17 Fun Holiday Zoom Games to Play Online
Holiday Zoom games are fun challenges and activities you can play during the festive season on Zoom. Examples include Guess Who, Holiday Charades, and Christmas Riddle. Playing these games can help you build better relationships with colleagues. Plus, you can use the games to spread festive cheer among your remote team.
These exercises are examples of holiday team building ideas and are similar to virtual Christmas games and virtual holiday games for large groups. You can play these games at Zoom holiday parties or virtual Christmas parties.
This list includes:
- free holiday Zoom games for work
- holiday party Zoom games
- holiday office Zoom games
- holiday trivia games for Zoom
- Christmas Zoom games for adults
Let’s get started!
List of holiday Zoom games
From Holiday Bingo to Never Have I Ever, here are fun games to play on Zoom for the holidays.
1. Holiday Bingo
Bingo is one of the most fun holiday party Zoom games. First, participants will receive a Bingo card containing several holiday prompts. You can download an already-made Bingo template online or use a board generator to prepare a card.
Here is a fun starter card:
To play the game, participants will mark an “X” inside any box containing relatable actions or traits. The first player to mark out five boxes in a row wins.
To play a jingle mingle Bingo version of the game, split participants into breakout rooms and give each player a link to a card. Next, the team members must chat with teammates and find fellow guests in their rooms who match the traits on the card. The first team to fill five boxes in a row and return to the main room wins.
You can play Christmas Bingo too.
2. Holiday Never Have I Ever
Holiday Never Have I Ever is a fun game you can play on Zoom during a break at work or a virtual party. This party game is fun, easy to play, and requires little time. To start the festivities, appoint a non-participating team member as the game host. Then prepare a card with fun prompts. The host will call out each prompt, starting with “never have I ever.”
For instance, never have I ever:
- Told a child Santa is not real
- Snooped for presents before Christmas
- Regifted a Christmas present
- Watched “Bad Santa”
- Dressed up as a Christmas villain
Players will have all their fingers up while the host calls out the prompts. Folks who have participated in the act must lower one finger. At the end of the game, the player with the most fingers still raised wins the game.
Another way to play is for participants to leave their cameras on if they are guilty of the behavior and temporarily turn the video feed off if innocent.
3. The Nice List
The Nice List is one of the best free holiday Zoom games for work. The game’s goal is for players to have their names on Santa’s nice list by accumulating acts of kindness. This game can be a way to encourage your team to give back to the community. You can decide on a day when participants can meet on Zoom to do this activity.
First, you and your colleagues can share a cup of hot cocoa and chat about your experience while helping others. After, ask participants to raise their fingers and call out different acts of kindness.
Examples of these acts include:
- Donated to a charity
- Cleared snow for a senior or neighbor
- Made holiday decorations or crafts for other persons
- Randomly prepared a cup of hot cocoa, tea, or coffee for someone
- Wished a stranger Merry Xmas
- Helped someone wrap a present
- Made a Christmas card for someone
Players will bring down a finger for each act they perform. The persons with all fingers down will have their names on the nice list and even receive gifts from Santa.
Pro tip: Give your teams advanced notice of the game to encourage them to be extra generous in the week leading up to the activity.
4. Holiday Scavenger Hunt
Holiday scavenger hunts are one of the best online games for seasonal gatherings. In this game, a host will give participants clues or a list of items to find. The player who finds all items first wins the game.
Here are fun items players can easily find in their homes during the holiday:
- Stocking
- Candy cane
- Ugly sweater
- Anything that has a star
- Christmas wreath
- Snowflake decoration
- Blinking lights
- Gingerbread man
- North Pole sign
- Something cozy
- Real snow
- Joy sign
Each player will present the found items to the host. The host will award points for each retrieved object and may award bonus points for extra cool finds!
5. Read My Lips
Read My Lips is one of the best holiday Zoom games. The game revolves around reading a player’s lips to guess what that player is saying. First, ensure that all players turn on their microphones, except for the player taking a turn. In the spirit of Christmas, you can have players mutter carol lyrics.
To play this game:
- Appoint a game host who will list out short lyrics from popular carols
- The host will privately send the carol lyrics to the first player
- The player will then say the lyrics several times after muting their microphone
- Other players will try to guess the lyrics and the original carol
- The first player to guess correctly wins a point
Besides Christmas carols, you can also have players say any holiday-related sentence that comes to their mind.
6. Guess the Candy Name
If your team members have a sweet tooth, then tasting candies together will be fun. Before your virtual party, you can send a gift box to each participant containing different candies. Be sure to pack the sweets in unlabeled packages.
You and other attendees can unbox the package together during the event and taste the candies. Participants will also try to guess the candies’ names and point out their favorite. The person who makes most of the correct guesses wins the game.
Feel free to ship festive wines alongside the candies for a happy hour feel. While trying candies, you can also taste the wines and discover your favorite wine and candy combination.
