• 200 questions

Best Icebreaker Questions

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Best Icebreaker Questions

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All 200 questions

Multiple choice 40

  • How did you get here: car, bus or train, bike, on foot or a video link?
  • How do you feel about surprises: love them, fine, warn me first or please no?
  • How do you like your eggs: scrambled, fried, boiled or not at all?
  • How do you pack: a week ahead, the night before, that morning or too much?
  • How do you read: paper books, a screen, audiobooks or mostly menus?
  • How do you take notes: paper, laptop, phone or pure memory?
  • How do you take your potatoes: mashed, fried, baked or roasted?
  • How do you wake up: first alarm, third alarm, no alarm or the sun?
  • How early do you reach the airport: three hours, two, one or running?
  • How full is your inbox: empty, under control, scary or do not ask?
  • How spicy do you order: none, mild, medium or make me regret it?
  • Pick a game night mood: strategy, trivia, word games or pure luck?
  • Pick a home for one year: beach, mountains, big city or small town?
  • Pick a movie night: comedy, mystery, action or animated?
  • Pick a pizza crust: thin, thick, stuffed or whatever is free?
  • Pick a rainy day: movies, baking, a puzzle or a long nap?
  • Pick a sandwich bread: white, wheat, sourdough or a wrap?
  • Pick a Saturday morning: sleep in, exercise, errands or a long breakfast?
  • Pick a scoop: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or something with chunks?
  • Pick a time to visit: the past, the future or stay right here?
  • Pick a vacation pace: packed schedule, loose plan, no plan or stay home?
  • Pick a window seat view: mountains, ocean, city lights or open fields?
  • What is lunch today: leftovers, a sandwich, a salad or no plan yet?
  • What size group suits you: one to one, a small table, a big party or a crowd?
  • When are you sharpest: early morning, midday, evening or late at night?
  • Where do you stand in a group photo: front, back row, far edge or behind the camera?
  • Which breakfast wins: pancakes, eggs, cereal or just coffee?
  • Which chore do you mind least: dishes, laundry, vacuuming or the trash?
  • Which desk are you: spotless, tidy piles, creative mess or what desk?
  • Which hot drink is yours: coffee, tea, hot chocolate or none of them?
  • Which school subject is or was yours: math, English, science, art or gym?
  • Which season would you keep all year: spring, summer, fall or winter?
  • Which seat in a room is yours: front, middle, back or by the door?
  • Which snack vanishes first near you: chips, chocolate, fruit or nuts?
  • Which sound helps you focus: silence, music, a busy cafe or rain?
  • Which weather suits you: bright sun, light rain, fresh snow or a big storm?
  • Which would you add to this building: a nap room, a slide, a garden or a snack wall?
  • Which would you drive for a day: fire truck, race car, tractor or submarine?
  • Which would you learn overnight: a language, an instrument, a sport or a craft?
  • Which would you look after: a dog, a cat, a fish or one tough houseplant?

Food 24

  • What do you always order for the table?
  • What goes in your ideal sandwich, in five words or fewer?
  • What is one dish you can cook without a recipe?
  • What is the best smell that comes out of a kitchen?
  • What is the best thing you ate this week?
  • What is the best thing you can make in under ten minutes?
  • What is the first thing you look for in a bakery window?
  • What is the first thing you reach for in a grocery store?
  • What is your order at the movie snack counter?
  • What would you pack in a picnic basket for this group?
  • Which candy would you pick off a checkout shelf?
  • Which cereal would you eat straight from the box?
  • Which condiment would you keep if you could keep only one?
  • Which dessert do you never turn down?
  • Which food did you try once and never again?
  • Which food do you refuse to share?
  • Which food is better cold the next day?
  • Which fruit is overrated?
  • Which jam or spread is the right one?
  • Which kitchen gadget do you own and never use?
  • Which pasta shape is the best one?
  • Which potato chip flavor is the right one?
  • Which soup wins on a cold day?
  • Which vegetable deserves more respect?

