Online Distributed Team Fun

Huge honking list of fun things to do online as a team (Confession: I love the donkey)

Online Distributed Team Fun

Recently online there was a discussion about having fun team events when everybody was working from home. Can you recreate a fun team outing when everybody's at home in front of a screen? Wow, there's a ton of stuff out there!

Before you start

  • Do it during work hours or at least as part of a paid work event. Yes, it'd be great if everybody liked one another and got along so well that you'd all just volunteer to hang out, but it's not fair to those that have other commitments to put work things first without consideration. You don't want the resentment some people will feel (and you'll never hear about) if you put things on them like this. All you'll end up with is fake fun, and that defeats the entire purpose of the thing.
  • All games are not for everybody. Games that outgoing extroverts might like may not be anything a inwardly-focuses introvert can stand, and vice-versa. Have a way of people voicing their objections and making choices that does not involve social bravery. (One way of getting anonymous feedback is to use an online service like Increment.me)
  • Watch the time zones

Meta (lists of games)

Create Together

  • Joint cooking. Pick a dish and send ingredients. Everybody cooks together and shares notes
  • Lego competition (video chat while you create the same kinds of things separately)
  • "My presentation" team members do a quick presentation on anything they'd like for the rest of the team
  • Presentation Karaoke, where a random series of pictures and captions appears in the background (best done with motivational quotes and bizarre images accompanying). Player must come up with some kind of coherent presentation based on these slides. Also works with random real decks from each other put into a shuffle pile
  • Story Time: Team members use Zoom to share personal funny stories (tough to get going, but lots of fun as team members learn to relax around each other later)
  • Karaoke
  • Show and tell. Everybody gets a gift card and then you all come back and show what you've got. (You can also do this with a them and prizes)
  • Slides with Friends
  • Google Cardboard Expeditions (shutting down June 30, 2021. Boooo!)
  • Terrariums. "We all received a kit in the mail and on a Friday afternoon, everyone was guided by an indoor gardening expert. It was a calm, pleasant, ~2 hour exercise and I got a fresh plant for my desk out of it."
  • Do-it-yourself virtual murder mystery
  • Painting class. Send everybody painting materials and have an instructor give a class while everybody learns to paint and shares what they're creating

Questions, Questions

Classics

One-Stop Shopping: Platforms

Eat, Drink, Be Happy

  • Weekly drinks in various new places besides your team Slack or Zoom, like Mibo.
  • Whiskey/beer/wine tasting over MS Teams. Everybody gets a flight mailed to them and compare notes as a group
  • Facilitated online beer and cheese tasting, with homebrew/microbrew companies like City Brew Tours
  • No-Frills Added Happy Hour

Misc