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Challenge · A great activity for everyone

Cast Away

Each person picks one item to survive a hypothetical deserted island and defends the choice to the group — then everyone has to combine their picks into a single shared plan. The reveal isn't the item, it's the reasoning nobody saw coming.

30–60 min5–10 peopleEasyPaper and penIn personClassroom ✓
By Jon Zajac · Founder & Chief Icebreaker · Last updated February 19, 2024

What is Cast Away?

Cast Away puts a group of five to ten people on a hypothetical deserted island with one rule: everyone brings exactly one item. Each person names their pick, explains why, and lays out how they'd use it to survive — then the whole group has to combine everyone's items into a single, workable strategy.

It works because the individual pitch and the group negotiation pull different muscles. Choosing one item and defending it surfaces what someone actually values under pressure; combining five to ten different picks into one plan forces the room to negotiate priorities out loud, not just introduce themselves.

Skip it for a fully remote team — this one leans on a shared room, not a video grid — and for a group that's tight on time: the full version runs 30 to 60 minutes, and the combining phase needs its full 10 to 15 minutes to actually produce a plan worth presenting.

The rules

  1. Form groups of about five to ten people.
  2. Everyone brings exactly one item to a hypothetical deserted island — no exceptions.
  3. Each person shares their object, why they chose it, and how they'd use it.
  4. After everyone's shared, the group combines items into one survival strategy.
  5. Each group presents its strategy to the room.
  6. Optional: award a prize to the most creative group.

Before you start

  • Group size: 5–10 people. That's the working unit — for a bigger room, run several groups of five to ten in parallel and have each one present separately.
  • A quiet indoor room with space to spread out. Groups need enough room to sit apart and talk without competing for airspace — a conference room or classroom with distraction-free zones works.
  • Grab paper and pens. Have them on hand so people can jot down their item, their reason, and their plan before they share it out loud.
  • Give a few minutes' notice. Announce the scenario a few minutes before anyone has to share — enough urgency to skip the obvious answer, not so little that people freeze.
  • Age check: 12 and up. This one's built for ages 12 and up — the personal reasoning and group negotiation need a bit of maturity to land.
  • Optional: set up a prize. Decide ahead of time whether you're recognizing the most creative group. A small prize or certificate sharpens the presenting phase.

How to run it

  1. Set the scenario 2–3 min

    Tell the group they're stranded on a deserted island for an indefinite amount of time and can bring exactly one item. Give the announcement a few minutes ahead of sharing — the short notice is what pushes people past the obvious answer.

  2. Go first yourself 1–2 min

    Share your own item, why you chose it, and what you'd do with it before anyone else goes. It sets the bar for how specific — and how personal — the reasoning can get.

  3. Everyone shares 2–3 min each

    Each person names their item, the reason behind it, and their survival plan. Everyone else listens — they'll need to remember these picks for the next step.

  4. Combine items as a group 10–15 min

    Challenge the group to improve their odds by combining everyone's items in creative ways. Give them 10 to 15 minutes and let the negotiating happen out loud.

  5. Present, then optionally award 3–5 min

    Each group shares its combined strategy with the room. If you're using a prize, hand it to the most creative group before moving on.

← the item's the excuse, the group plan's the point.

Facilitator tips

Open up the promptLet people bring any object, not just typical survival gear. Open-ended prompts get more interesting reasoning than a room full of "a knife."
Make room for other answersSome people find it easier to write their pick than say it out loud, or the reverse — let people choose the format instead of forcing one.
Invite the personal picksObjects tied to culture, family, or identity tend to produce the best reasoning. Say so upfront so people don't default to the "safe" survival item.
Name the listening, onceAsk one person per group to summarize what they heard before the combine phase starts. It turns passive listening into active homework.

Why it works

The combine phase forces real negotiationNobody's single item is enough on its own, so the group has to argue, out loud, about whose pick actually helps the plan — that argument is the teamwork, not the individual pitches.
The reasoning is the revealThe item itself is forgettable. The reason someone picked it is what the room remembers and brings up again.
The prize makes the pitch landAn optional prize for the most creative group turns the closing share from a recap into an actual pitch.
HELLO, MY NAME ISJon

"What I like about Cast Away is that the item's never really the point — the reason is. The combine phase is where the real teamwork shows: the group has to build one plan out of things nobody individually chose, and that's harder than it sounds. It works from a classroom of 12-year-olds to a room of coworkers without much translation."

Jon Zajac · Founder & Chief Icebreaker

Reflection questions

Six questions ready for the debrief — pull two or three, or run the whole set for a longer session.

  1. What motivated you to choose the object you brought to the deserted island?Surfaces what people value under pressure, and why they trusted one object over another.
  2. How did it feel to share your object and reasoning with the group?A read on how safe self-disclosure feels in this room, not just in this game.
  3. What was your impression of other people's objects and reasons for bringing them?Turns listening into part of the exercise — everyone has to recall what everyone else said.
  4. How did your group collaborate to improve survival chances with combined items?Names the actual trade-offs the group made, not just that they "worked well together."
  5. What did you learn about yourself or others during this activity?The open-ended one — let it run long if the answers are good.
  6. If you could do this activity again, would you bring a different object? Why or why not?A second guess, asked out loud — good for closing on what people would change.

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Jon Zajac

Founder & Chief Icebreaker

I started IcebreakerSpot because I believe strong connections are the foundation of successful teams. This site exists to make it easy to find and share the icebreakers and team-building activities that build trust, spark collaboration, and help groups do great things together.

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