5 Group Game Formats That Suit a Crowd Who Have Never Met

Many things can happen in a room full of strangers. Either people hover by the bar making small talk about the weather, or something gets them laughing within the first ten minutes. Work dos, leaving parties with friends of friends and team socials for new starters all have the same problem. The right game format does a lot of the awkward ice-breaking for you, and some formats are far better at it than others.

Mixed-Team Quiz

A quiz is about as low pressure as it gets. Nobody has to be good at anything physical, and everybody knows at least a bit about something. The trick is splitting people up so mates aren’t all huddled on the same team. Drawing names from a pint glass works fine.

Teams of four or five are about right. Any bigger and the quieter people tend to fade into the background. Smaller teams mean everyone has to chip in, and there’s usually a moment where the shy one in the corner turns out to know every football ground in the country. That does more for a group than any name badge ever could.

Round-the-Table Ping Pong

This is the one that gets everybody moving. Players line up at both ends of a ping pong table, hit the ball once and then run round to join the queue on the other side. Miss a shot and you’re out. It keeps going until only two are left, and they play a quick final.

Nobody needs to be any good at table tennis. Most people are rubbish at it, which is half the fun. There’s plenty of shouting and the odd collision, and strangers end up cheering each other on within a couple of rounds. Plenty of spots around London have ping pong tables that suit this, though it’s worth checking there’s space round the ends before booking.

Random-Draw Doubles

Darts and shuffleboard both work well in doubles, especially when partners are picked at random. Pulling names out of a hat means people get paired with someone they’ve never spoken to. They have to talk tactics , high-five a good shot, and commiserate over a bad one.

Rotating the pairs after each game keeps things fresh. By the third round, most people have played alongside a few different faces. One thing that helps is a simple scoreboard on a whiteboard, which gives people something to chat about between turns.

Winner Stays On

Pool is great for this format. The winner of each game stays at the table and takes on the next challenger, so there’s always a short queue and plenty of people standing round watching. That queue turns out to be one of the best places to strike up a conversation.

It suits groups where some people want to play a lot and others are happy just watching with a drink. Nobody’s forced to join in, but most end up putting their name down sooner or later. It can get a bit one-sided if someone is very good, mind. Some groups limit any one player to three wins in a row before they have to step aside. For a big work’s night, many pubs have no shortage of places with several pool tables, which keeps the queues moving.

Team Crazy Golf

Crazy golf with mixed teams works well for a crowd that hasn’t met, since the course does a lot of the talking. Every hole has something daft about it, whether it’s a windmill or a loop the loop. People naturally start laughing at each other’s terrible shots.

Groups of four per team are ideal. The course moves slowly enough to chat between holes, but there’s always something to focus on, so silences never get awkward. Keeping a running score per team adds a bit of friendly rivalry without making it too serious. It’s also easy to swap people between teams at the halfway point.

Nights like this tend to work best with a set start time and someone keeping things moving. Booking a games bar London venue with a mix of activities helps too. If one format falls flat, there’s always something else to move on to, and a group of strangers is rarely stuck staring at their drinks for long.