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Help quash the nerves and awkwardness of first dates, networking, and group activities with these simple get-to-know-you games that can help everyone get acquainted in fun and enjoyable ways.
Get to Know You Games
Fun
1. Would You Rather
You can play the game with a friend, romantic partner, or even a big group. You can ask silly questions like ‘Would you rather eat only eggs or only drink milk for the rest of your life”, or you can make it more serious with questions such as: “Would you rather lose the ability to speak or hear”. Take turns answering and coming up with the conundrums.
2. Two Truths and a Lie
“Two Truths and a Lie” is a classic game to get to know another person. To play, you need to come up with two truths about yourself and one lie. The other person, quite simply, needs to guess which statement is a lie.
3. Spill It or Eat It
This game is fun to play on a night out with friends. To play, one person (or more) asks a question that the other person needs to answer. If they don’t want to, they can refuse and instead eat something.
The food should be either something that’s not enjoyable to eat on its own, such as hot sauce or mustard, or be something of a food challenge, like stuffing five crackers in your mouth. You can have plenty of fun with this get-to-know-you game!
4. Hot Take
Ever wanted to share an opinion you know might be controversial? “Hot Take” is a game where you get to do just that.
Take turns to state an opinion you think might raise some eyebrows, while remembering to keep it fun, and always adjust to group dynamics.
You aren’t looking to anger the people around you, and the game is more enjoyable if you opt for statements like “pineapple really belongs to pizza” (unless you’re playing with Italians!).
5. Whose Story Is It?
Have everyone write down their funniest or the most awe-inspiring stories. Put these in a hat and mix well. Read one story at a time and have the room guess whose story it might be.
For Two People or Couples
6. Jenga Questions
Get these giant Jenga blocks on Amazon.
You and your partner start by writing interesting or funny questions on Jenga blocks. When you’re done, start the game as you would normally. When one of you removes a block, you need to read out the question and answer it.
You can be creative with the questions and make them more suited to playing with a close friend or a romantic partner.
7. If I Were…
“If I Were” is a game where you give imaginative answers to different types of statements. Example prompts include statements like:
- If I were a song, I’d be…
- If I were a food, I’d be…
- If I were a book, I’d be…
Let your creativity run wild with the prompts and answers. However, make sure you don’t just answer but also explain your reasoning.
8. Love Lingual Card Game
Are you a fan of card games? “Love Lingual Card Game” is great for couples looking to know each other better.
The game has around 150 question prompts you can use to engage in fun conversations with your partner.
The cards are divided into different categories, including family and intimacy. You can either focus on a specific topic or mix it up.
9. Seven Words – Life Stories
This game makes you really think about the most important events in your life story. You’ll only get seven words to share your journey with the other person.
It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence; you can just list seven meaningful words to describe your life so far.
For Small Groups
10. Toilet Paper Icebreaker
Have everyone sit in a circle and pass a toilet paper roll around. Tell each person to take as much toilet paper as they want. Warning: confused looks and a few laughs are bound to happen!
Once everyone is done ripping off their desired amount, ask them to count how many sheets they have. Everyone should then share as many facts about them as they have toilet roll sheets.
11. Truth or Dare
“Truth or Dare” is a classic for a reason: it is fun and easily adapted depending on the crowd. The format is simple: people take turns to either tell a truth or perform a dare decided by the other person.
You can have hours of fun with this get-to-know-you game, which opens the door for plenty of creativity.
12. Escape Rooms
Escape room experiences can be a wonderful way to learn more about other people. The different challenges you must overcome in a limited time reveal a lot about people.
These experiences are also great for understanding group dynamics. You can learn who among your team can step up under pressure, and who does well when given specific instructions.
13. Most Likely To…
Get-to-know-you games can be a fun way to learn what others think about you, too. “Most likely to” is great for groups with some knowledge of each other. The game asks you to create positive categories like:
- Most likely to become a CEO
- Most likely to be in a movie
- Most likely to move abroad
The group members then need to talk and decide who amongst them best fits the description. You can make the categories serious or lighthearted, depending on the group.
14. Smarties Game
Pass around a pack of Smarties and have each person take two to three Smarties (depending on the group size).
Once everyone has the candy, they must answer the question linked to the color of the Smarties they have. Popularly used questions include:
- Red – What is your favorite food?
- Blue – Do you have pets?
- Green – Who belongs to your family?
- Orange – What is your favorite music/band/TV show?
- Yellow – What is your favorite color?
- Pink – What hobbies do you enjoy most?
- Purple – What is your favorite season?
- Brown – What are you most looking forward to right now?
You can change these to whatever you like, of course. It’s a fun game, and everyone gets to eat chocolate at the end of it!
15. Icebreaker Questions
If you just want the group to ask each other questions to get to know one other, take from our list of over 100+ icebreaker questions to help kickstart intriguing and flowing conversations between everyone.
