Drawing Games for Remote Teams: 10 Virtual Team Building Activities

The calendar invite says "Team Building Activity" and you immediately feel that familiar dread. Another forced fun session where you'll be asked to share your "spirit animal" or participate in trust falls over Zoom. If this sounds familiar, you're not alone—67% of remote workers say team building activities feel awkward and unproductive according to recent workplace surveys.

But what if team building could actually be genuinely fun? What if it could break down the barriers that screens create, reveal hidden talents among colleagues, and create inside jokes that persist for months? Drawing games offer exactly that opportunity. They're accessible (everyone can draw, even if they think they can't), they level the playing field (your job title doesn't matter when you're racing to sketch a giraffe), and they create shared experiences that transcend the transactional nature of work.

This guide presents 10 proven virtual team building activities using drawing games like Doodle Duel. These aren't generic icebreakers—they're structured activities designed by team dynamics experts to build trust, spark creativity, and help remote teams connect authentically. Whether you're managing a distributed engineering team, onboarding new hires remotely, or just trying to make Friday meetings less painful, these activities will transform how your team interacts.

Why Drawing Games Work So Well for Remote Teams

Before diving into the activities, let's understand why drawing games are particularly effective for virtual team building:

Visual communication transcends language barriers. Remote teams often span multiple countries and native languages. Drawing creates a universal language that everyone can participate in equally. A sketch of a cat is recognizable whether you speak English, Spanish, or Mandarin.

Vulnerability creates connection. Most adults haven't drawn since childhood, so there's an inherent vulnerability in putting your sketch on screen. When leaders and junior team members alike draw silly pictures side by side, hierarchy dissolves and authentic connections form.

Low stakes, high engagement. Unlike presentations or brainstorming sessions where performance anxiety can run high, drawing games feel playful and consequence-free. This psychological safety encourages participation from introverts and extroverts alike.

AI judging removes human bias. Unlike games where team members vote on the "best" drawing (which can create hurt feelings), AI-judged games like Doodle Duel provide objective scoring. Nobody feels judged by their peers, making the experience more inclusive.

Activity #1: The Collaborative Mural

Best for: Large teams (8-20 people), creative problem-solving, visualizing company values

How it works: Create a shared digital canvas (Miro, Figma, or even a shared Google Jamboard) and give the team a theme: "Our company's journey," "What success looks like," or "Our ideal workday." Each person adds one drawing element, building on what others have created. After 15 minutes, discuss the emergent themes and surprises.

Why it works: This activity reveals how team members perceive shared concepts differently. One person's "success" might be a trophy, while another draws a balanced scale. These differences spark conversations about values and priorities that might never surface in regular meetings.

Pro tip: Use Doodle Duel's multiplayer rooms for the warm-up round. Have everyone draw the theme word individually first, then share their results before starting the collaborative mural. This primes creative thinking and breaks the ice.

Activity #2: Speed Sketch Tournaments

Best for: Energizing stale meetings, building competitive spirit, quick morale boosts

How it works: Host a single-elimination tournament using Doodle Duel's multiplayer mode. Divide into brackets, with winners advancing until you crown a champion. Keep rounds short (5-10 minutes) and use category themes like "Office Objects," "Tech Terms," or "Things That Are Red."

Why it works: Competition, when done right, creates excitement and engagement. The key is keeping it lighthearted—celebrate the terrible drawings as much as the good ones. The shared laughter and suspense of "who will advance" creates memorable moments.

Pro tip: Create a simple bracket graphic (even in PowerPoint) and share your screen so everyone can track the tournament progress. Award silly prizes like "Most Creative Interpretation" or "Fastest Fingers" alongside the champion title.

Activity #3: Pictionary Telephone

Best for: Large groups, communication workshops, illustrating how messages change

How it works: This is the drawing version of the classic telephone game. Person 1 gets a secret prompt and draws it. Person 2 looks at Person 1's drawing (not the original prompt) and draws what they think it is. Person 3 looks at Person 2's drawing, and so on. At the end, compare the final drawing to the original prompt—hilarity guaranteed.

