Fun Games, Icebreakers and Group Activities (icebreakers.

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Ice Breaker Questions
Icebreaker Questions is simply a list of 20 great questions that you can ask people to help them feel more part of a group or team. These questions are fun and non-threatening. You can use them as an icebreaker for meetings or classrooms, written on notecards and adapted for other games, or simply as a fun activity to help people get to know each other better. Instructions for Icebreaker Questions A great way to help people open up is to ask them fun questions that allow them to express their personality or interesting things about them. Here is a list of twenty safe, useful icebreaker questions to help break the ice: If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get? If you were an animal, what would you be and why? What is one goal youd like to accomplish during your lifetime? When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why? Who is your hero? (a parent, a celebrity, an influential person in ones life) Whats your favorite thing to do in the summer? If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? 8. If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why? 9. Whats your favorite cartoon character, and why? 10. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why 11. Whats the ideal dream job for you? 12. Are you a morning or night person? 13. What are your favorite hobbies? 14. What are your pet peeves or interesting things about you that you dislike? 15. Whats the weirdest thing youve ever eaten? 16. Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family. 17. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours. 18. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be 19. If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romanticcomedy, action film, or science fiction? 20. If I could be anybody besides myself, I would be 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Candy Introductions
Candy Introductions is a get-to-know-you game that helps people learn new facts about each other in an easy way. They select various pieces of candy from a bag, and each candy variety is associated with a fact about themselves which they will introduce to the others. This game also goes by other names, including the M&M game, Candy Confessions, the Skittles Game, the Gum Drop game, among others. Candy Introductions can work with any group size. The icebreaker works best when the group size is limited to 12, so if you have more than 12, divide the larger group and run the icebreaker within the smaller sized groups. This icebreaker works best indoors, and is well suited for classrooms or meeting rooms. Materials required are: candy with about five different variations (color or candy type), and an optional chalkboard/whiteboard. Setup for Candy Introductions Purchase several variety packs of candy, enough for each person to be able to have at least five pieces. They can be any candy type, but not too many choices (limit it to around five or six different varieties). Alternatively, you can buy gummy bears, life savers, gum drops, skittles, m&ms, or any other candy that already has a variety of colors. Instructions for How to Play Pass around the candy and tell each participant to choose anywhere from 1 to 5 pieces of anything that they want. Instruct them not to eat it yet, though. After they have chosen their candy, you will tell them what each candy type/color represents. If there is a whiteboard or chalkboard present, write on the board the following:

Red - Favorite hobbies Green - Favorite place on earth Blue - Favorite memory Yellow -Dream job Orange - Wildcard (tell us anything about yourself!)

If you dont have the above colors, change the above to match the candy types that you have. Each person takes turns introducing himself or herself, beginning with their name and then saying one fact for each candy type that they have. This easy introduction game should go relatively quickly (assuming they werent greedy and that they didnt take too many pieces of candy!)

Fabulous Flags
Fabulous Flags (also known as the Personal Flags Activity) is a useful icebreaker activity to help people convey what represents them or what is important to them. Each person draws a flag that contains some symbols or objects that symbolizes who they are or what they enjoy. This get-to-know-you activity is best done indoors. Any number of people can participate. The recommended age is 7 and up. Materials required are: several sheets of paper, pens, and colored pencils/crayons/markers. Instructions for Fabulous Flags Activity Pass out a sheet of paper, pens, and colored pencils, crayons, and/or markers to each person. Explain the activity: Were now going to draw flags that represent or symbolize us. Please design your own flag of you - include some symbols or objects that symbolize who you are or what you find enjoyable or important. You can show your own sample flag if you like. For example, you could draw:

a guitar (representing your passion for music) a tennis racket (someone who enjoys sports) a country like India (representing your affiliation with a country) a cross and a heart (representing Jesus and His love for the world)

Give everyone a set amount of time to draw (e.g. 15-20 minutes or so) and then reconvene. Ask for volunteers to share their flags and explain the meaning of what they drew. If it is a large group, you can divide everyone into smaller groups and ask them to share their flags with each other, or you can just ask a small number of volunteers to share. Variations After everyone has finished sharing the individual flags, as a big group you can ask everyone to brainstorm ideas on what to draw for a large class-wide flag. Proceed to delegate individuals to draw certain parts of the class-wide flag. Alternatively, you can collect the individual flags and paste them onto a board to create a quilt of individual flags, representing unity.

