Quick Challenges
Fast-paced Minute-to-Win-It style challenges using common office supplies. Instant energy boost through silly competition and laughter.
5-15 min
3-100 people
high
basic
About This Game
Quick Challenges brings the viral energy of Minute-to-Win-It games into your team meetings and workshops. Participants compete in rapid-fire 60-second challenges using everyday items found in any office or home: pens, paper clips, cups, sticky notes, rubber bands. The beauty lies in the simplicity—these aren't complex games requiring explanation or practice. They're intuitive, silly, and immediately engaging. A participant tries to stack cups one-handed, balance pencils on their finger, or toss paper balls into a trash can from across the room while everyone cheers them on. The ticking timer creates urgency and excitement, mistakes generate laughter, and unexpected victories create memorable moments. Quick Challenges works brilliantly across all formats: in-person teams can use physical office supplies, virtual participants compete with household items on camera, and hybrid groups can do parallel challenges simultaneously. The competitive element is friendly and low-stakes—winning doesn't matter as much as the shared experience of watching someone frantically attempt something ridiculous. This energizer excels at breaking down hierarchies (watching your CEO fail at stacking pennies is humanizing), creating inside jokes that strengthen culture, and injecting pure fun into serious work environments. The format is endlessly adaptable: run one challenge as a 2-minute energizer, chain together five challenges for a 10-minute competition, or make it a tournament bracket for extended team building. Beyond the immediate energy boost, Quick Challenges teaches resilience (failing at silly games builds comfort with failure), creative problem-solving (participants invent strategies on the fly), and supportive team culture (cheering for colleagues becomes a bonding ritual). It's the perfect energizer when your meeting energy has flatlined, virtual participants are disengaged and multitasking, or your team needs to remember that work can also be joyful.
Objectives
- Inject instant high energy through time-pressure challenges and friendly competition
- Generate laughter and playfulness to break tension and shift team dynamics
- Create memorable shared experiences and inside jokes that strengthen team bonds
- Humanize colleagues by showing everyone struggles with silly challenges equally
- Practice resilience and good-humored failure in a low-stakes environment
- Engage multitasking virtual participants through interactive, camera-visible activities
How to Run This Game
Facilitator Script:
"Energy break! We're doing Quick Challenges—one-minute silly competitions using stuff around your desk. I need a brave volunteer to go first. Who's willing to embarrass themselves for the team? Great! [Name], you're up. Your challenge: stack 10 cups into a pyramid using only one hand. You have 60 seconds starting... now!"
Actions:
- Explain the 60-second time limit clearly
- Ask for a volunteer (or volunteer yourself first to model it)
- Assign a specific challenge based on available materials
- Set a timer visible to everyone (use phone/computer)
- Build excitement: "This is going to be hilarious!"
Tips:
- • Model it first if the group seems hesitant—your willingness to fail sets the tone
- • Choose the EASIEST challenge first so the first volunteer succeeds and feels good
- • For virtual: confirm the participant has the materials before starting timer
- • The energy in your voice creates the energy in the room—be PUMPED
- • Assign someone to be official timekeeper if you're facilitating
Facilitator Script:
"45 seconds left! You got this! Ooh, that cup is wobbling! 30 seconds! Everyone cheer for [Name]! The pyramid is growing! 15 seconds—can you finish?! 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-TIME! Did you make it?! [Success/failure reaction.] That was amazing! Everyone give [Name] applause!"
Actions:
- Start the timer dramatically: "Ready, set, GO!"
- Provide running commentary on their progress
- Count down the final 10 seconds loudly
- Encourage the group to cheer throughout
- Celebrate the outcome regardless of success/failure
Tips:
- • Your commentary makes it entertaining even for observers—narrate like a sports announcer
- • Call out funny moments: "The cup tower is leaning like the Tower of Pisa!"
- • If they fail, immediately celebrate their effort: "That was SO close! Way to try!"
- • If they succeed, go wild: "UNBELIEVABLE! We have a champion!"
- • Capture the moment with a screenshot (virtual) or photo (in-person) if appropriate
Facilitator Script:
"Who wants to try a different challenge? New volunteer? Awesome, [Name2], you're up! Your challenge: move 20 paper clips from one cup to another using only chopsticks (or two pens). You've got 60 seconds. Ready? GO!"