For Large Groups
16. Snowball Fight
Have each member write five facts about them on a piece of paper and roll the paper up like a snowball. Start an indoor snowball fight, throwing the crumbled papers at each other. Stop the fight and have everyone pick the nearest “snowball.”
One at a time, unroll the paper and read out the statements. The person should guess who they think is behind the facts.
17. Have You Ever
This fun game works well for larger groups. Go around asking everyone to pose a unique “Have you ever” question. Examples could be questions like:
- Have you ever gotten a tattoo?
- Have you ever eaten sushi?
People who have done it can stand up while others remain seated. It’s a fun way to find people who might have had similar experiences.
18. Line Up
Have a group leader call out pairings like “coffee or tea” and “red or blue”. The rest of the group needs to form a line for the suggestion they prefer.
So coffee lovers form one line and tea connoisseurs another. You can even ask the lines to queue from the person who loves it the most to the person who likes it the least.
19. Speed Dating
Speed dating doesn’t have to be about finding a romantic partner. You can use the formula to get people to mix and mingle.
Pair people up randomly and give them two minutes to talk to each other. Once time is up, they switch pairs to find someone they haven’t yet spoken to.
Appropriate for Work/Co-Workers
20. Shared Trait or Fact
Divide your group into smaller teams of equal size. Have these smaller groups figure out a trait or fact shared across the group.
It prompts them to discuss different things from favorite foods to places they’ve been to. Each group can then share this common trait with the other groups.
21. Top Five
Ask everyone to create best-of lists in different categories such as movies, bands, travel destinations, and apps, among others. Everyone should write down their top five.
Once done, people can read their lists out. You can even have people who share a favorite thing group up to show similarities within the team.
22. Team Bingo
Prepare bingo leaflets with different statements and facts instead of numbers. These can be things like “Studied at University X”, “Has been to France” and “Plays Football”.
Then, have the team members go around, asking others if any statements match. The first to get a bingo match can share which statements were part of the bingo and who matched with which statement.
23. Share the Love
This game is great for teams that have worked together for a while. People should take turns giving a compliment to the person next to them.
It can be a story about how they helped them with a project or their admiration for the person’s knowledge about a topic.
It makes people think about the different qualities their team members have.
Card & Board Games
24. The Game of Life
Get the Game of Life on Amazon.
The Game of Life, or Life, is a fantastic board game to play. As the name suggests, it stimulates a person’s journey through life.
You’ll select your career path, get married, and retire. These steps can prompt you to discuss these real-life events with the people you play with.
The board game is suited for 2, 4, and 6-player groups.
25. The Hygge Game
Fashioned after the Danish word personifying enjoying the simple things in life, the Hygge Game is great for a comfy night with friends and family. There are 110 cards with thought-provoking questions to answer.
26. Pick Your Poison
The Pick Your Poison game is similar to “Would you rather”. You get 300 poison cards that pair two statements together.
Players then get to anonymously pick which one they’d rather do. In the end, you can see which of your friends would agree with your ‘poisons’.
27. You Think You Know Me
You can test your knowledge of your friends and family with this fun game. The game gives you questions, which you must answer about the other person. It’s a fun way to see who really knows you!
Virtual/Online
28. Share a Photo
Ask everyone in the chat room to share a photo. You can be creative with the kind of photos you ask to see.
It could be everyone’s favorite mug at home or the silliest thing they have next to them. You could even ask them to go through their Instagram and share the photo they think best represents them.
29. Before I was 18
Childhood stories can be fun and easy to share with strangers. You could ask everyone in the online meeting to share the most impressive thing they’ve achieved before turning 18.
It could be something like winning a talent competition at school or traveling alone to a different country. No matter the achievement, everyone gets to share interesting things!
30. Meet My Pet
There is nothing more adorable than having a pet pop up in a Zoom call! You should make your pets the star of an online meeting and introduce them to everyone. You can talk about their favorite things and share a story behind their name, for example.
Those who don’t have pets can come up with a silly imaginary pet (hello someone’s pet rock!) or share the kind of pet they’d love to have.
31. My N.A.M.E.
The game is a wonderful way to share unique facts about yourself.
Have everyone introduce themselves and then share a fact corresponding to the letters of their first name. For example, “Hi, I’m Lisa. L is for London, where I live, I is for Italian, which is my favorite food, S is for Smoothies, which are my favorite drink and A is for Australia, which is where I am from”.
You can even use your username if you don’t want to share your real name with your online acquaintances.
Related: Zoom Games and Activities Everyone Will Love
Meeting new people and getting groups to interact can be a daunting challenge. Hence, it’s always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve to make things easier.
Get-to-know-you games are an excellent way to introduce people, no matter who it is. It takes the pressure off and gets everyone to abide by the same rules.
Whether you’re gearing up for a double date or running orientation for new employees at work, use these games to inspire you to come up with creative ways to get everyone talking and acquainted.
You Might Also Like to Read
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- Best Party Games for Adults to Try
- 100+ Deep Questions to Really Get to Know Someone
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