Ice Breakers & Starters

Risk!

Is your organisation made up of A teams or B teams? This is one way to find out. See how risk averse your organisation’s culture is and find out who can keep the coolest heads. High points seem attractive but getting them is a risky business!


Teams begin with a simple task of matching up a series of 20 advertising slogans to the relevant company. Getting the right match scores points. After 10 minutes teams can ask for additional challenges that also score points. Available for them are 10 Brainstretchers,10 Numlets (e.g. 14 D in a F), 10 Matchstick Problems and 1 Mega Mindbender.

Teams can ask for as many or as few of the above as they want and can have more at each 10 minute period. The catch is that if they ask for any item and they cannot do it or if they get it wrong they lose penalty points. It’s a risky business! Just how far will they go? The team with the highest number of points wins!

Learning Benefits

  • highlights just how risk averse the team is, or isn’t
  • encourages group discussion on risk assessment
  • challenges problem-solving and lateral-thinking abilities
  • ideal for team bonding sessions
  • fun, light-hearted activity with underlying team lessons

Customer feedback

  • Risk is a great activity that gets teams thinking about the amount of work they can take on.

    – S. McKissick, Oracle Corporation

  • Great as an ice-breaker AND as an activity for more meaningful discussion.

    – M. Kember. University of Hull

  • I recommend this to anyone wanting an activity that is engaging, requires individuals to work in teams and is a lot of fun. The cheers that accompanied the answers made for an energetic and enjoyable end to the participants' day.

    – J. Johnson, Straight Talking Ltd