7. Virtual Holiday Olympics
Virtual Holiday Olympics is among the most fun holiday office Zoom games. The competition involves doing a series of creative challenges in the holiday spirit. You can decide to split your group members into teams with fun team names like Snowballers, Ice Crushers, and Lords of the Snow-lympics.
Here are fun adrenaline-boosting Olympic games you can play on Zoom:
- Christmas Bridge Building: Participants will build a bridge from items like straws, tape, and string. The player who can place a star-shaped cookie on the bridge without the whole structure falling apart wins
- Marshmallow Challenge: Players stand about three feet from a cup of cocoa. The challenge involves competing to throw the highest number of mini marshmallows inside the cup
- Golden Ring Game: Each player will stand several feet from a bottle and hold five golden rings. The game’s goal is for a player to throw the rings over the bottle’s neck successfully
- Candy Cane Javelin: With an equal amount of candy canes, participants will attempt to throw the sweet treats inside a cup from a distance. The player who throws in the most candy canes wins
If your group members are playing in teams, then add up the cumulative scores and announce the team with the most points as the winner. Also, you can ship the items needed to play the games before the event.
8. Truth or Dare Holiday Edition
Truth or Dare is a favorite party game you can play with friends and family virtually. The rules are straightforward: players take turns to answer a question or do an action. For example, if the player chooses “dare,” then they must follow a demand. On the other hand, if a player decides on “truth,” then they must answer any question asked.
To determine how players will take turns, you can create a digital spinner wheel using a free tool. Then input the names of participants on the wheel. After spinning, the player whose name the pointer lands on will take turns. You would want to give participants an option to avoid uncomfortable questions or commands. In that case, you can give each player three chances to forfeit a question or command. Once the chances run out, the participant automatically leaves the game.
9. This or That
This or That is one of the best Christmas Zoom games for adults. In this game, players choose between two options and even explain the reason for their choice.
Fun this or that questions include:
- Sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies
- Ice skating or snowboarding
- Travel or stay home for the holidays
- Holiday movies or holiday songs
- Faux tree or real tree
- White light or multi-colored light
- Eggnog or hot cocoa
- Turkey or Ham
This or that also serves as a good icebreaker to help you learn more about your colleagues. Before playing, determine how attendees will take turns. You can assign a number to each guest or let attendees play in order of their name’s first letter. Or, the game’s leader can read the list of prompts, and players can answer all at once.
Here are more Christmas this or that questions.
10. Holiday Charades
Playing Holiday Charades is a great way to get your team members excited during the holidays. Players must act out a particular word or phrase without speaking during this activity.
To play this game:
- Choose a theme for the game, like Christmas movie titles, characters, and carols
- Have each team member submit a relevant word or phrase privately to the host
- After, divide the participants into teams
- Send the teams into breakout rooms to discuss their secret codes attached to specific gestures.
- Each team will pick volunteers who will act as the gesturers for each round
- The host will privately send a word or phrase to a volunteer without the team knowing the word
- Then the volunteer will try to act out the word to their team
If a team guesses the word correctly before time runs out, then that team wins a point. During a team’s turn, you would want to ensure that only participants on that team have their microphones on.
11. Christmas Movie Quiz
Christmas Movie Quiz is one of the exciting holiday trivia games for Zoom. The game involves quizzing participants on questions from Christmas movies. The questions can be easy or hard, depending on how much of a movie fan your colleagues are. First, prepare questions from popular holiday movies. You can even share the movie titles for participants to watch before the contest and up their games.
Here are fun questions to ask:
- In the movie “A Christmas Story,” who gets their tongue stuck to a poll? Flick
- Why could Santa’s sleigh not fly in the movie “Elf?” There was not enough Christmas spirit
- Where does the Grinch live in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas?” Mount Crumpit
- In “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” what is the main villain’s name? Oogie Boogie
- What is the name of the last ghosts who visited Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol?” The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Depending on the number of players, your team members can play individually or in teams. In the latter case, you can send the teams into breakout rooms to discuss the answer. Also, set a time limit to how long the participants remain in the room. Once the time is up, participants can return to the main room and provide their answers. The team that answers the most questions correctly wins.
12. Guess Who
Guess Who is a simple yet fun guessing game to play with your remote team. First, start the game with holiday icebreaker questions.
Examples:
- Which winter holiday do you celebrate?
- What is your best Christmas story?
- How soon do you start Christmas shopping?
- Have you ever dressed your pets up in Christmas costumes?
- What is your scariest experience with a blizzard?
You can use Google Forms to collect answers from participants. For best results, players should avoid writing any personal answers or experiences they are not comfortable sharing with the entire group. After collecting the answers, a designated moderator will ask questions based on the answers provided. For instance, the moderator can ask the participants to guess which team member likes a particular food or has had a particular experience. A player earns a point for every correct guess.