One-word answers 24

  • Give your morning a one-word title.
  • Give your to-do list a one-word review.
  • Name a city you would visit tomorrow.
  • Name a color that matches your mood today.
  • Name a number you consider lucky.
  • Name a sound that means the weekend.
  • Name a sport you would happily watch for an hour.
  • Name a texture you cannot stand.
  • Name an animal that matches your energy today.
  • Name the month you would make twice as long.
  • Name the planet you would visit first.
  • One word for how you feel about Mondays.
  • One word for the last show you watched.
  • One word for the trip here today.
  • One word for the weather outside right now.
  • One word for this year so far.
  • One word for you and alarm clocks.
  • One word for your dance moves.
  • One word for your desk right now.
  • One word for your handwriting.
  • One word for your sense of direction.
  • One word for your sleep last night.
  • One word your friends would use for your cooking.
  • What is a word you just like saying out loud?

Friendly debates 22

  • Do plates need a rinse before the dishwasher?
  • Do socks with sandals deserve a second chance?
  • How do you say GIF: hard G or soft G? The format's creators said it with a soft G; polls find the hard G more common, and major dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster and Oxford list both.
  • Is a hot drink on a hot day reasonable?
  • Is a nap after four in the afternoon a mistake?
  • Is a thumbs-up a complete reply to a long message?
  • Is a thumbs-up reply friendly or cold?
  • Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable in your kitchen? Botanically the tomato is a berry; cooks treat it as a vegetable.
  • Is an alarm set for 6:43 sensible or strange?
  • Is breakfast food fine for dinner?
  • Is cereal a soup? Yes or no, and one reason.
  • Is it fine to recline your seat on a plane?
  • Is rereading an old favorite better than starting a new book?
  • Is the end piece the best slice of the loaf or the worst?
  • Is the first pancake always the worst one?
  • Is walking up a moving escalator polite or pushy?
  • Is water wet? You have ten seconds.
  • Should a group chat ever have more than ten people?
  • Should the person nearest the door always be the one to open it?
  • Should the TV volume sit on an even number, or does it not matter?
  • Should toast be cut corner to corner or straight across?
  • Should toilet paper hang over or under?

Firsts and lasts 24

  • What was the first board game or card game you loved?
  • What was the first sport or club you joined?
  • What was the first thing you cooked by yourself?
  • What was the first thing you did after getting up today?
  • What was the first thing you said out loud today?
  • What was the last book, show or podcast you finished?
  • What was the last compliment you gave someone?
  • What was the last new food you tried?
  • What was the last note you wrote by hand?
  • What was the last place you went for the first time?
  • What was the last song you heard that you did not pick?
  • What was the last song you played on purpose?
  • What was the last thing you borrowed and gave back?
  • What was the last thing you drew? Doodles count.
  • What was the last thing you fixed instead of replacing?
  • What was the last thing you learned how to do?
  • What was the last thing you looked up the answer to?
  • What was the last thing you lost and found again?
  • What was the last thing you put in the mail?
  • What was the last thing you put together from a box?
  • What was the last thing you recommended to a friend?
  • What was the last thing you stayed up late for?
  • What was the last thing you taught someone else to do?
  • What was the last thing you watched twice?

Right now 22

  • Finish the sentence: today goes well if...
  • How awake are you, one to five? Hold up that many fingers.
  • How many minutes did it take you to get here?
  • How many tabs do you have open right now?
  • What can you see from your seat that nobody else can?
  • What color are you wearing the most of today?
  • What did you do in the ten minutes before this started?
  • What is on the wall nearest to you?
  • What is on your feet right now?
  • What is one thing on today's list that you are looking forward to?
  • What is one thing you have already crossed off today?
  • What is the background noise where you are?
  • What is the closest object to your left hand?
  • What is the last thing you wrote down?
  • What is the most useful thing in your bag today?
  • What is the nearest blue thing to you?
  • What is the nearest thing to you that needs batteries or a charger?
  • What is the oldest object you can see from your seat?
  • What is the tallest thing you can see from here?
  • What time did your day start?
  • What was the first sound you heard today?
  • What would you be doing right now on a day off?

