# Remote Work Bingo

Participants review a grid of common work from home experiences, mark squares that apply to their week, and compare notes in pairs or as a group.

**Time:** 15 minutes. 15-minute meeting version based on UWT standard timing; asynchronous play can extend across multiple days
**People:** 4 to 24. Individual marking, followed by pairs or triads, then whole group review

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Acknowledge everyday remote working realities and identify shared work habits across a distributed team.
**Use it when:** Use at the start of a team meeting or retrospective to break routine and normalize common distributed work experiences.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the meeting requires strict confidentiality, when participants work fully on site, or when time is under ten minutes.

## Materials and tools

- One printed or digital Remote Work Bingo card per person
- One pen or digital annotation tool per person

## Before participants arrive

1. Send the bingo grid link or document to all participants in advance, or print copies for in-person attendees.
2. Ensure all participants have access to write on or digitally mark their copy.

## Say this to open

Take a look at your Remote Work Bingo card. Review the squares and mark an X on any situation you have personally experienced this past week. After three minutes of solo marking, we will compare notes in pairs.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce card and rules (2 minutes)

Distribute or display the grid. Explain that participants mark squares matching their recent remote experiences. Clarify that five in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally is a standard line, but any marked square is valid to share.

### 2. Mark individual cards (3 minutes)

Participants review the grid silently and mark their squares. Anyone who prefers not to mark personal details may observe or focus on universal work habits.

### 3. Compare in small groups (5 minutes)

Divide participants into pairs or triads. Groups compare marked squares, notice common experiences, and confirm if anyone completed a row.

### 4. Whole-room wrap and debrief (5 minutes)

Reconvene the full room. Ask three volunteers to name their most frequent square or an unexpected match. Address two debrief questions before closing.


## Debrief questions

- Which square was marked by almost everyone in your small group?
- What remote work habit on your card would you like to keep or change this month?

**Finished output:** Marked bingo cards showing shared remote work patterns across the team.

## Remote

Distribute a digital fillable card or shared slide deck before the session. Run small groups in breakout rooms for step three. Call out matches in the main chat room.

## Hybrid

Provide physical cards to room participants and digital files to remote participants. Form small groups using one in-person attendee paired with one remote attendee via laptop, or run separate in-room and remote breakout pods.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may pass on reading aloud any square they marked.
- Provide high-contrast text files of the square descriptions for screen-reader users.

## If the session gets stuck

**Nobody achieves a full five-box line within the session.**

Shift the win condition to the person or pair with the most total marked squares.

**A participant works in a shared office and feels excluded by home-specific prompts.**

Allow them to mark boxes based on colleagues they interact with or substitute general distributed office habits.


## Terms used here

- Line: A continuous sequence of five marked squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

## Participant material: Remote Work Bingo Card

5x5 Grid Squares:
Row 1: [Spoke while on mute] [Pet made a video cameo] [Wore pajama pants to a meeting] [Took a walk during lunch] [Household appliance beeped during call]
Row 2: [Coffee cup went cold] [Did household chores between tasks] [Forgot camera was on] [Used a virtual background] [Sent a message to the wrong channel]
Row 3: [Stretched during a presentation] [Child or housemate waved at camera] [FREE SPACE] [Said 'Can you see my screen?'] [Worked from a non-desk surface]
Row 4: [Internet connection dropped briefly] [Typed loudly while unmuted] [Had lunch at your workstation] [Joked about commute time] [Two people spoke at the exact same second]
Row 5: [Checked phone during a pause] [Created a custom workspace setup] [Used an emoji reaction instead of speaking] [Sent a gif to clarify tone] [Drank a full glass of water]

## Sources and adaptation

Observed on TeamBuilding.com in an article credited to Michael Alexis.

Retained the core mechanic of marking remote work habits on a bingo card from TeamBuilding.com sources. UWT added structured session timings, small group pair sharing, a 5x5 content template, and debrief questions to fit standard meeting schedules.

[TeamBuilding.com](https://teambuilding.com/en/articles/remote-work-bingo)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/remote-work-bingo-free-template-rules/