Some days in the contact centre can feel like a never-ending loop of calls, scripts, and targets, and that’s when a little fun can make all the difference.
Motivational Games for Call Centres
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Filed under - Call Centre Management, Fun and Games, Incentives, Management Strategies, Motivation, Staffing
The right game can spark laughter, friendly rivalry, and a burst of motivation that carries through the day. It’s not just about prizes; it’s about breaking the routine and bringing people together.
In this article, we share 13 motivational games you can play in the contact centre to boost energy, teamwork, and performance.
13 Motivational Games to Play in the Contact Centre
1. Call Centre Monopoly
A contact centre twist on the classic monopoly board game, designed to improve morale and customer outcomes.
How to Play:
- Create a Monopoly board with locations relevant to your business - keeping the standard squares (e.g., "Go to Jail," "Community Chest").
- Give each team member Monopoly money to start. They move around the board by hitting KPIs (e.g., Average Speed of Answer). Passing "Go" earns an extra £200 each time.
- Open a "Monopoly Shop" where players can spend their fake money on treats and rewards.
Julie-Ann, one of our readers, said: “We played the game for three months, introducing bonuses throughout the months, which included positive customer feedback, assisting internal teams.”
2. Pod Wars
Inspired by Battleships, this game turns team pods into rival fleets, building camaraderie and competitive spirit.
Ben Dale-Gough, an Operations Director, says this works well in his call centre because “advisors sit at workstations arranged in ‘pods’, with each pod representing a team.
How to Play:
- Arrange advisors into pods, each representing a team.
- When an agent makes a sale, they get to “sink” the corresponding seat on the opposing pod.
- Offer team-wide prizes (e.g., lunch out, spa day) to keep motivation collective.
This game has had a positive impact on the atmosphere in Ben’s call centre, as he says: “People find it really engaging; it ignites competitiveness, builds comradeship and helps the team to bond.”
3. Snakes and Ladders
A giant game board where customer feedback sends you climbing. This is a fun, visual way to drive positive customer feedback and reduce Customer Effort Scores.
How to Play:
- Use a standard Snakes and Ladders board and put it up on the wall in your contact centre.
- Advisors earn dice rolls when customers give top scores to the agent in post-call surveys. Once they roll the dice, they then move by that amount leading them either up or down the ladder.
This game was found to be successful HomeServe's contact centre in Walsall during our site visit.
4. Knockout
A fast-paced competition where agents battle for ownership of the game board. This game fosters healthy competition which pits advisors against one another can be good for both motivation and performance. According to Steve, one of our readers, Knockout is the perfect incentive game for doing so.
How to Play:
- Draw a grid on a whiteboard. The number of boxes needed is based on the size of your team and how long you want the game to last.
- Pre-select winning boxes but don't let anyone know - prizes can include cash, extra breaks, or early finishes.
- When an advisor hits a target (sale, metric, positive feedback), they mark a box with their initials.
- Larger wins can "lock" a box so no one can steal it from them.
- When the boxes are filled, the advisors can then begin to 'knock out' each other from boxes.
- When the game finishes, the agents with their initials in the winning boxes wins their prizes.
According to Steve, “advisors prefer shorter games with more (smaller) prizes. You can also make teams of two or three and then Knockout becomes a team game.”
5. Balls of Steel
Balls of Steel is a perfect game for encouraging individual performance and healthy competition.
How to Play:
- At the start of the day, give each agent five balls.
- Each time they win a sale or hit a target, they can take a ball from another player.
- The person with the most balls at the end of the day wins a high-value prize.
Ben, one of our readers, said that his contact centre gives “something desirable like a camera or a meal for two at a local restaurant.”
6. Call Centre Jenga
Call centre Jenga adds a playful, unpredictable twist to hitting targets.
How to Play:
- Number each Jenga block from 1-54.
- When an advisor achieves a set goal (e.g., booking an appointment, hitting a target etc), they get to pull a block.
- Points are scored from numbers on the block's underside.
- If the agent knocks down the tower, deduct 30 points.
- The agent with the highest score at the end of the day wins.
7. Chase the Envelope
Chase the Envelope differs from the others as it contains a bit of mystery, which causes intrigue and excitement that can really boost the working atmosphere.
How to Play:
- Prepare three sealed envelopes with different prizes (e.g., Get to go home an hour early, longer lunch break, extra day of holiday)
- When an advisor gets a sale, they get to take an envelope from another player.
- At the end of the day, those holding envelopes get to open them to reveal their reward.
This game was suggested by Hayley, a call centre helper reader, who says that the purpose of this game is to ensure that "performance doesn’t wane towards the end of the day.” So, playing this game is also a good tactic for providing consistent service.
