The best office Christmas party games do one job: they fill the awkward gap between the speeches and the dancing. Dinner is cleared, the MD has said a few words, and half the room is still standing with the three people they sit next to all year. A good game gives everyone else a reason to talk.
If you're the one organising, you already know the fear. You stand up, announce "a bit of fun", and watch forty colleagues look at their shoes. The fix is a game that explains itself in one sentence, lets people play from where they're standing, and is over before anyone gets bored.
Here are 12 Christmas party games that work at real work dos, plus a simple running order and what it costs for a team of 10, an office of 50, or a company party of 200.
Pick the game for the moment
Different parts of the evening need different games. Use this before you plan anything else.
| Party moment | What the room needs | Games that fit |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival and drinks | A reason to talk to someone new | Christmas Social Bingo, Two Truths and a Lie |
| Between courses | Something quick that fits at a table | Christmas quiz, Telepathy, Unscramble |
| After dinner | A lift in energy | Team Taboo, Charades, Song Association |
| Before the dancing | One big finish | A final quiz round and the podium |
| Remote or hybrid | Everyone playing at the same time | Telepathy, Concentration, Who Said It |
12 office Christmas party games that actually work
1. Christmas Social Bingo
Social Bingo is built for arrivals. Every guest gets one number on their phone, and the only way to fill a card is to go and ask other people for theirs. You set the target, anywhere from 3 to 12 numbers, so it can be a five-minute warm-up or carry the whole drinks reception. Once cards are locked in, you call the numbers and the first full card wins.
Best for: welcome drinks, 20 to 100 guests.
2. Telepathy: think like the office
In Telepathy, everyone answers the same prompt in secret, and the aim is to write what most of the room will write. Try "the best Christmas film", "the first thing you eat on Christmas morning" or "the most overused word in this office". The biggest matching group takes the points. Nobody needs to know anything, so the new starter can beat the CEO.
Best for: mixed teams, 3 to 20 players, or up to 5 teams for a bigger room.
3. Concentration: the rare answer wins
Concentration is Telepathy turned inside out. The same prompt goes to everyone, but this time you want the answer nobody else thought of. "Something you'd find in a Christmas stocking" gets a flood of satsumas and chocolate coins, and whoever wrote "a spare key" takes all 1000 points. It makes a brilliant follow-up to Telepathy, because the room has to flip how it thinks.
Best for: creative teams and anyone who likes a debate, 3 to 20 players or up to 5 teams.
4. The Christmas quiz, with answers that mark themselves
Build a Trivia set about Christmas films, number ones, and a few questions about the office itself. Mix single-choice, select-all and typed answers. Switch on Letter boxes for typed questions and players see one box per letter, with the spaces already in place, so "Home Alone" reads as a four-and-five before anyone types a thing. Neegma marks every answer, and the fastest correct ones score the most.
Best for: between courses, 10 to 200 players, solo or in teams.
5. Who Said It: office party edition
Ask a question with no right answer, like "your most controversial Christmas food opinion" or "the worst Secret Santa gift you've ever received". Everyone answers privately, the answers go up on screen with no names attached, and the room guesses who wrote what in Who Said It. Keep the prompts kind and it becomes the part of the night people quote in January.
Best for: teams who know each other a little, 3 to 20 players or up to 5 teams.
6. Team Taboo with a festive deck
In Taboo, one player describes a word to their team without saying any of the banned words on their phone. Write your own Christmas deck in the Playground: "mince pie" without "pastry", "sweet" or "Christmas" is harder than it sounds after two glasses of mulled wine. If the person up would rather not, a teammate can take the turn instead.
Best for: after dinner, 4 to 50 players in teams.
7. Christmas Charades
Films, songs and traditions, acted out with no words. Charades shows the prompt privately on the performer's phone, and the host taps each correct guess so nobody argues about the timer. "Love Actually" and "The Snowman" are good openers. "Boxing Day sales" is a good closer.
Best for: confident rooms and table rivalries, 4 to 50 players.
8. Song Association, festive words only
A word appears, and whoever's up has seconds to sing a lyric that contains it. Use festive words like snow, bells, home and tonight in Song Association. Nobody needs to sing well. With Bonus Round switched on, a miss gives the next team five seconds to steal it, so nobody stops listening.
Best for: the hour before the DJ starts, 2 to 50 players.
9. Christmas Unscramble
"LNITSE" is tinsel. "RKTEUY" is turkey. Unscramble puts a jumbled word on every phone with a countdown, and it takes about ten seconds to explain. Slip in the name of the venue, the office dog, or a product launch from this year.
Best for: a quick reset at any size, 2 to 200 players.