Did You Know Bingo?

Did You Know? Bingo (also known as the Autograph Game) is an icebreaker that helps people learn interesting facts about each other. People walk around the room and mingle until they find people that match the facts listed on a bingo-style sheet. This game is a get-to-know-you style icebreaker. The recommended group size is: large or extra large. The game works best with a group of about 25 people. It can be played indoors or outdoors. Materials required are: printed bingo sheets and pens. Ages 12 and up. Setup for Did You Know? Bingo The objective of this game is for people to wander around the room and to obtain the signatures of people who have the facts listed on the bingo sheet. Once a person successfully obtains a full row (5 in a row), whether horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, he or she shouts BINGO! and wins. This game requires a little bit of setup. Prepare a 5 by 5 table, with interesting facts written inside the boxes. These facts can include funny or bizarre things. For example:

Likes anchovies Has been to Hawaii Speaks more than two languages Has never been on a plane Has more than four brothers Has gone without a shower for more than three days

Be creative! You can mark the center square FREE SPACE like traditional bingo games. After you have prepared the table, print out enough copies for the number of players you are expecting. Instructions for How to Play Pass out a sheet to each person, along with a pen. Explain the objective of the game and the following rules: (1) each person you talk to may only sign your sheet once, and (2) to win, you must get signatures to form 5 in a row horizonally, vertically, or diagonally. Say Go! and ask your participants to begin. Once someone shouts Bingo! everyone returns and the person must introduce the people who signed his or her sheet. If desired, you can ask each person to explain their fact. This icebreaker game is fun way to get to know humorous or unique facts about people. Enjoy!

Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever is an icebreaker game that helps people get to know each other better. Everyone sits in a circle and take turns saying something they have never done. Each player starts with ten fingers showing. Each time says something that youve done, you drop a finger. The goal is to be the last player remaining. This get-to-know-you game can be played indoors or outdoors. The recommended number of people for this game is ten to fifteen, but all group sizes can play by dividing into appropriate sized groups. Recommended age is 8 and up. No special materials are required. Instructions for Never Have I Ever Instruct everyone to sit in a circle. If you have an extremely large group, tell people to form smaller circles of about ten to fifteen people. To start each round, each player holds out all ten fingers and places them on the floor. Go around the circle and one at a time, each person announces something that they have never done, beginning the sentence with the phrase Never have I ever For example, a person could say, Never have I ever been to Europe. For each statement that is said, all the other players drop a finger if they have done that statement. So, if three other people have been to Europe before, those three people must put down a finger, leaving them with nine fingers. The goal is to stay in the game the longest (to be the last person with fingers remaining). To win, its a good strategy to say statements that most people have done, but you havent. Playing this game, along with the benefit of getting to know each others experiences better, can be very humorous (e.g. saying silly statements such as, Never have I ever skipped a class in school or Never have I ever ripped my pants.) Have fun!

React and Act Game

React and Act! is a funny icebreaker in which players randomly select a sheet of paper that has an occurrence on it (for example, winning a million dollars in the lottery) and they must react to the occurence using animated expressions, gestures, and words. After a set amount of time, other players try to guess what happened that caused those reactions and actions. React and Act is an active icebreaker game that can work with a variety of group sizes. It can work for small groups of five people, or adapted for very large groups by selecting volunteers. This game is best played indoors. Materials required include paper, pens, and a bag. React and Act works with all ages, including adults. Setup for React and Act React and Act involves some preparation; however, this is part of the fun! Pass out sheets of paper and pens to the players. Have each person write an event. Tell them to be creative! Examples of events can include:

Being surprised by a large, aggressive bear in the woods You just won the lottery You have just been proposed for marriage with an engagement ring You just got fired by an incompetent boss Making the game winning pass to win the Superbowl You just fell in love

Once everyone writes an event, fold the paper once and place it into the bag. Divide the group into two teams (or select five volunteers if it is a very large group). Instructions for How to Play Ask five people on each team to randomly select an event from the bag. Instruct them to react to this event, without explicitly giving away what the event is. Choose a time limit (usually 30 seconds to a minute works well) and when you say Go!, have all five people to simultaneously react to their event using exaggerated gestures, facial expressions, and their voice. For example, the person who has just won the lottery could raise his or her arms and scream excitedly, jumping up and down. The person who has just confronted a bear might make a terrified look, shake in fear, and call for help. And so on. Each of the five actors can interact with each other, but they must stay in character and continue reacting and acting based upon what their sheet said. After time expires, the other members of the team try to guess what happened for each person. If you wish to keep score, each team gets a point for each correct guess. This game is a great way to break the ice, while watching people act out silly (and usually hilarious) things.