8. Hangman
This is a call centre spin on the classic game and, according to Andrew Wood, Managing Director at Trainer Bubble, it is “a great way to finish a training event on a ‘high’.”
How to Play:
- Split participants into two teams.
- Each team writes down questions based on the training content - keeping it secret from the other team.
- Teams take turns asking the other team questions.
- If the team gets the question right, then it is their turn to ask a question back. If they answer incorrectly, a piece of the hangman is drawn and they are then asked the next question.
- The first team to complete a hangman loses.
“It is also useful to consolidate learning or to check recall. And one advantage of this game is that the participants need to review the session fully in order to develop questions for the other team, as well as being tested themselves,” said Andrew Wood.
9. The Lone Assassin
Sometimes there is nothing better than a cheesy game to bring new recruits together, and the lone assassin is ideal for these situations.
How to Play:
- Get together the group of players (there needs to be at least 20).
- Write all participants' names on a list.
- Each person is secretly assigned a “target” - To make this easier, have each person assassinate the person below them on the list.
- To “assassinate” someone, approach them and say, “Bang, bang, you’re dead” without witnesses.
- If the assassination succeeds, then the target is out of the game and must pass on to their assassin the name of the person they were trying to assassinate - That person then becomes the assassin's new target.
- The winner is the last person standing.
According to Andrew Wood, “people who have been assassinated can stay in the game as bodyguards for people still alive.
Eventually, there will be an outright winner. But it is advisable to make an extra rule that nobody can be assassinated during the session times or other times you do not want to be disturbed.
10. The Team Bus
The Team Bus game provides an interesting method of demonstrating and developing the core skills needed for a contact centre team, i.e. communication, listening and building rapport.
How to Play:
- Draw an outline of a bus on flip-chart paper.
- Break teams into groups of four or five. Each team then needs to draw components to the bus relating to the contact centre.
- Allow 20 minutes for the team to draw the bus and five minutes for each team to present their vehicle.
- Present buses to the whole team.
To give examples, Andrew suggests “drawing the antennae, so that we have good communication, the wheels keep us in motion, a rear-view mirror to keep an eye on where we have been, headlights to help us find our way, a trunk to store all our knowledge and tools, the petrol tank to provide energy when we need it, etc.”
11. The Jelly Baby Tree
The Jelly Baby Tree helps when training new recruits to encourage discussion, so future members of the contact centre team can bond and share their questions and concerns.
How to Play:
- Provide each participant with a "Jelly Baby Tree" illustration.
- Ask them to choose and colour the jelly baby that best represents how they feel.
- Once they have done this, take it in turns to ask each person to show their coloured-in jelly baby and explain why they chose it.
Tip: If you don't want to print out so many copies, place a picture of the Jelly Baby Tree on a slide and ask participants to point out the jelly baby that represents them and explain the reasons.
12. Passing Balls
When the training has turned a little flat, Passing Balls can help you give a quick burst of energy.
How to Play:
- Get together eight team members and five stress balls.
- Get the team to form a circle, and then pass one ball to the person opposite them.
- Each person catches/passes the ball just once, starting and ending with the same person.
- Ask them to remember who they passed to as they will always pass to that same person as the game progresses.
- After two or three with one ball, add the second ball and time how long it takes them to get back to the start person.
- Once all the balls are added, time them to see how fast they can do it.
Tony, one of our readers, played this game in her contact centre. She said that “the trick is to rearrange themselves to decrease the time to get the balls to travel through each person’s hands and starting and ending with the same person.”
13. Hot Potato
Suggested by Irma salazar, in the Hot Potato sales game, agents compete to win by making sales while holding a "hot potato."
How to Play:
- Start by setting a timer for a random 3-5 minute interval.
- When an advisor makes a sale, they get the "hot potato." They then get to hold onto it until another agent makes a sale.
- Whoever is holding it when the timer ends wins a small prize.
For more team motivation and contact centre game ideas, look at these articles next:
Author: Hannah Swankie
Reviewed by: Megan Jones
Published On: 29th Aug 2017 - Last modified: 18th Aug 2025
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Fun and Games, Incentives, Management Strategies, Motivation, Staffing
I just want to thank the site for publishing this and all the very helpful material. It is a great source of information and knowledge to help us call centre managers.
I mostly like the Lone Assassin game. Thank you very much for giving these advices. They will be very helpful for keeping my team motivated.
If you need new ideas – have a contest in the call centre for your reps to come up with a contest/game idea. The employee who has the best idea (and one you will use)wins a prize. This way you will also have other ideas that you can also use down the road.
I particularly like the hangman. While we do recap all the time in Induction training, it is great to use Hangman to create excitement. Will definitely try this
Very informational and exciting I must say, this site has opened up a world that I unfortunately didn’t know existed.