Office party games in English

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Why language is rarely the problem

An international office has a quiet problem at every party: the jokes are in Swedish, the quiz is in Swedish, and half the room laughs a second late.

Most of what we run doesn't need words at all. Charades, drawing, building and relays are won with hands, eyes and timing. For the games that do use words, we pick ones where the language is simple and teammates can help each other.

How a session in English works

• The host runs everything in English: rules, scores, banter and the final.
• You tell us in the booking which languages the team speaks, and the games are picked from that.
• The host arrives 15 minutes before, sets up, and runs 90 minutes from team split to prize-giving.
• Teams of 4 to 6. We mix languages across teams, so no team becomes "the Swedish team".
• Every game starts with a quick example round, so nobody plays a game they didn't understand.
• Anyone who would rather not run can keep score, guess or guide. It counts the same.

Games that work without a shared language

A few examples from our library:

• Reverse charades. The whole team acts out the word at once and one person guesses. Nobody stands alone in front of the room.
• The audience. The team plays the audience at a secret event, like a horror film, a tennis match or a wedding, and the room guesses what they are watching.
• Back to back. One person describes a picture, their partner draws it without looking. The result speaks for itself.
• Drawing relay. One draws, the rest guess, and the artist can't say a word.
• Marshmallow tower. 5 minutes to build the tallest free-standing tower of dry spaghetti with a marshmallow on top.
• Ghost relay. Carry a paper ghost around a chair and back, held to a drinking straw only by suction.
• Name that intro. 3 seconds of a song, first team to shout gets to guess. Music works in every language.

Games we use with care

Word games like categories, describe-the-word and quick-fire lists are fun, but they reward whoever is fastest in the language. With a mixed group we either leave them out or keep them simple and in English, so one native speaker doesn't carry the round alone.

Half Swedish, half international?

Then the session runs in English. Most Swedish colleagues follow English easily, while the reverse is rarely true, so English keeps everyone in the same game. Let us know in the booking and we'll plan for it.