• 40 games

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

Pick the office or a video call, how much notice you have and how long the slot is.

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

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  1. Broom Curling to a Taped Target1. 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.
  2. Spooky Playlist Bracket1. 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.
  3. Thirteen Paper Bats Around the Office1. 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.

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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.
Show all 40 games (37 more)

In the office or a meeting room, continued

  • 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.
  • You've Been Booed Desk Chain 1. The organizer posts a sign-up sheet; only desks on the list can be booed. 2. On Monday the organizer secretly leaves a small treat bag and a ghost sign at two desks. 3. Anyone who is booed hangs the sign up and has two working days to boo one listed desk that has no sign yet. 4. The chain ends when every listed desk shows a sign. 5. On the last day everyone guesses who booed them. Allergy line: the sheet has an allergy column and a no-candy option, and bags hold wrapped candy with labels on, or a pen and a note. Prepare: post the sign-up sheet and print the ghost signs the week before. Sitting out: a desk that is not on the list is never booed. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: a sign-up sheet, printed ghost signs and small treat bags.

On a video call 15

  • Arm's-Reach Desk Creature 1. The host starts a three-minute timer. 2. Each player builds a creature from exactly five things within arm's reach: a mug, a stapler, sticky notes, a cable, a plant. 3. When time is up, creatures come to the camera one at a time. 4. Each builder gives the creature a name and the one thing in the office it is afraid of. 5. The chat votes for the creature most likely to survive a Monday. Nothing hot or sharp goes into a creature. Prepare: nothing. Sitting out: watching and voting need no camera. Players: 3 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: five things from each player's own desk.
  • Breakout Room Conversation Cards 1. Pick three cards from this site's Halloween conversation starters. 2. Send groups of three or four to breakout rooms for three minutes with the first card pasted in the chat. 3. Bring everyone back, reshuffle the rooms and send the second card. 4. After the third round, anyone who likes types one thing they learned in the main chat, with that colleague's agreement. In a room: tables of four, and one person from each table moves on after every card. Prepare: choose the cards and test the breakout rooms the day before. Sitting out: a player may stay in the main room with the host. Players: 6 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Chat Waterfall: What Made You Jump 1. The host asks one light question, such as which ordinary thing made you jump this year. 2. Everyone types an answer in the chat but does not send it. 3. On the count of three, all send at once, so the answers fall down the screen together. 4. The host reads out five and asks one writer for the ten-second story. 5. Play three questions. Questions stay light, with nothing about real fears, health or home life. Prepare: nothing but three questions written down. Sitting out: nobody has to send an answer. Players: 4 to 100. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Costume Show-and-Tell in Thirty Seconds 1. People who want a turn raise a hand with the call's reaction button. 2. The host spotlights each one for 30 seconds. 3. They show a costume, a hat or a single prop and say what it is and where it came from. 4. The chat answers with one emoji only, so nobody is ranked. 5. After the last turn, the host thanks each person by name. A prop held up to the camera counts as a costume. Prepare: tell people the day before that a hat or a prop is enough. Sitting out: no raised hand means no spotlight. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • Cropped Costume Close-Ups 1. Before the call, anyone who wants to play sends the host one close-up photo of a small part of a costume or decoration: a button, a brim, a painted stripe. 2. The host puts the crops on numbered slides. 3. On the call, players write down what the whole thing is and whose it is. 4. The host shows the full photo after each slide. 5. One point for the object and one for the owner. Photos show costumes and decorations, not faces or bodies. Prepare: collect the photos and build the slides the day before. Sitting out: sending no photo keeps a player off the slides. Players: 5 to 40. Time: 15 min. Props: a slide deck.
  • Describe-and-Draw Jack-o'-Lantern 1. The host holds a drawing of a jack-o'-lantern that nobody else can see. 2. Players take a pen and paper. 3. The host describes the drawing in ten plain instructions, such as a triangle eye on the left, larger than the one on the right, and repeats none of them. 4. Players may not ask questions. 5. On three, everyone holds a drawing up to the camera beside the original, and the group picks the closest twin. In a room: the host faces away from the group and the drawings go up on a wall. Prepare: draw the original and write the ten instructions the day before. Sitting out: a drawing can stay off camera. Players: 3 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and a pen each.
  • Fetch Something Orange Dash 1. The host calls one thing to fetch: something orange, something older than you, something that glows, something that could be a wand. 2. Players have 30 seconds to bring it to the camera. 3. Everyone back in time scores 1, and the host asks for the story of one item. 4. Play eight rounds. Walk, do not run, and fetch nothing from a stove, a high shelf or another person's room. Prepare: write the eight calls the day before. Sitting out: a player may hold up something already on the desk, or cheer in the chat with the camera off. Players: 4 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Halloween Emoji Riddles in the Chat 1. The host prepares 12 Halloween words or phrases written only in emoji, such as a ghost and a house for haunted house. 2. The host pastes one riddle in the chat. 3. Players type guesses, and the first correct answer scores 1. 4. The host says each answer aloud for anyone not reading the chat. 5. After 12 riddles, the top scorer sets a 13th for everyone else. Prepare: write and test the 12 riddles the day before, because emoji look different on some devices. Sitting out: the chat can be watched without typing. Players: 4 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Pet, Plant or Plush Costume Parade 1. Anyone who likes brings a pet, a houseplant or a soft toy in a simple costume to the camera. 2. The host spotlights each for 20 seconds while the owner introduces the model by name and costume. 3. A poll picks the calmest model, the most office-ready and the most likely to be promoted. 4. The host adds awards until every entrant has a title. A pet that dislikes its costume comes out of it at once and still gets its turn. Prepare: tell people the day before, so plants can be dressed in time. Sitting out: nobody needs an entrant to watch and vote. Players: 4 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Pun Team Names, Then a Quiz 1. Split the call into teams of four and give each a breakout room for three minutes. 2. Each team picks a name from this site's Halloween trivia team names, or writes a pun of its own. 3. Back together, the host reads 15 cards from this site's random trivia generator, and teams confer by private chat. 4. One scribe for each team types the answer when the host says go. 5. One point each, and a bonus point for the team name the other teams vote the wittiest. In a room: teams sit at tables and write answers on a sheet. Prepare: choose the 15 questions and check the answers the day before. Sitting out: the scorekeeper does not answer. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 25 min. Props: none.
  • Spooky Background Vote 1. A week ahead, invite everyone to set a Halloween virtual background or dress the wall behind them. 2. On the call, the host switches to gallery view and gives the group one minute to look. 3. Entrants type a title for their background in the chat. 4. Everyone votes in a poll for three awards: most detail, funniest, and most convincing haunted office. 5. Winners keep their background for the next meeting. No gore, no fake weapons and nothing that mocks a culture or a belief. Prepare: send the invitation a week ahead and build the poll the day before. Sitting out: a plain background is never remarked on, and cameras may stay off. Players: 5 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Twelve Doors Slide: Trick or Treat 1. The host builds one slide with 12 numbered doors, each linked to a hidden slide. 2. Six hide a treat, such as choosing the first item on the next agenda. 3. Six hide a harmless trick, such as saying your job title in a spooky voice or showing the oldest thing on your desk. 4. Players who want a turn pick a door. 5. Anyone may swap a trick for a pun of their own. Tricks never touch appearance, food or anything physical. Prepare: build and test the linked slides the day before, and agree the treats with a manager. Sitting out: picking a door is always a choice. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: a slide deck with linked doors.
  • Two-Sentence Eerie Stories 1. Everyone gets five minutes to write a story in exactly two sentences: the first sets an ordinary scene, and the second turns it strange. 2. Writers paste the story in the chat when the host says go, or send it privately to be read without a name. 3. The host reads each one aloud. 4. A poll picks the biggest shiver and the biggest laugh. Eerie, not gory: no blood, no harm to children or animals, and no colleagues or clients in the story. In a room: stories go on slips in a box, and the host reads them out. Prepare: nothing, though sending the rule the day before lets people write ahead. Sitting out: listening and voting are enough. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • What Changed Behind the Host 1. The host sets ten Halloween things in view of the camera: a paper bat, a gourd, a hat on a lamp. 2. Players study the scene for 30 seconds. 3. The host turns the camera off, changes three things and turns it back on. 4. Players send their three answers to the host by private message. 5. One point for each change spotted. Play three rounds, with a new host for each if others have a scene ready. Prepare: gather the ten things and plan the changes the day before. Sitting out: watching needs no answers. Players: 4 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: ten Halloween decorations.
  • Would You Rather Poll Round 1. Pick six cards from this site's Halloween would you rather questions and check that each suits your team. 2. Put each into the call's poll tool with its two options. 3. Run one poll at a time and show the split. 4. Ask for a volunteer from the smaller side to make the case in 20 seconds. 5. Run the poll again and see who changed sides. Polls are anonymous, and nobody is called on without a raised hand. In a room: the two sides of the room are the two answers. Prepare: load the six polls the day before. Sitting out: a poll can be skipped without anyone knowing. Players: 4 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

