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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Interactive Identity Game for Breaking the Ice - Identity Crisis
Relationship Mapping

Interactive Identity Game for Breaking the Ice - Identity Crisis

Interactive Identity Game for Breaking the Ice - Identity Crisis is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), Pairs, Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Distribute a set of blank index cards to your group, one per person.
  2. Ask everyone to write their first name on a card, in large letters.
  3. Pose three questions and invite everyone to consider their responses, eg favourite movie, ideal holiday location, and what they would do if they won the lottery.
  4. Over the course of the next few minutes, invite everyone to have a short conversation with a partner introducing themselves, especially sharing these three bits of information.
  5. Each person then seeks a new partner and introduces themselves using their new identity.
  6. Continue playing for 10 or more minutes, inviting each person to complete as many exchanges (and swaps of identity) as possible.
  7. To conclude, form a circle, and invite each person to introduce the person named on the card they are holding to the group.
  8. Identity Crisis Interactive identity game to create laughter & group bonding.
  9. As an interactive identity game, Identity Crisis provides a funny, engaging structure for sharing personal facts while reducing social anxiety in new groups.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Distribute a set of blank index cards to your group, one per person.

Ask everyone to write their first name on a card, in large letters.

Pose three questions and invite everyone to consider their responses, eg favourite movie, ideal holiday location, and what they would do if they won the lottery.

Over the course of the next few minutes, invite everyone to have a short conversation with a partner introducing themselves, especially sharing these three bits of information.

Each person then seeks a new partner and introduces themselves using their new identity.

Continue playing for 10 or more minutes, inviting each person to complete as many exchanges (and swaps of identity) as possible.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Interactive Identity Game for Breaking the Ice - Identity Crisis. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Distribute a set of blank index cards to your group, one per person.; Ask everyone to write their first name on a card, in large letters.; Pose three questions and invite everyone to consider their responses, eg favourite movie, ideal holiday location, and what they would do if they won the lottery.; Over the course of the next few minutes, invite everyone to have a short conversation with a partner introducing themselves, especially sharing these three bits of information.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Playmeo; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Playmeo.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with