Why it works: This is one of the most effective activities for demonstrating communication breakdowns in a memorable way. Teams naturally discuss how the original message got lost, connecting the game to real workplace communication challenges.

Pro tip: Use Solo Mode for each round, having participants save their drawings to share. For extra impact, do two rounds: one with simple prompts (cat, house) and one with abstract concepts (innovation, teamwork) to show how complexity affects communication.

Activity #4: The Design Challenge

Best for: Product teams, design thinking workshops, creative problem-solving

How it works: Present a hypothetical problem your company faces (or a fun fictional one: "Design a better coffee mug for astronauts"). Give teams 10 minutes to sketch their solution, then present their drawings and explain their thinking. Vote on the most innovative solution.

Why it works: Drawing forces people to externalize ideas that might be vague when discussed verbally. A sketch of "user-friendly interface" reveals much more about the thinker's assumptions than words alone. This activity is particularly valuable for product and engineering teams.

Pro tip: Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Emphasize that stick figures and rough sketches are not just acceptable—they're preferred. The goal is communicating ideas quickly, not creating polished designs.

Activity #5: Two Truths and a Lie (Drawing Edition)

Best for: New team onboarding, helping colleagues learn about each other, building empathy

How it works: Each person draws three things: two true facts about themselves and one lie. The team guesses which is which. Examples might be: "I've visited 20 countries," "I can juggle fire," "I used to be a professional dancer."

Why it works: The classic verbal version often feels like an interrogation. The drawing version feels like play, which leads to more authentic sharing. Plus, seeing how people visualize their experiences reveals personality traits and communication styles.

Pro tip: Encourage people to choose visually interesting facts. "I love coffee" is harder to draw uniquely than "I once got lost in Tokyo for 6 hours." The more specific the facts, the better the drawings and the more memorable the sharing.

Activity #6: The Emoji Challenge

Best for: Quick energizers, breaking up long meetings, icebreakers for new teams

How it works: Display a complex sentence or scenario using only emojis (for example: 👨‍🚀🚀🌕🦅🪨 or 🐱🍝🤌❤️). Teams race to decode the message and draw their interpretation. First team to correctly identify and draw the concept wins.

Why it works: This activity bridges digital communication (emojis) with creative expression (drawing). It validates different interpretations—there might be multiple valid readings of an emoji sequence—and celebrates the diversity of thinking on your team.

Pro tip: Use movie titles, famous quotes, or company-specific inside jokes for the emoji sequences. "The Godfather" or "Just ship it" make great emoji puzzles that feel relevant rather than generic.

Activity #7: Blind Drawing Challenge

Best for: Trust-building workshops, communication training, pure entertainment

How it works: Participants look at a prompt, then must draw it while looking only at their canvas—not their hand or the cursor. No peeking allowed! The disconnect between what they think they're drawing and what actually appears creates amazing (and hilarious) results.

Why it works: This is one of the highest-laughter- guaranteed activities. It completely levels the playing field—professional artists produce drawings just as "interesting" as complete beginners. The vulnerability of sharing terrible drawings creates instant bonding.

Pro tip: Save screenshots of the best blind drawings and create a "Wall of Fame" channel in your team Slack or Teams. These become treasured team artifacts that get referenced for months.

Activity #8: Category Battles

Best for: Building expertise, themed meetings, competitive fun

How it works: Declare a category relevant to your work or interests: "Programming Languages," "Marketing Terms," or "Things in Our Office." Teams compete in Doodle Duel for 5-10 rounds within that theme. The team with the highest cumulative score wins.

Why it works: Category constraints force creative thinking while building shared knowledge. When everyone draws "Kubernetes" or "Brand Voice," teammates learn from each other's visual interpretations. The repetition builds running jokes and shared references.

Pro tip: Rotate who chooses the category each week. This gives everyone ownership and surfaces interests you might not know about. Your quiet backend developer might choose "80s Rock Bands" and reveal a passion that becomes a conversation starter.