How this list was compiled: Written for the person organizing a Halloween hour at work, in an office or on a video call, in our own words; player ranges and minutes are our estimates. Every entry passed a work-safe screen: nothing gory, no costume judged on a body or a culture, a stated way to sit out, no alcohol, and an allergy line wherever food appears. This is planning help, not legal advice, and your employer's policies come first. The screen follows the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's harassment page, read on 2026-09-19 at https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment, which carried a notice that day that the agency was reviewing it. Licence: own work

How it works

Halloween games for work have to suit people who did not choose a party. These 40 are screened: nothing gory, no alcohol, no costume judged on a body or culture, and a way to sit out of every game.

Read the full guide

Choose by notice, not by theme

Prepare sorts the list by notice. Nothing to prepare shows six games, such as Office Ghost Tour in Two-Minute Stops. Set up the day before shows the 27 that need printing or props, and Start a week ahead the seven that need colleagues to send something in. A lunch hour of Halloween office party games holds about three.

What runs on a call

On a video call shows 21 games: the 15 written for a call, plus six office games with a line on running them remotely. On a call, virtual Halloween games for work go flat when only the loud join in, so the chat does the work in Halloween Emoji Riddles in the Chat and Chat Waterfall: What Made You Jump.

  • Copy the Sitting out line into the invitation, so nobody has to ask how to skip a game.
  • When Halloween Bingo Over Lunch comes up, a link to the card maker appears below the tool.

Questions and answers

What makes a Halloween game safe for work?

It singles nobody out. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lists offensive jokes, ridicule and offensive objects or pictures as examples of offensive conduct, and says the victim can be anyone affected. So every entry says how to sit out. Your employer's policy comes first.

How do we run a costume contest without making anyone uncomfortable?

Make it opt-in and judge the costume, never the person. In Ten-Award Costume Ballot, Opt-In Only, the ballot lists only people who took a numbered sticker, and awards go to things like the cleverest pun. No award describes a body, an age or a culture.

What about candy and allergies?

Every game here with candy or food carries an allergy line. Desk-to-Desk Trick-or-Treat Trail asks each host desk for wrapped candy with the label on and one non-food treat. Potluck Pun Label Contest lets no dish onto the table without an ingredient card.

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