Sort and Mingle

Sorts and Mingle is an interactive icebreaker that helps people recognize common and unique interests and preferences. The speaker calls out various categories and everyone moves toward various parts of the room, finding people with similar tastes as them. This game is classified as a get-to-know-you icebreaker with a little bit of active movement (walking around the room, meeting and talking to others). Recommended group size is: medium, large, or extra large. Can be played indoors or outdoors, but indoors is ideal. No special materials are required. No mess. For ages ten and up. Instructions for Sorts and Mingle There are two parts to this icebreaker. The first half is the Sorts game. The moderator tosses out two contrasting choices and everyone must move either east or west of the room (for example. Do you prefer Nature or Cities?) Then the moderator shouts out two more choices and everyone moves north and south of the room. In this way, each person must move to somewhere and cant get lost in the crowd. Some sorts that work well include: dogs vs. cats, books vs. movies, sweet vs. salty, casual vs. dress up, inside vs. outside; be on the stage performing vs. in the audience watching, and so on. The second half of the icebreaker, the Mingle game, works as follows: The moderator shouts out a general category and the group is asked to mingle around to find others that have the same answer and they clump up to form a larger group. After about thirty seconds to one minute, the moderator asks each group call out their answer. If a person is unique and is the only one with an answer, thats okay. Examples of mingles: your favorite place on Earth; your favorite dessert; the kind of animal you like best; if you could have dinner with someone, who would you choose; your favorite hobby; if you could be anyone, what would it be? Both halves of this game help people introduce themselves in a fun, interactive format

Superlative Game
The Superlative Game is a simple icebreaker that asks players to line up in ascending order for various different categories (e.g. height, birthday month, etc.). Its very easy to learn and play, and it doesnt require a lot of time. This game can be classified as a get-to-know-you style icebreaker. The recommended group size is medium, large, or extra large groups. Players will be divided into multiple teams of at least five people. This game can be played both indoors or outdoors. There are no special materials required to play. It works great with all ages. Setup for the Superlative Game The facilitator of the Superlative game needs to prepare a list of categories. These categories can be surface-level categories such as height (in ascending order), birthday month (in ascending order, from January to December), shoe size, number of siblings (least to most), etc. or you can also make deeper categories, depending on your goals. Playing the Superlative Game Split the group into at least three teams. The ideal team size is at least five players per team, but preferably no more than nine. Explain the rules and consider using one of the variations below (such as the no talking rule). Read the first category aloud, such as Line up by increasing order of height. Go! Each team scrambles to get in the proper order. When a team thinks they are done, they must all sit down and raise their hands. At this point, the facilitator checks the team and verifies that they are in the proper order. If they made a mistake, they get awarded zero points that round and the facilitator checks the next group that sat down. The first team to correctly get in order and sits down gets awarded a point. The facilitator then reads off the next category, and this process repeats until the game is over (no more categories). Variations There are many variations to this game that are worth considering. These include: 1. No talking allowed. All players must rely on body language and hand gestures to get in the proper order. 2. Head and feet only. You can only use your head and feet to signal where to go. No talking or use of arms/hands to communicate.

Telephone Charade Game

Telephone Charades (also known as Charades Down the Line) is a hilarious icebreaker in which a person acts out a charade only for the next person in the line, who in turn acts out for the next person. The last person standing in line attempts to guess what the original clue was. This is in active icebreaker that works best with a group of five or six people. It can also be implemented for larger groups by taking five or six volunteers per round. This game is best played indoors. No special materials are required other than sheets of paper with the clues written on them. Telephone Charades is for people age 10 and up. Setup for Telephone Charades Telephone Charades or Charades Down the Line is an active icebreaker that combines charades with the telephone down the line game. To prepare for the game, write a list of humorous actions to be acted out. Some examples are:

a pantomime a nerds first date a cat bathing itself going skydiving fishing and catching a huge fish

