Halloween Games for Work, in the Office or on a Video Call

In the office or a meeting room 25

• Broom Curling to a Taped Target 1. Tape a target of three rings on a smooth floor, scoring 3, 2 and 1 from the middle out, and a launch line 15 feet back. 2. Two teams take turns. 3. A player pushes a beanbag toward the line with a soft broom at walking pace and lets it slide on alone from the line. 4. A beanbag may knock others out of the rings. 5. After four beanbags each, score what lies in the rings. Play three ends. Clear bags, cables and chairs from the lane first. Prepare: test the floor and tape the target the day before. Sitting out: a scorer and a line judge are needed. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 15 min. Props: a soft broom, eight beanbags in two colors and painter's tape.
• Caption the Office Pumpkin 1. The host photographs a pumpkin doing three office jobs: stuck at the copier, chairing an empty meeting, asleep on a keyboard. 2. The prints go on a board beside a pad of sticky notes. 3. Through the morning, anyone adds a caption under a photo, signed or not. 4. After lunch everyone gets three dots to vote with. 5. The host reads out the top caption for each photo. Captions are about the pumpkin, never about a colleague, a client or a group of people, and the host removes any that are not. Prepare: take and print the three photos the day before. Sitting out: reading the board is taking part enough. Players: 5 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: three printed photos, sticky notes, pens and sticky dots.
• Charades by Department 1. Open this site's Halloween charades words on a phone; the page has a round timer and team scores. 2. Departments are the teams, and small departments join together. 3. One actor has 60 seconds to get the team through as many cards as possible, with no sounds and no pointing at colleagues. 4. A pass costs nothing, and the actor changes every turn. 5. After three turns each, the top score wins. An actor may skip any card. Prepare: nothing but a charged phone. Sitting out: guessing from a chair is a full part, and a scorer is needed. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: a phone.
• Corridor Pumpkin Putt 1. Cut three arches of different widths along the bottom of a cardboard pumpkin and mark them 1, 2 and 3, the narrowest scoring most. 2. Stand it at the end of a quiet corridor and tape a line 10 feet away. 3. Each player putts three balls from the line. 4. Add up the arches the balls pass through; ties putt one ball from 15 feet. 5. Post the top score on the pumpkin for the next challenger. Putts only: the club head stays below the ankle. Prepare: cut and paint the cardboard the day before, and borrow a putter. Sitting out: a scorer and a ball returner stand well behind the pumpkin. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: a putter, three foam golf balls, a cardboard pumpkin and tape.
• Department Theme Reveal 1. Each department that wants to play agrees a secret group theme two weeks ahead, such as a box of crayons, weather forecasts or punctuation marks. 2. On the day, the department arrives in theme; a hat, a color or a sign is enough. 3. At the gathering, each group stands together for 30 seconds while the others write down a guess. 4. One point for each correct guess, and a bonus point to the group that fooled the most people. Themes are objects, colors, puns and ideas: never a culture, a religion, a real person or a body type. Prepare: collect the themes in confidence two weeks ahead, and check each against that rule. Sitting out: a colleague can skip the theme and still guess. Players: 8 to 100. Time: 15 min. Props: guess sheets and pens.
• Desk-to-Desk Trick-or-Treat Trail 1. Volunteers sign up as host desks and put a paper pumpkin on their monitor. 2. Everyone else gets a stamp card that lists the host desks. 3. For a set 20 minutes, walkers visit each host, answer that desk's one easy riddle and collect a stamp and a treat. 4. Every full card earns the same small non-food prize. Allergy line: each host desk offers wrapped candy with the label on and one non-food treat, such as a sticker or a pen. Prepare: print the stamp cards and deliver treats to the host desks the day before. Sitting out: a desk with no paper pumpkin is never visited. Players: 10 to 100. Time: 20 min. Props: stamp cards, a stamp for each host desk, wrapped candy and non-food treats.
• Fill-in-the-Blank Haunted Memo 1. The host writes a short office memo about a haunted printer with 15 blanks, each labeled noun, verb, adjective, number or room in the building. 2. Without showing the memo, the host asks the group for a word for each blank in order. 3. A scribe writes them in. 4. The host reads the finished memo aloud in a serious voice. 5. Play again with a second memo and a new scribe. Words stay clean, and no blank is filled with the name of a colleague or a client. On a call: collect the words in the chat, one blank at a time. Prepare: write two memos the day before. Sitting out: listeners do not have to call out words. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: two printed memos with blanks and a pen.
• Halloween Bingo Over Lunch 1. Make a different card for each player on this site's Halloween bingo page, then print them or send each person the link. 2. The caller reads each square twice. 3. Players mark their cards with a pen or on a phone. 4. The first full line calls Boo and reads the line back for the caller to check. 5. Play on for a second line and a full card. Small non-food prizes keep the allergy question out of it. On a call: everyone plays from the link while the caller shares a screen. Prepare: print the cards and the call list the day before. Sitting out: a caller and a checker are needed. Players: 6 to 100. Time: 20 min. Props: printed bingo cards, pens and small non-food prizes.
