Snowball Fight

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Mix the group and share written perspectives or personal facts anonymously before partner matching.

Use it when: Use at the start of a training session or meeting to get people moving, lower barriers to speaking, and form random pairs.

Skip it when: Skip when physical movement across the room is impractical or when participants have mobility limitations that make ducking, throwing, or gathering paper balls hazardous.

Group arrangement: Individual writing, whole-room movement, then pairs for sharing

Timing: Source suggests 5 to 15 minutes. 15 minutes allows full-group writing, tossing, finding matches, and brief report-outs.

Materials and tools

• 1 to 3 sheets of scrap or recycled paper per participant
• Pens or markers for all participants

Before participants arrive

1. Clear an open central floor space where people can safely toss light paper balls and move around.
2. Distribute 1 to 3 paper slips and pens to each participant.

Say this to open

Write one interesting fact about yourself on your paper slip. Keep it secret and do not write your name on it. If you prefer, write an everyday routine rather than a private detail. Next, we will crumple the papers, toss them into the middle, and see if we can match each paper to its writer.

How to run it

1. Write anonymous slips 3 minutes

   Include opening words here. Each person writes one distinct personal fact or statement on their paper slip without putting their name on it. Example: I once took five train transfers in one day. Anyone who prefers not to share a personal fact can write an everyday preference, such as I prefer tea over coffee.

2. Toss the snowballs 2 minutes

   Ask everyone to crumple their paper into a loose ball. On your signal, everyone tosses their paper ball into the center of the room. People may pick up a ball and toss it once or twice more to thoroughly shuffle the papers. Call stop after thirty seconds.

3. Retrieve and find match 5 minutes

   Everyone picks up exactly one paper ball from the floor, unrolls it, and reads the statement. Participants move around the room asking colleagues if that fact belongs to them. When two people confirm a match, they stand together as partners. If someone picks up their own paper, they trade with an unmatched person nearby.

4. Partner introduction and debrief 5 minutes

   Partners introduce each other briefly to the room by stating the person's name and the fact written on their slip. Invite two to four pairs to share with the whole room within the remaining time.

Debrief questions

• What was it like searching for your match based only on a short written clue?
• Did you learn something unexpected about someone you thought you knew well?
• How did anonymous writing change what you chose to share?

Finished output: Paired participants who have learned at least one new fact about a colleague.

Remote

The physical paper toss cannot happen online without altering the mechanic. For a remote team, use a digital whiteboard. Each participant posts an anonymous digital sticky note in an unsorted central zone. The facilitator shuffles the positions. Each participant claims one sticky note, reads it aloud, and asks the group to guess whose note it is.

Hybrid

In-person and remote participants cannot share a single physical paper toss safely or fairly. Run the digital whiteboard method for the entire group so in-person and remote attendees submit, shuffle, and claim notes simultaneously on their own screens.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may write light, everyday preferences instead of private disclosures.
• People who prefer not to bend to the floor may request a desk toss where balls land on tables, or a peer can hand them an unrolled slip.
• Anyone may pass on speaking during the final group debrief.

If the session gets stuck

A participant retrieves their own paper ball.

Have them immediately swap slips with an adjacent participant who has not yet started interviewing.

An odd number of participants leaves one person without a partner.

Form one triad where three participants match their slips and introduce one another.

Terms used here

• Snowball: A crumpled piece of paper tossed across a room to randomize written responses.