Instructions for How to Play Choose five or six people (or ask for volunteers) and ask them to line up in a row, facing the left side of the room. Ask the first person to turn around to see the first clue to be acted out. Reveal the clue to the person, and display the clue to the audience as well. The first person turns around and taps the next person in line on the shoulder. He or she then acts out the clue using classic charades rules (no talking or noises permitted). The second person then taps the third person and acts out his or her understanding of what was acted out. This process continues until it reaches the last person in line, who must guess what the action is. This game is funny because the acting tends to warp and get distorted based upon each persons interpretation of what is going on. Variation A good variation to try is to have two teams line up and act out the same clue simultaneously. The teams that guess the clue correctly (or most correctly) wins the round

Lost on a Desert Island

Lost on a Deserted Island is a teambuilding activity that also helps people share a little about themselves. Given the scenario that everyone is lost and stranded on a deserted island, each person describes one object that they would bring and why. This game is a teambuilding and get-to-know-you icebreaker. The recommended group size is medium, although small and large group sizes are possible too. An indoor setting is ideal. No special props or materials are required. This icebreaker works well for any age, including adults and corporate settings. Instructions for Lost on a Deserted Island The situation is dire following a shipwreck, everyone has been stranded on a deserted island! Each person is allowed to bring one object to the island ideally something that represents them or something that they enjoy. The first part of this icebreaker is simple: each person is asked to describe what object they would bring and why. This need not be realistic; if someone loves music, he or she might choose to bring a guitar, or an animal lover might choose to bring a dog, a food lover might choose to bring sirloin steaks, and so on. Encourage people to be creative. After everyone has introduced their object and why they have chosen that object, the teambuilding portion follows. Divide into smaller groups and ask everyone to work together to improve their chances of survival by combining the various objects that they introduced. If necessary, you can add more objects, but be sure to use all the objects that everyone mentioned. If you wish, you can reward the most creative group with a prize. Lost on a Deserted Island is an approachable way to get people to open up and share a little bit about themselves and what they enjoy or value.

Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie is a classic get-to-know-you icebreaker. Players tell two truths and one lie. The object of the game is to to determine which statement is the false one. Interesting variations of this game are provided below. This game is a get-to-know-you icebreaker. Recommended group size is: small, medium, or large. Works best with 6-10 people. Any indoor setting will work. No special materials are needed, although pencil and paper is optional. For all ages. Instructions for Two Truths and a Lie Ask all players to arrange themselves in a circle. Instruct each player to think of three statements about themselves. Two must be true statements, and one must be false. For each person, he or she shares the three statements (in any order) to the group. The goal of the icebreaker game is to determine which statement is false. The group votes on which one they feel is a lie, and at the end of each round, the person reveals which one was the lie. Variations to Try Two Truths and a Dream Wish. - An interesting variation of Two Truths and a Lie is Two Truths and a Dream Wish. Instead of telling a lie, a person says a wish. That is, something that is not true yet something that the person wishes to be true. For example, someone that has never been to Europe might say: I often travel to Europe for vacation. This interesting spin on the icebreaker can often lead to unexpected, fascinating results, as people often share touching wishes about themselves.

Four Corners
Heres another good icebreaker for the beginning of a school semester or as a fun way for people to get to know each other better. Four Corners (also known as Four Squares) is a simple activity in which students share who they are through the use of handdrawn pictures. This icebreaker is for all ages, and works well with small and medium groups. It usually takes about 15 minutes, depending on how much time you want to allow for sharing the pictures. Youll need sheets of paper and writing utensils. Dont worry, no artistic skills are required for this icebreaker activity just have fun and encourage everyone to enjoy being creative while illustrating who they are! Setup for Four Corners Distribute a pen and sheet of paper for each player. Each person divides the sheet into four boxes/squares either by folding the paper in half twice (vertically and horizontally) or simply by drawing a horizontal and vertical line that crosses in the middle. For each square, each person will describe themselves in the form of drawings. Choose these four topics in advance. For example, in the top left square, everyone could draw favorite hobbies, while in the top right, people could illustrate favorite place on earth for vacation, the bottom left could be something like if you were an animal, which one would you be? and the bottom right could be something like what are the most important things in your life? Feel free to be as creative, hypothetical, or deep as you like. Allow five to ten minutes to draw. When everyone is finished, gather them together and share the drawings as a group. This icebreaker is an excellent way for students to show-and-tell what makes them unique!