Actions:
- Cycle through 2-4 different challenges based on time
- Choose different volunteers each time (or let people volunteer)
- Vary challenge types: physical skill, precision, creative, memory
- Keep the same high-energy timer format each round
- Watch the clock—don't let this drag past your time budget
Tips:
- • Alternate between easier and harder challenges to keep success rates balanced
- • If someone fails badly, give them first shot at the next (easier) challenge to redeem themselves
- • For virtual groups, vary challenges: some with household items, some with movement, some with creativity
- • Notice who hasn't volunteered and invite them specifically: "Sarah, want to try one?"
- • You can run challenges simultaneously if time is tight: "Everyone, try this at the same time!"
Facilitator Script:
"Final challenge! This one is HARD. I need our bravest competitor. The challenge: stack 5 pens into a tower without them falling over. Sounds easy? The catch—you have to do it standing on one foot. Who dares?"
Actions:
- Introduce a slightly harder or sillier final challenge
- Build extra hype: "This is for glory!"
- Run the challenge with maximum energy
- Crown a "champion" or give silly title
- Transition back to meeting content smoothly
Tips:
- • The finale should be the funniest/hardest challenge to end on a high note
- • If you're running out of time, skip this and go straight to closing
- • Silly "prizes" make it memorable: "You're now Chief Paper Clip Engineer!"
- • For teams that loved it, promise: "We'll do more challenges next meeting"
- • End while energy is still high—don't overstay the fun
Facilitator Script:
"That was fantastic! How do we feel? More awake? I love how everyone cheered each other on—that's the team energy we need. Let's carry this playfulness into our next topic. Back to business!"
Actions:
- Acknowledge the energy shift that just happened
- Thank all volunteers for participating
- Connect the activity to team values if relevant (support, resilience, fun)
- Smoothly bridge to next agenda item
- Consider making it a recurring ritual
Tips:
- • Capture key moments in meeting notes: "Quick Challenges winner: Jess (cup stacking)"
- • If time allows, quick debrief: "What made this fun?" (answers: time pressure, low stakes, support)
- • Reference it later in the meeting: "Remember Jess's cup tower? Same energy for this problem!"
- • For recurring meetings, keep a running scoreboard for friendly rivalry
- • Thank the volunteers publicly—recognition reinforces participation culture
Facilitator Tips
- Your energy is EVERYTHING—if you're excited, they'll be excited. Be a hype person.
- Prepare 6-8 challenge options in advance so you can adapt to available materials and time
- For virtual teams, send a materials list 5 minutes before the meeting starts
- Film/screenshot the challenges—these moments become team lore and Slack memes
- Failing is funnier than succeeding—celebrate spectacular failures with extra applause
- Keep challenges under 90 seconds total (60s attempt + 30s setup/reaction) or it drags
- Rotate through different challenge types: precision, speed, creativity, physical, mental
- If no one volunteers initially, YOU go first—model that failure is safe and fun
- For competitive groups, keep a leaderboard across meetings for ongoing engagement
- For collaborative groups, make it team-based: "Can we collectively complete 3 challenges?"
- Common office supplies work best: pens, paper, cups, coins, sticky notes, binder clips
- Virtual-friendly household items: spoons, dice, cotton balls, socks, books, toilet paper rolls
Common Challenges & Solutions
Variations & Adaptations
Break into teams of 3-4. Each team member completes a different quick challenge in sequence (Person 1: stack cups, Person 2: paper clip transfer, Person 3: pencil balance, etc.). First team to complete all challenges wins. This adds collaboration and team strategy to the individual challenges. Great for building team cohesion through shared struggle and victory.
Instead of one person performing while others watch, EVERYONE attempts the same challenge at the same time. "Everyone grab a pen. You have 60 seconds to balance it on your finger—GO!" Then see who succeeded. This maximizes participation and minimizes spotlight anxiety. Creates hilarious chaos when 30 people are all frantically stacking cups at once.
Prepare mystery boxes/bags with random office supplies (3 pens, a rubber band, 5 sticky notes, a paperclip). Volunteers pick a box and have 60 seconds to "create something" or "build the tallest tower" with only those materials. Adds creative problem-solving element. The randomness makes it fair and unpredictable.
Challenges designed specifically for remote teams: "Type the alphabet backwards in the chat in 60 seconds," "Find and show 5 red objects from your house on camera," "Do 20 jumping jacks with your camera on," "Change your virtual background 10 times in 60 seconds." Leverages virtual platform features and at-home environments.
teams have used this game