10. Word Art with festive rules
In Word Art, a rule appears ("a word that rhymes with snow", "something you'd put on a tree") and the team whose turn it is has to shout a word that fits before the clock runs out. The room judges, the host decides. It's loud and quick, and it plays just as well from one screen with no phones out.
Best for: small teams and table-versus-table, 2 to 50 players.
11. Find the Mole, Christmas edition
Everyone gets the same category and secret word, except the mole, who only gets the category. Build a Christmas films category in the Playground (Elf, Home Alone, The Holiday), then listen to everyone give clues that are just vague enough. Find the Mole turns quiet colleagues into surprisingly good detectives.
Best for: a smaller group that likes to argue, 3 to 20 players.
12. Two Truths and a Lie, holiday edition
Each player shares three statements about Christmases past, and the room votes on the lie in Two Truths and a Lie. "I once spent Christmas Day in an airport" is exactly the kind of story that keeps a table talking after the game ends.
Best for: team lunches and smaller socials, 3 to 30 players.
A 30-minute Christmas game show for the office party
You don't need a whole evening of activities. Thirty well-paced minutes is enough to carry the night.
| Time | Game | Why it's here |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 3 minutes | Everyone scans the QR code | Nobody downloads anything, so this is quick |
| 3 to 10 minutes | Christmas Unscramble | An easy first win that needs no explanation |
| 10 to 18 minutes | Telepathy, then Concentration | Gets the whole room reacting to the same screen |
| 18 to 27 minutes | The Christmas quiz in teams | Tables huddle, argue and cheer |
| 27 to 30 minutes | Podium and prizes | Ends on a moment, then hand over to the DJ |
Each game crowns its own winner, so a table that had a quiet quiz round can still take Telepathy. That gives you several moments to cheer, not one tally at the end.
How to run it at every size
A team of 10. The Free plan covers up to 10 players, every game, and a 90-minute session. Put the host screen on the pub TV or a laptop at the end of the table.
An office of 50. A Party Pass is a one-off payment of £7.99 for 24 hours of unlimited play with up to 50 guests. Switch on team mode and let each table pick and name its own team as they join.
A company party of 200. Party Passes go up to 200 guests for £16.99, with tiers for 100 and 150 in between. Stick to games that scale, like Social Bingo, Unscramble and the Christmas quiz, and run Telepathy or Concentration in teams so each table answers as one.
A remote or hybrid team. Share the host screen on Zoom, Teams or Google Meet and drop the join link in the chat. Everyone answers from their own phone, so remote colleagues play on exactly the same terms as the people in the room. There are more ideas in our guide to hosting a virtual game night.
No phones at the table? Run it from one screen
Some Christmas parties are phone-free on purpose. A One-host session runs the whole game show from your screen, with no join link at all. Set a headcount of up to 10 players or split the room into 2 to 5 teams, and you tap what happened as the room plays out loud. Charades, Taboo, Song Association and Word Art work as they always do, and Unscramble, Missing Letter and Odd One Out play Hot Seat, where each question goes to one team in turn. We've written more about party games without phones.
Five tips from people who've run these
- Schedule the session ahead. Pick the date and time when you create it and you get a printable poster with the QR code. Put one on each table and guests can join the moment they sit down.
- Write five questions about your office. A handful of in-jokes goes further than a whole generic deck. If you're short on time, let Create with AI draft a Christmas set, then edit it.
- Start from a template. Ready-made templates line up the games, rounds and timings for you, and partner templates are built by people who run these nights for a living.
- Nominate a host who isn't the boss. The best hosts are quick, warm, and happy to tease the leaderboard. Hand them the laptop and step back.
- Stop while people still want more. Thirty minutes that ends too soon beats an hour that drags.
Frequently asked questions
What are good Christmas party games for work?
Games that need no explanation and no special knowledge work best: Christmas Social Bingo for arrivals, Telepathy and Concentration for the whole room, a Christmas quiz between courses, and Team Taboo or Charades once people have relaxed.
What Christmas games work for a large group?
For 50 to 200 people, choose games everyone plays at once from their phone, like Social Bingo, Unscramble and a Christmas quiz. Split the room into teams by table so everyone has people to play alongside.
How do you run a virtual Christmas party game?
Share the host screen on your video call and paste the join link in the chat. Players answer from their own phones while everyone watches the same leaderboard.
Do guests need to download an app?
No. Guests scan a QR code or tap a link and play in their phone's browser, with no app and no account. In a One-host session they don't need a phone at all.
How much does it cost to run?
Up to 10 players is free. For a bigger party, a Party Pass is a one-off payment from £7.99 for 24 hours, with no subscription to cancel afterwards.
Planning the rest of the season too? We have ideas for Halloween party games and Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving games.
The Christmas party is the one night a year the whole office is in one room. Give them a game that gets them talking, and they'll remember it for more than the free bar.
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