King Elephant
King Elephant (also known as Animal Kingdom Game) is well suited as a good party game or an icebreaker for meetings. It involves a little bit of silliness and is a lot of fun. The goal of the game is to become the King Elephant, the head of the circle. This active game works best if you have between 8 and 15 people. It is a good indoor game, and although it does require some movements (mainly making animal gestures), there is no running involved. No special props are required - its pretty simple to play! The recommended age is 10 and up. Setup for King Elephant Game Not much setup is required. Instruct all players to have a seat and arrange everyone in a circle, facing each other. Each seat in the circle will be a different animal, arranged in order from the top of the food chain (the King Elephant) down to the bottom of the food chain (a slimy worm). Designate one person to be the King Elephant and then assign the other animals in order. If you wish, you can let players choose their own animal and invent their own gesture for the animal. Otherwise, typical motions for the animals are:

King Elephant - hold one arm out, extended away from your nose, while the other arm wraps around and holds your nose. Bird - join both of your thumbs together and flap your hands like a bird flying Chicken - place your hands under armpits and flap your arms Alligator - extend your arms out in front of you, with one hand facing up, and the other down, and clamp them both together like an alligators jaws Bear - hold your two hands out like giant bear claws Lion - connect your hands above your head like a circle, make a growling face like a lions roar Snake - make a slithering snake movement with one of your arms Fish - clasp both your hands together and imitate a fish swimming upstream Monkey - puff cheeks, while pulling your ears out Worm - wiggle one bent finger

How to Play King Elephant King Elephant is a rhythm game in that you must successfully stay on beat. Depending on the chair you are currently seated in, each person adopts an animal gesture (as described above, or you may create a new one). The task is to correctly do your animal signal when called upon, and then to make another animals signal to try to get that person to make a mistake. The rhythm to maintain is set by the person who is King Elephant. He or she can alter the speed as desired. Everyone follows the rhythm of a 1-2-3-4 pattern, where 1 is a pat on the knee, 2 is a clap, 3 and 4 are left and right thumbs (or the signals). The person does his or her own signal (animal gesture and noise) first, followed by another animals signal. So for example, a round could look like this:

King Elephant, page 2 King Elephant starts rhythm: knee pat, clap, elephant signal (his or her own signal), King Elephant signals a different player: knee pat, clap, bear signal (or anyone elses signal), Bear continues: knee pat, clap, bear signal (his or her own signal), Bear signals another player: knee pat, clap, fish signal, Fish continues: knee pat, clap, fish signal (his or her own signal).. and so on. When people fail to keep the rhythm or make a mistake on their signal (e.g. do a signal when they arent supposed to) then they become the new worm and everyone else moves up by sliding up a seat. Those who change seats take on the role of a new animal. The goal is to try to be the King Elephant by knocking out anyone in front of you. Great fun! Be sure to get everyone to make funny animal sound effects when they do their signal too.

String Game
The String Game is an introduction icebreaker game and conversation starter that allows people to tell others about themselves. Its a simple game and can be adapted according to your needs. This getting-to-know-you game usually does not take long, unless you choose to run it that way. The recommended group size is small and medium groups, although with careful planning it might be possible to do this activity in a large group by splitting it into smaller groups. An indoor setting is ideal. This icebreaker is recommended for young children up through eighth grade. Its well suited for classrooms, camps, or other settings where people may not know each other very well yet. Instructions for the String Game This activity needs a little bit of preparation work. Purchase a big roll of yarn or string. You can buy any color, or multiple colors if you wish. Take a pair of scissors and cut strings of various different lengths as short as 12 inches, and as long as 30 or more inches. When you are finished cutting the string, bunch all the pieces up into one big clump of string. To play, ask the first volunteer to choose any piece of string. Have the person pull on it and separate it from the other pieces of string. Ask them to introduce themselves as they slowly wind the piece of string around their index finger. The funny part of this icebreaker game is that some of the strings are extremely long, so sometimes a person must keep talking for a very long time! This is a good way to get everyone to start talking. People might find out something interesting or new about each other! Feel free to adapt this game according to your needs. Have fun.