Activity #9: The Art Critique (Friendly Edition)

Best for: Developing feedback skills, design teams, communication training

How it works: After a drawing round, instead of just revealing scores, spend 2 minutes discussing one drawing (with the artist's permission). What makes it effective? What could improve recognition? Focus on constructive, specific feedback that could help the artist improve.

Why it works: Giving and receiving feedback is a crucial workplace skill, but practicing it on actual work can feel high-stakes. Practicing on drawings removes that pressure while building the muscle for constructive criticism. Teams learn to separate the person from the work.

Pro tip: Frame feedback using the "What worked / What could improve" structure. "The bicycle wheels made this instantly recognizable. Adding a seat might have made it clearer sooner" is more useful than "Nice job!" or "The wheels were good but missing parts."

Activity #10: The Weekly Creative Break

Best for: Sustained team culture, preventing burnout, regular connection

How it works: Schedule a recurring 15-minute "Creative Break" meeting (Friday afternoons work well). No work talk allowed—just one round of Doodle Duel together. Keep it casual, optional, and consistent.

Why it works: The best team building isn't one big event—it's small, consistent moments of connection. A weekly creative break becomes a ritual that team members look forward to. It signals that your culture values creativity and human connection alongside productivity.

Pro tip: Don't force participation. The magic happens when people choose to show up because they enjoy it. Start with enthusiasts and let word of mouth grow attendance naturally. Quality of connection beats quantity of participants.

How to Introduce Drawing Games to Your Remote Team

If you're a team lead or manager wanting to try these activities, here's your rollout strategy:

Start small and voluntary. Don't announce a mandatory "Drawing Game Hour." Instead, mention casually that you're trying a new warm-up activity and invite interested folks to stay on the call after the main meeting. Let curiosity, not obligation, drive participation.

Lead with vulnerability. The first time you introduce drawing games, share your own terrible drawing first. When leaders show they don't take themselves seriously, everyone else relaxes. Your stick-figure elephant gives permission for others to draw stick figures too.

Emphasize AI judging. Many adults feel shame about their drawing ability. Clarify that Doodle Duel uses AI scoring, so nobody is judging anyone's artistic merit. The AI cares about recognition, not aesthetics. This psychological safety is crucial for participation.

Connect to business outcomes. While the activities are fun, they're also developing real skills: quick thinking under pressure, visual communication, creative problem-solving, and giving constructive feedback. Mention these benefits so leadership sees the ROI.

Document and celebrate. Screenshot the funniest drawings and share them in your team channel. Create inside jokes around recurring prompts. These artifacts become part of your team's culture and history.

Tools and Setup for Virtual Drawing Games

You don't need expensive software to run these activities:

For the drawing itself: Doodle Duel runs in any browser—no downloads, no accounts required. Players just visit the site, enter a room code, and start drawing. The AI judging handles scoring automatically.

For video calls: Standard Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams works fine. The drawing happens in browsers, so screen sharing is optional (though fun for reactions).

For collaboration: Miro, FigJam, Google Jamboard, or even a shared PowerPoint work for collaborative mural activities. Choose what your team already uses to minimize friction.

For tournaments: A simple bracket graphic in Google Slides or PowerPoint adds structure and excitement to competitive formats.

The Real Goal: Human Connection

Here's the truth about remote work: screens create distance not just physically, but psychologically. When we only see colleagues through the narrow lens of work tasks, we forget they're full humans with quirks, humor, and creativity. Drawing games shatter that narrow lens.

When you see your serious VP of Engineering drawing a lopsided octopus, or your quiet designer erupt in laughter at a misinterpreted prompt, you remember: These are people, not just roles. That reminder—that humanity—is what makes teams resilient, collaborative, and ultimately successful.

The 10 activities in this guide are just vehicles for that connection. Whether you use all of them or just one, the goal isn't perfect execution—it's creating moments where your team laughs together, surprises each other, and builds the trust that makes hard work feel less hard.

Ready to transform your next team meeting? Start a Doodle Duel room and invite your team to a 10-minute creative break. Don't overthink it—just start drawing. The connection will follow naturally.