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The Bests

Every round starts with half a name — "the fastest…" — and teams have to send up a player before they know what they're fast at. It works because the blind pick is the real game: your teammates find out what you're good at only after they've already bet on you.

30–60 min8–20 peopleEasyProps neededIn-person onlyClassroom ✓
By Jon Zajac · Founder & Chief Icebreaker · Last updated February 19, 2024

What is The Bests?

The Bests turns a room into a run of oddball one-on-one contests — a dictionary sprint, a coin-spinning contest, a bubble-blowing showdown — and nobody picks their player until they've heard half the challenge's name. One person runs the whole thing without ever competing: they announce, referee, and keep score while teams send someone up round by round.

It works because the pick is the real game. A team confident in their fastest runner might watch them lose the dictionary round outright, while the quiet strategist turns out to be a champion coin-spinner nobody saw coming. Scoring stays simple enough to track in your head — one point a round, read back in reverse order so the tension holds until the last name gets called.

It leans on physical rounds — walking backwards, catching a thrown ball, blowing bubblegum — so it needs a room with space to move and a willingness to adapt those rounds for anyone they don't work for. It's built for a shared room, too: there's no remote version here, so a distributed team should look elsewhere or build their own screen-friendly rounds first.

The rules

  1. One person organizes and referees the whole game — they never compete.
  2. Split into teams of four or five.
  3. The organizer announces only the first half of the challenge's name before anyone picks.
  4. Each team sends one player per round; everyone gets picked once before anyone repeats.
  5. The organizer reveals the full challenge, hands out equipment, and referees it to a winner.
  6. The winner banks one point for their team; read the scoreboard in reverse order at the end.

Before you start

  • Group size: 8–20 players in teams of four or five. Divide randomly — drawing names from a hat keeps any one team from stacking their fastest talkers.
  • One organizer, off the roster. They gather the materials, run the scoreboard, and referee every round — but never take a turn themselves.
  • Gather the challenge kit. Paper cups, a dictionary, a coin, a tape measure, chewing gum, a tennis ball, and a stopwatch cover the challenges below. Bring pen and paper for the scoreboard too.
  • Room to spread out. Pick a space with enough room for the physical rounds, where every team can see and hear the organizer.
  • Plan for one turn each before repeats. Track who's already gone up. It's the one rule that keeps the game from turning into the same three people every round.

How to run it

  1. Gather the kit and split into teams 3–5 min

    Collect the paper cups, dictionary, coin, tape measure, gum, tennis ball, and stopwatch, then randomly divide players into teams of four or five.

  2. Announce half the challenge 15 sec

    Say only the first part of the round's name — "the fastest…" — and stop there. Nobody picks their player with the full picture yet.

  3. Teams send up a player 30 sec

    Each team puts forward whoever they think will win this one. Every player has to go up once before anyone goes twice.

  4. Reveal the challenge and referee it 2–4 min

    Announce the full title, explain how to play, hand out whatever equipment the round needs, and call the winner yourself.

  5. Score it and move to the next round 20–40 min

    The winning player banks their team one point. Repeat with a new challenge — your own inventions count, as long as you've got the gear.

  6. Read the scoreboard 2–3 min

    Once every round's done, read the standings in reverse order and announce the winning team last.

← picking blind is the whole game.

Facilitator tips

Mix physical and mental roundsA pure lineup of physical challenges favors the same few athletes every time. Alternate with dictionary hunts and speed arithmetic so different people get their round.
Swap out knowledge-heavy roundsIf a dictionary hunt shuts out non-native speakers or younger players, swap in something skill-neutral — longest word found on a random page tests the same instinct without the vocabulary barrier.
Leave room for creativity, not just speedA drawing or storytelling round rewards a completely different kind of player than a stopwatch does.
Adapt a round on the spotIf a physical challenge doesn't work for someone's mobility, change it before the round starts rather than after — organizer's call, no vote needed.
Invent your own roundsThe best rounds are the ones a team dares you to add. Grab whatever gear the idea needs and run it.

Why it works

The pick happens blindTeams choose their player before they know the challenge, so the pick is a real bet on a teammate's hidden strengths — not just a plan built around the fastest runner.
Everyone goes up once firstBecause every player has to compete before anyone repeats, nobody spends the whole game on the sideline.
Different rounds pull different peopleA dictionary hunt and a bubble-blowing contest reward completely different players, so the "best" keeps changing hands round to round.
HELLO, MY NAME ISJon

"I like watching a team confidently send up their fastest runner, only to find out the round is about who can find a word in the dictionary first. The blind pick is the whole trick — and once you've run it once, you'll have your own rounds to add to the list."

Jon Zajac · Founder & Chief Icebreaker

Reflection questions

Six questions that turn the scoreboard into an actual conversation.

  1. What was your favorite challenge and why?Surfaces which round actually landed — and gets people replaying their favorite moment out loud.
  2. How did you feel when it was your turn to participate in a challenge?Gauges how comfortable people felt in the spotlight — and flags anything that needs more support next time.
  3. Did you learn anything new about your teammates through their performances in the challenges?Naming what surprised you about a teammate is half the point of the whole game.
  4. Were there any challenges that made you uncomfortable, and if so, why?Gives you a direct line to anything that needs adjusting before the next round of this.
  5. How can we apply some of the skills or attributes showcased in this game to our work or project?Connects the silliness back to the actual job — the strategy and confidence transfer.
  6. If you were to create your own challenge for The Bests, what would it be?The best source of next time's rounds is the group that just played this one.

If this fits, so will these

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Teams shop a fixed budget for the best haul they can talk their way into.

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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