• Lunchtime Whodunit: The Missing Stapler 1. The host writes a harmless mystery: the golden stapler has vanished, and five invented suspects, such as the night cleaner's cat and a visiting inspector called Mr. Graves, each have an alibi card. 2. Five clue envelopes go up around the office, each ruling out one suspect or one hiding place. 3. Teams of three or four read the clues in any order over lunch. 4. Each team hands in a slip naming the culprit, the hiding place and the motive. 5. The host reads the solution. Nobody is hurt in the story, and no suspect is a real colleague. Prepare: write the clues and hide the stapler the day before. Sitting out: eating lunch and hearing the solution is taking part. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 30 min. Props: five clue envelopes, suspect cards, answer slips and a stapler sprayed gold.
• No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating With a Judging Sheet 1. Each person or pair takes a small pumpkin and a kit of paint pens, stickers and paper; there are no knives. 2. Decorate for 20 minutes. 3. Number the pumpkins and line them up with the names hidden. 4. Three judges from different teams score each pumpkin from 1 to 5 for idea, craft and humor. 5. The top total in each column gets a ribbon, so three different pumpkins can win. Prepare: buy the pumpkins, cover the table and print the judging sheets the day before. Sitting out: judges and the tally keeper do not decorate. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 30 min. Props: small pumpkins, paint pens, stickers, table covers and judging sheets.
• Office Ghost Tour in Two-Minute Stops 1. Teams of two or three each choose one ordinary object or room: the printer that jams at four, the chair nobody picks, the lift that stops at an empty floor. 2. They get ten minutes to invent its harmless legend. 3. The whole group walks the tour, and each team tells its legend at its stop in under two minutes. 4. At the end, a show of hands picks the legend most likely to be told to new starters. Legends are about objects and rooms, never about colleagues past or present, and nothing in them is gory. Prepare: nothing, beyond checking that the route is clear. Sitting out: walk the tour as the audience, or stay at your desk. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: none.
• One-Minute Challenge Ladder 1. Pick five challenges from this site's Halloween one-minute games that use things the office already has. 2. Set each up on its own table with a printed card. 3. Pairs visit the tables in any order; one plays for 60 seconds while the other times, then they swap. 4. Each challenge beaten is a rung on the pair's ladder card. 5. Most rungs when time is called wins. Choose challenges with no food in them. Prepare: gather the props and try each challenge the day before. Sitting out: table hosts, timers and a scorer are needed. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: the props for five challenges, printed cards and ladder cards.
• Pod Decorating With a Walkabout Vote 1. Each team that wants to enter picks a theme for its pod or doorway and gets the same small budget. 2. Teams decorate before work or at lunch; walkways, exits and sprinklers stay clear. 3. At a set time everyone walks the floor with three sticky dots. 4. Dots go on the pods' score cards, one per pod at most and none on your own. 5. Most dots wins a trophy that stays on that pod until next year. No gore, no fake weapons and nothing that mocks a culture or a belief. Prepare: announce the rules and the budget a week ahead, and print the score cards the day before. Sitting out: a team can leave its pod plain and still vote. Players: 8 to 100. Time: 20 min. Props: a decorating budget for each team, score cards, sticky dots and a trophy.
• Potluck Pun Label Contest 1. Everyone who brings a dish writes a tent card with a Halloween pun name, the real name and the full ingredient list. 2. The cards stand in front of the dishes through lunch. 3. Each diner gets one slip and votes for the wittiest label, not the tastiest dish. 4. The host counts the slips during dessert and reads out the top three names. Allergy line: no card, no place on the table. The card names nuts, dairy, gluten, egg and soy where present, every dish has its own spoon, and no dish or drink contains alcohol. Prepare: send the card template and the rule the day before. Sitting out: bringing a dish and voting are both optional. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 15 min. Props: tent cards, pens, voting slips and a box.
• Recycling Bin Monster With a Job Title 1. Teams of three to five get a box of clean recycling, tape and markers. 2. They have 12 minutes to build a monster that stands up by itself. 3. Each team gives its monster a name, a job title and one line from its performance review. 4. Teams present for one minute each. 5. Everyone votes by standing beside a favorite that is not their own. Monsters are friendly office creatures, with no gore and no likeness of a real person. Prepare: collect and rinse boxes, tubes and bottles for a week, and check for sharp edges the day before. Sitting out: presenters, a timekeeper and a photographer are all needed. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: clean recycling, tape, string and markers.
• Spooky Playlist Bracket 1. A week ahead, anyone may nominate one spooky-season song with clean lyrics. 2. The host seeds the first 16 into a bracket on the wall. 3. Each morning, colleagues vote in that day's match-ups with sticky dots. 4. Winners move on, and the final is played on the afternoon of the party. 5. The person who nominated the winner picks the first track of the party playlist. On a call: keep the bracket in a shared sheet and vote with a poll. Prepare: open nominations a week ahead, then check every lyric and draw the bracket the day before round one. Sitting out: nominating and voting are both optional. Players: 6 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: a bracket chart, sticky dots and a speaker.
