Microsoft Teams Christmas Party Games

Get creative and host some virtual Christmas parties on Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams helps you stay connected to your team whether you're hybrid working or working around the world. Many teams use scheduled meetings for a host of reasons other than work, it might be a book club, a weekly chat or to celebrate a special moment.

Conversation is always the key element in these meet ups, but we know they can be even more fun when you aff games and quizzes into the mix. Within Microsoft Teams there are several great options to help you host these virtual events.

Quiz Time!

Most people love a quiz or some trivia, for hosting these a great option is Kahoot! Which you can use as a standalone app or through the Teams integration. Kahoots are engaging and lively quizzes and challenges you can create and re-use with your team. As you build the questions yourself they can be used for a variety of reasons from presentations to training and even team trivia quizzes.

With the Kahoot integration inside of Microsoft Teams, you can see a dashboard of your designed Kahoots, and use them during meetings to spur friendly competition. Before the meeting, design your Kahoots and add questions and answers. In addition to exploring and using questions from popular Kahoots via the Discover option, consider mixing in various forms of general trivia, trivia specific to topics for your team, or maybe trivia about your team specifically.

You can launch Kahoot from the app tab within Teams, expand the gameplay window and then share your screen with the rest of the team. Make sure to use the include computer sound option when you share. Once the screen is shared all team members can join in and answer from their devices. Speed is of the essence in this game and it's fastest finger first!

Using Games with Microsoft Teams screen sharing

Jackbox Games provide several party games that are great to play together in person or virtually. From speech games like Talking Points to drawing games like Drawful and witty quip games like Quiplash – there are a wide variety of games and styles to suit every taste. Most games run for about 15-25 minutes with straightforward rules and quick tutorials, so they are easy to pick up and play. Most games support up to 8-10 players, and some have additional audience viewing options if you have extra visitors.

Jackbox Games are available for a wide variety of devices and consoles, but if you want to use Jackbox within a virtual Microsoft Teams streaming session, we’d recommend getting Jackbox on your PC or Mac. The host of the virtual get-together will need a copy; the attendees in the meeting can follow along on their devices. Every player will join the meeting and then connect to the Jackbox game with a room code – which they can do in a web browser or on a separate device, like their phone. It is easy and takes seconds to get everyone started on a game.

As you host your virtual get-together, you’ll want to start up the Jackbox Party pack of your choice. Use the screen sharing option in Teams, and make sure you check the “Include computer sound” option.

From there, start up a game and your room code will be visible, and attendees can join in.

Tips for using Jackbox Games in a Teams meeting

As you start your Jackbox Games, we recommend a couple of options:

In almost every Jackbox Game, there is a “Family Friendly” checkbox – you may want to consider checking that for your work conversations.

In a few Jackbox Games, there is also an option to filter out US-centric content, if you want to have questions or prompts that are more broadly relevant to teammates around the world.

Also, to keep the sound of the game from potentially drowning out your virtual guests and conversation while attending, in some cases you may want to consider turning down the background music.

More Tips for Virtual Parties

Also, some more advanced tips can help your virtual party even more:

• If you can, hosting a game with two screens (e.g., your laptop screen plus a plugged-in monitor) can work better, as you can place Teams on one screen and the game on the other. That way, it is always easy to see your teammates and the game at the same time.
• Turn your video on so that you and your teammates can see each others reactions, making the whole experience more immersive.

• Consider playing team games to make sure everyone is involved, especially the quieter team members.

• Remember you don't even need to use games specifically for Teams, there's lots of classic games that work great over video call such as Articulate, Pub Quizzes and even Trivial Pursuit. It's all about using your imagination and having some fun.