 people
• Challenge the teams to develop a new idea for a product or service and have them prepare a persuasive pitch to sell their idea.

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Pro-tip: To get their competitive juices flowing, provide an incentive or prize for the team that wins. This doesn’t necessarily have to be over the top and could be anything from a day off, a paid meal, Amazon gift cards, or even a small monetary prize.

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4. Cooking and cocktail making classes

Price range: $25-75 per person

Best for: People who enjoy merging food and culture

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This is one of those quality team building activities you can be sure your employees will enjoy because let’s face it, who doesn’t love food and cocktails?

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There are lots of companies that organize cooking and cocktail-making classes for both physical and virtual teams. You can choose between various menu items that include foods and cocktails from different cultures. You and your team will also be taught by professional chefs on how to prepare these meals. 

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The best thing about these classes is that they’re perfect for people of all cooking skills levels, and of course, the reward of a delicious meal and/or cocktail makes it all worth it. 

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Unusual offline team building activities

5. Blind taste tests

Price range: $20-50

Best for: Adventurous eaters

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At the very top of our list of weird and wacky team building activities is blind food tasting. It’s straightforward to organize and can be done in the office.

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To play this fun game, you’ll need to:

• Blindfold your participants or ‘food tasters’
• Present them with a variety of foods and drinks (you can make the game more interesting by including some unusual food items)
• Have them taste and guess what they’ve been fed.

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Alternatively, if you want to be on the safe side, you can have food tasters compare different brands of the same food to determine which is the best. 

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Pro-tip: Ask teammates about any allergies before selecting foods/drinks for the game. 

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6. Outdoor Activities

Price range: $20-80 per person 

Best for: Nature lovers 

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If you’ve got lovers of the great outdoors on your team, this is a fun team building game that’ll be sure to catch their attention. 

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Depending on where you live and the skill levels of your teammates, you can find different enjoyable outdoor activities for small and large groups. Some options to explore include:

• Ziplining
• White water rafting
• Kayaking
• Camping trips
• Cave exploring
• Paddling
• Mountaineering

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Activities like these help employees form positive shared experiences, which encourages them to develop closer relationships with each other. 

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7. Indoor skydiving

Price range: $40-70 per person

Best for: Adrenaline junkies

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A safer and more controlled alternative to jumping out of a plane 10,00+ feet in the air, indoor skydiving is one of our more unusual team building activities. It’s great for those looking for a thrilling experience and can help team members overcome their fear of heights and even prepare them for the real deal. 

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Within those vertical wind tunnels, teammates get to bond, create lifetime memories, and have pictures and videos of their shared experiences taken. 

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Pro-tip: If you have any employees with disabilities, you can ensure they are also included by finding indoor skydiving companies that cater to people with different disabilities.  

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8. Flash mob dancing 

Price range: $0-150

Best for: Large teams

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For an activity that’s sure to produce lots of laughs, flash mobbing is a pretty great idea.

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A flash mob is a group of people who unexpectedly assemble in a public location, usually to perform a rehearsed dance in front of unsuspecting onlookers. This activity is definitely high on the unusual scale, but that’s exactly what you’re here for, right?

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To set this up, you’ll either need to hire a professional dance instructor or have employees come up with a dance routine themselves. They can even find simple routines on YouTube (see below). 

After practicing and perfecting their moves, have them choose their costumes if they’re open to it and select a safe location for them to perform. 

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Pro-tip: Have someone record the performance, so employees have videos and pictures to look back on. 

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9. Paintballing

Price range: $25-40 per person

Best for: People who enjoy fun competition

So maybe it’s not the most unusual activity, but paintballing is super fun and a great way to encourage team building. It causes employees to work together, trust each other, and enjoy quality time as a team.

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Different paintballing locations offer different themes, so to make this activity more interesting, you can find companies that provide unconventional themes to keep teammates on their toes. 

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If you have a large team, you can divide them into smaller groups, have them compete against each other, and offer a prize to the winning group. 

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What are the benefits of weird team building activities?

Just because a team building activity is unconventional doesn't mean it's without benefits. Unusual team building activities are great because they get teammates out of their comfort zones and encourage them to try something new and exciting. 

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More than that, just like regular team bonding games, these unusual team activities help:

• Improve communication
• Improve trust between team members
• Increase employee morale and motivation
• Improve mental health and confidence levels
• Encourage creativity
• Bring out leadership skills in employees

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Using team building activities to get your team excited

There’s nothing quite like an unconventional activity to pique people’s interests. So, if you feel like your team is in a bit of a rut and needs to participate in some unusual games and activities to get them out of it, feel free to refer to any of our picks here. 

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We’ve also put together a list of effective team building activities to improve communication and free team building activities which you can check out as well.

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FAQs

What are some fun games for team bonding? 

There are lots of fun team building games you and your team can enjoy playing together. Some of our favorites include paintballing, Dragon’s Den, scavenger hunts, board game tournaments, virtual chocolate tasting, and office trivia. Check out our list for the best team building apps and various team building kits that can help you find the best activities.

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How do you bring your team closer together?

One of the ways to foster closer relationships between your teammates is through team building activities. These kinds of activities help improve communication, minimize areas of conflict, and strengthen team bonds. 

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What is the best team building activity?

There isn’t a singular best team building activity, and that’s a good thing! Depending on the interests of your team, you can choose from a wide selection of games and activities to keep them engaged.  

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Can I organize unusual team building activities for virtual teams?

Yes, you can! Some fun and unusual team building activities for remote teams include virtual cooking classes, virtual escape rooms, Pictionary, and virtual city tours.