Photoscavenger Hunt
Photo Scavenger Hunt is a fun team-based scavenger hunt with an interesting twist the goal is to bringing back digital photos (or polaroids) of places and things. By doing this, people will capture good memories and also have some experience working together as a team. This is an active game and teambuilding activity. The recommended group size is: teams of three or four people. Allocate plenty of time for this activity. Recommended ages are: 15 and up. You will need one camera (a digital camera or polaroid) for each team. Setup for the Photo Scavenger Hunt As the facilitator of this activity, prepare a list of about twelve interesting places, things, and circumstances that can be captured using a camera. Some examples of items you can write are:

A family of animals A group photo with a local celebrity or someone famous A very relaxing place Something big and the color pink The biggest tree A group photo with someone dressed in very formal attire A photo with a yellow car A human pyramid of at least seven people The funniest thing you can find Something that begins with the letter Z

Be creative with this list. When you have the list prepared, make enough copies for each team. Playing the Photo Scavenger Hunt Divide the group into teams of about three to four people. Distribute cameras (preferably digital, although polaroid is okay too) and copies of the list you made. Explain the rules of the activity. Set a time limit for the groups (e.g. two hours or so). Instruct the teams to find as many things as they can on the list, and for each item, take a picture with all the group members in the photo. Encourage the players to be creative and to think otuside of the box. When time expires, have all members reconvene and present their photos along with their checklist. Award one point for each successful photo item and bonus points for extra creativity or effort. This activity is great for building team chemistry and for creating (and capturing!) funny memories. Be sure to provide adequate supervision if there are younger participants. Always keep safety first!

Bigger and Better

Bigger and Better is a team building activity in which teams compete by trading ordinary objects. The winner is the team that ends up with the biggest and best items when time expires. This active teambuilding exercise requires six people at minimum, and can support very large groups if the teams are divided evenly. Teams should be about three to six people in size. This game involves interacting with lots of strangers in a public place such as a school campus. Props required include small objects such as paper clips or pens (one for each team). Recommended age is 18 and up. This game can be played with adults and even in corporate settings. When playing with younger people, please be sure to provide proper supervision when necessary. Setup for Bigger and Better To prepare for Bigger and Better, get several paper clips or some small objects that are low in value. Be sure to have enough to provide one per team. Playing Bigger and Better Explain the rules to everyone: You will give each team a small object, and their job is to keep trading and upgrading their teams object to obtain the largest and most valuable item possible. They may not offer anything other than the item they have, and they must stick together as a group. Set a time limit, such as one or two hours, and tell everyone that they must be back in time or else they will be disqualified. Announce that each teams item will be judged in three categories: size, value, and creativity. Divide the group into teams of three to six. Pass out the paper clip (or other small object) to the each group and send them off. When time expires, the judging process begins. Each team presents their item before the entire group. They explain why their item is biggest and best. At the end, choose winners for each of the three categories, or judge the items in any other way you wish. This activity involves good teamwork and creativity as each team coordinates their efforts and decides what strategies they will approach when playing. Camaraderie will be built, and surprises will come out of the activity. Who knows, a group might be able to turn a paper clip into a car! Well, maybe a toy car.

Personal Trivia Baseball

Personal Trivia Baseball is an icebreaker game that involves guessing facts of various difficulty levels to obtain singles, doubles, triples, and home runs. This game helps people discover facts about each other in a fun way. This get-to-know-you game is played with two teams of about six to eight people each. The recommended location for this game is indoors. Materials required are: several sheets of paper and pens. Personal Trivia Baseball is playable by ages 10 and up, including college students and adults in corporate settings. Setup for Personal Trivia Baseball This game should be played with two teams. Divide the players into two teams of about six to eight people other team sizes are possible but less ideal, as the game may be too short or too long. You can increase or decrease the number of sheets accordingly, depending on how long you want the game to last. To prepare for the game, pass out four sheets and a pen to each player. Instruct each person to write S on the first sheet, D on the second, T on the third, and HR on , the fourth. These letters stand for single, double, triple, and home run, respectively. On each of these sheets, each person writes an interesting fact about themselves. Do not write any names on the sheets, because the goal of the game is to guess whose fact is written on each sheet. The fact written on the single (S) sheet should be the easiest to guess; the double (D) sheet should be a little harder to figure out; the triple (T) even harder; and the home run (HR) should be the hardest. Once everyone is finished writing their clues, collect them and sort them into four piles per team: singles, doubles, triples, home run. Shuffle all the papers and arrange the piles into four different corners of the room, in the shape of a baseball diamond (see image below).