13. Holiday Freeze Dance
Holiday Freeze Dance is among the most exciting holiday party Zoom games. To play this game, you will need fun songs and team members ready to dance. The rule of the game is that participants start dancing once the host plays a song. However, everyone must freeze the moment the host stops playing the music. Anyone who does not stop dancing or singing along when the music stops leaves the game.
Before the party, you can create a playlist of hit songs and share your screen with attendees as the host. Then, while attendees vibe to the song, you can sit back to observe those who did not stop dancing soon enough when the music stops.
14. Holiday Craft Contest
If you and your team members believe you are creative enough, then you can challenge your colleagues to an exciting Holiday Craft Contest. You are free to explore your creativity and create artwork from items you find at home. For example, you can make a winter-themed painting if you have painting supplies. Also, you can create a Christmas-themed costume or make Christmas trees from paper.
The funniest version of this game is impromptu, and players must scrounge for supplies on the spot instead of preparing materials before the call.
With all the creative concepts from your team, choosing a winner can be challenging. You and your colleagues can vote participants into categories like most creative, cutest, and “most likely to fall apart” crafts.
15. Try Not to React
Try Not to React is one of the best holiday Zoom games to entertain colleagues at work. In this game, a player will try to say words or tell a story that can trigger reactions like laughter, surprise, or disgust.
The kind of story you decide to tell is entirely up to you. You and your colleagues can channel your inner comedians and try to tell a funny joke. For instance, you can describe when your grandmothers got into a cookie food fight or you hilariously knocked over a Christmas tree. Whoever laughs at the funny story leaves the game. You can also ask the storyteller to narrate gross stories, to which participants must not cringe. Whoever reacts, even with just their facial expression, is out of the round.
16. Secret Santa
Secret Santa is a favorite Christmas tradition for many groups. You can play secret Santa in Zoom and still have as much fun as you would when playing the game in person. In this activity, you and your colleagues will exchange gifts. However, the excitement lies in the fact that the gift exchange is anonymous.
To play secret Santa, let each participant write out and send their wish lists to the game host. Then, the host will randomly assign the wishlists to different participants through a private chat. After, participants will get the gift on the wishlist and anonymously send the wrapped package to the recipient. Then you and your colleagues can choose a day to unwrap the gifts together. In the end, participants will say a few words about their gifts and try to guess which team member was their secret Santa.
Check out more virtual gift exchange ideas.
17. Christmas Riddles
Christmas Riddle is among the free holiday Zoom games for work. Christmas riddles are statements or Christmas-centric questions asked in a way that will require critical thinking to figure out the meaning.
Here are some fun riddles:
- I always hide around the house. You cannot see me move because you would have been asleep. I also help Santa figure out who is naughty or nice. What am I?
Elf on the Shelf - What has needles but cannot sew?
Christmas tree - What is the only egg people like to drink?
Eggnog - Why do mummies love Christmas presents?
Because of all the wrapping - Why is Santa good at Karate?
Because Santa wears a black belt - What did Adam say the day before Christmas?
It is Christmas, Eve - What do you need to decorate a canoe for Christmas?
Oar-naments - Why are Christmas trees bad at knitting?
Because the trees always drop their needles - Which one of Santa’s reindeer is present in outer space?
Comet
Depending on the challenge level your group members are ready to face, the riddles can range from easy to very difficult. The first person to guess the riddle’s meaning wins a point.
Conclusion
The holiday is a time to spread festive cheer and have fun with your colleagues. Playing virtual games via Zoom is one of the best ways to keep your teammates together during this season. Regardless of the distance, you can always connect with your team online and enjoy these games. Whether you organize a virtual party or are looking for ways to keep your coffee break fun this holiday, you can try out one of these Zoom games.
For more fun, check out Christmas Jeopardy and Christmas Family Feud.
FAQ: Holiday Zoom games
Here are answers to questions about holiday Zoom games.
What are holiday Zoom games?
Holiday Zoom games are fun exercises, challenges, and activities you can play with your colleagues on video conferencing software. Playing these Zoom games is a great way to connect with your colleagues. Depending on the game you play and your group size, you might have to split participants into breakout rooms. If your group members are unfamiliar with Zoom’s features, then you can give attendees a short tutorial on how to use the software.
What are some good Christmas games to play on Zoom?
Some good Christmas games to play on Zoom are Holiday Charades, Christmas Riddle, Holiday Freeze Dance, Holiday Scavenger Hunt, Truth or Dare Holiday Edition, Christmas Movie Quiz, and Never Have I Ever.
How do you play holiday-themed games on Zoom?
To play holiday-themed games on Zoom, decide on the type of game your group likes. Also, you should consider your group size when deciding on the best holiday-themed games to play. After, create a meeting on Zoom and send the link to participants. You can have as much fun as possible while spreading festive cheers among players.