Quick what-ifs 22

  • If a free plane ticket arrived today, where would you go?
  • If a nearby animal could talk, what would it say first?
  • If Wednesdays were cancelled, what would you do with the day?
  • If you could add one dish to every menu in town, which dish?
  • If you could be instantly good at one sport, which one?
  • If you could choose the next snack for this room, what is it?
  • If you could make one noise disappear forever, which noise?
  • If you could master one instrument by tonight, which one?
  • If you could put a slide anywhere in town, where would it go?
  • If you could rename this meeting, class or party, what would you call it?
  • If you could shrink one thing to pocket size, what would it be?
  • If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be?
  • If you could wake up fluent in a new language, which one?
  • If you entered a county fair contest, which ribbon would you win?
  • If you had a billboard for a day, what five words go on it?
  • If you had a boat, what would you name it?
  • If you had a robot for one task only, which task?
  • If you opened a shop on Main Street, what would it sell?
  • If you ran the calendar, which month would get an extra week?
  • If you won a lifetime supply of one thing, what should it be?
  • If you wrote a guidebook, what would it be a guide to?
  • If your week were a weather forecast, what would it say?

One-sentence stories 22

  • Describe the best meal you ever had in one sentence.
  • Describe your first day here in one sentence.
  • Tell us about a time you got lost, in one sentence.
  • Tell us about your most memorable weather day in one sentence.
  • What is a rule you made up for a game as a kid?
  • What is a tiny thing that made your day recently?
  • What is a trip that went wrong in a funny way, in one sentence?
  • What is something you collect, or once collected?
  • What is something you have kept far longer than you planned to?
  • What is the best gift you ever gave someone?
  • What is the best seat you ever had at a show or a game?
  • What is the best thing you ever found by accident?
  • What is the best view you have ever seen, in one sentence?
  • What is the closest you have come to being on TV?
  • What is the highest up you have ever stood?
  • What is the longest line you ever waited in, and was it worth it?
  • What is the longest walk you ever took, planned or not?
  • What is the most famous place you have stood in?
  • What is the most unusual place you have fallen asleep?
  • What is the oddest thing you have ever carried a long way?
  • What is the smallest thing you are weirdly competitive about?
  • What is the tallest thing you ever built? Blocks and snow count.

How it works

The best icebreaker questions share one trait: anyone can answer in ten seconds without giving anything away. This deck holds 200 of them in eight topics; 40 are multiple choice and 34 are about food.

Read the full guide

Run it from one phone

Read the card out and answer it first. Go round the circle, or down the names on a video call, then press Next card. Two or three cards is plenty, and anyone may pass.

Eight topics, sorted by how the room answers

One-word answers (24 cards) and Right now (22) are the quickest. The 34 food icebreaker questions suit people who have just met, since everyone eats. Friendly debates split a room over whether cereal is a soup. Quick what-ifs and One-sentence stories take a sentence each; Firsts and lasts mixes one-word and one-sentence cards.

  • Over twelve people, stay on Multiple choice and count hands. Under eight, a One-sentence stories card gives everyone a turn.
  • As a weekly icebreaker question generator, draw one card at the start of each week's meeting and let everyone answer it.
  • Keep your own answer to one line. The room copies the length of the first answer it hears.

Questions and answers

What makes the best icebreaker questions work?

Three things: anyone can answer without preparing, the answer gives away nothing private, and no answer is wrong. "Which fruit is overrated?" passes all three. "What is your biggest fear?" fails the second.

How do multiple choice icebreaker questions work with a big group?

Press the Multiple choice topic to deal only those 40 cards. Read the options and ask for hands, or have people type a pick in the chat. Everyone answers at once, so fifty people take no longer than five. The deck does not count votes.

Are these icebreaker questions safe for work and for kids?

Every card is clean: nothing sexual, no drinking, nothing about bodies, money, relationships, faith or where someone is from. The work deck adds 150 cards for meetings. A few cards mention an inbox or an airport, so under-twelves do better with the kids deck.

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