Personal Baseball, page 2 Playing Personal Trivia Baseball The way Personal Trivia Baseball is played is similar to normal baseball rules. Each team has three outs per inning and tries to score as many runs as they can. On a turn, a player chooses to go for a single (easiest), double, triple, or home run (most difficult). He or she picks a sheet from the other teams piles, reads it, and then guesses which of the people on the other team wrote the fact. Once he or she makes a guess, the guessed person on the other team simply says yes or no. If the guess is correct, the person successfully gets on base with a single, double, triple, or home run and moves to that part of the room. If the guess is incorrect, then the team adds another out. Move on to the next batter and repeat until there are three outs. Once there are three outs, change to the other team and repeat. Keep track of the number of runs each team has scored. Keep playing until all the clues are revealed, or for a shorter game, set a time limit or a set number of innings. The winner is the team with the higher score at the end.

Unique and Shared

Unique and Shared is a get-to-know-you game as well as a team-building activity. The game helps people see that they have more in common with their peers than they might initially realize, while highlighting their own individual strengths that they can contribute to the group. An indoor setting is preferable. Participants will split into groups of about five people, so this activity works fine with medium, large, and even some extra large groups. Each group of five needs paper and a pen. This activity is for all ages. Instructions for Unique and Shared Ask participants to form groups of five people with the people around them. Pass out sheets of paper and writing utensil. The first half of the activity is the Shared part. Instruct a notetaker for each group to create a list of many common traits or qualities that members of the group have in common. Avoid writing things that are immediately obvious (e.g. dont write down something like everyone has hair or we are all wearing clothes). The goal is for everyone to dig deeper than the superficial. Allow about five or six minutes and then have a spokesperson from each subgroup read their list. If there are too many groups, ask for a few volunteers to read their list. The second half is the Unique part. Keep the same groups or, optionally, you can ask everyone to rearrange themselves into new groups. On a second sheet of paper have them record Unique traits and qualities; that is, items that only apply to one person in the group. Instruct the group to find at least two unique qualities and strengths per person. Again, strive for qualities and strengths beyond the superficial and past the obvious things anyone can readily see. Allow another five or six minutes. When time is up, share the unique qualities in one of the following ways: (1) each person can share one of their unique qualities themselves; (2) have each person read the qualities of the person to their right; or (3) have a spokesperson read a quality one at a time, and have the others guess who it was. Unique and Shared is a valuable team-building activity because it promotes unity as it gets people to realize that they have more common ground with their peers than they first might realize. As people become aware of their own unique characteristics, they can also help people feel empowered to offer the group something unique.

Who Done It?

Who Done It? is an icebreaker that reveals interesting (and sometimes incredible!) things people have done. Its a simple guessing game that is straightforward to play. This game is a get-to-know-you style icebreaker in which players try to guess which person corresponds to each item written on notecards. The recommended group size is a medium sized group of about eight to sixteen people, although the game can be adapted to accommodate other sized groups. Playing this icebreaker indoors is most ideal. Materials required are: several notecards and pens. Who Done It? is playable by all ages, including college students and adults in corporate settings. Setup and Gameplay for Who Done It (Whodunit?) This game can be played individually or with two teams. For extremely large groups, choose ten volunteers and split them into two teams of five. To set up the game, pass out an index card and a pen for each participant. Ask each person to write down something interesting they have done. Examples include the following:

I went skydiving once. I starred in a class play. I lived in seven different states. I ate bugs before.

Try to instruct people to write a fact that most people dont already know - the sillier (or more unbelievable) the better. Collect all the cards (separate them into two piles if two teams are playing). Shuffle the cards and then pass them back out. Each person (or team) takes turns reading aloud their card and then the reader must guess whose fact he or she read. After he or she guesses, the guessed person simply says yes or no. If the person guesses correctly, the guessed person can briefly explain what they wrote (if desired). The guessing continues until all cards are exhausted. Everyone reveals who wrote which card at the end. The Who Done It? game is a good, simple get-to-know-you game that is especially good for groups with new people, or for whenever you wish to help people get to know each other better to break the ice. Sometimes humorous facts can be revealed, leading people to exclaim, You did WHAT? Source:
icebreakers.ws. (n.d.). Fun games, icebreakers and group activities. Retrieved July 12, 08, from icebreakers.ws: http://www.icebreakers.ws/