• Survey Showdown, Halloween Boards 1. Open this site's Halloween survey game questions on the meeting room screen: a tap-to-reveal board with strikes and two team scores. 2. Two teams send one player each to the front, and the first hand up answers. 3. The team with the higher answer on the board chooses to play or pass. 4. The playing team guesses the rest one member at a time, and three strikes give the other team one guess to take the points. 5. Play five boards. On a call: the host shares the board and takes answers by raised hand. Prepare: test the page on the meeting room screen the day before. Sitting out: the host and the scorekeeper never have to answer. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: a large screen.
• Ten-Award Costume Ballot, Opt-In Only 1. People who want to be judged take a numbered sticker at the door; nobody else is on the ballot. 2. At lunch everyone gets one ballot with ten awards: made from the least, most office supplies used, cleverest pun, most effort, team costume, quickest to put on, most comfortable, most mysterious, easiest to spot across the room and people's choice. 3. Voters write one sticker number beside each award. 4. Two counters tally while the next game runs, and the host hands out ten certificates. No award describes a body, an age or a culture. Prepare: print the ballots, number the stickers and sign ten certificates the day before. Sitting out: no sticker means no votes, and voting is optional too. Players: 8 to 100. Time: 20 min. Props: printed ballots, numbered stickers, a ballot box and ten certificates.
• Thirteen Paper Bats Around the Office 1. Before anyone arrives, tape 13 numbered paper bats in shared spaces, each marked with one letter. Nothing goes in desks, drawers or private offices. 2. Through the day, players note each bat's number and letter on a slip, and the bats stay where they are. 3. In number order the 13 letters spell a two-word greeting, such as HAPPY HAUNTING. 4. The first complete slip handed to the host wins, and every complete slip by four o'clock earns a small non-food prize. Prepare: cut, number and letter the bats the day before. Sitting out: to anyone not playing, the bats are only decoration. Players: 4 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: 13 paper bats, tape, entry slips and small prizes.
• Three Clues to Tomorrow's Costume 1. The day before the party, anyone planning a costume writes three clues to it on a slip, from hardest to easiest, and signs it. 2. At the morning stand-up the host draws a slip and reads the first clue without the name. 3. Teams write a guess: right after one clue scores 3, after two clues 2, after three clues 1. 4. The writer confirms the answer. 5. Play ten slips. Clues describe the costume, never the person who will wear it. On a call: clues go to the host by private message, and teams guess in breakout rooms. Prepare: put out the slips and a box two days before the party. Sitting out: no slip means no spotlight, and guessing is optional. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 15 min. Props: clue slips, a box, paper and pens.
• Throwback Costume Photo Board 1. A week ahead, invite people to send one photo of themselves in a costume from years ago. 2. Print the photos, number them and pin them up by the kitchen with no names. 3. Through the day, colleagues write a name beside each number on a guess sheet. 4. At three o'clock the host reads the answers, and each owner tells the story in one sentence. 5. Most correct names wins. The host checks every photo against the work-safe rules before it goes up. On a call: put the photos on numbered slides and take guesses in a form. Prepare: ask for photos a week ahead, then check and print them the day before. Sitting out: nobody who sends no photo appears on the board. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 15 min. Props: a pinboard, numbered prints, guess sheets and pens.
• Whiteboard Drawing Relay 1. Deal cards from this site's Halloween drawing game words. 2. Two teams line up at two whiteboards. 3. The first artist sees a word and draws for 20 seconds with no letters or numbers, then hands the pen to the next teammate, who carries on the same drawing. 4. The team guesses the whole time; a correct guess scores 1 and brings a new word. 5. Most words in five minutes wins, then swap boards and play again. Prepare: nothing, once you know the pens work. Sitting out: guessing from a chair is a full part, and a scorer is needed. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: two whiteboards, pens and a phone.
• Whose Pumpkin Is Whose 1. Each player decorates a mini pumpkin in private to show one hobby they are happy to share, with no name on it. 2. The host numbers the pumpkins and sets them on a shelf. 3. Everyone writes a colleague's name beside each number on a guess sheet. 4. Owners claim their pumpkins one at a time and say what the drawing means. 5. One point for each correct match. Prepare: hand out the pumpkins and markers the day before, so people can decorate at home or at a desk. Sitting out: guessing without entering a pumpkin is welcome. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 20 min. Props: mini pumpkins or paper ones, markers, number cards and guess sheets.
• Yarn Web Untangle by Team 1. The host winds each team's color of yarn around chair legs, table legs and the other yarns, about 20 turns each, between knee and waist height so nobody has to crawl. 2. Teams of three or four start at their own spool together. 3. One person winds the spool while teammates lift, pass and free the strand; nobody cuts yarn. 4. A snapped strand adds 30 seconds. 5. The first team with all its yarn back on the spool wins. Prepare: wind the web in an empty meeting room the evening before and shut the door. Sitting out: a timekeeper and a snap spotter are needed. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 15 min. Props: a ball of yarn in a different color for each team, and a room of chairs.