PULTEVENT
Work function games: 8 ideas for the end-of-year breakup
Barefoot bowls at a club in Newcastle, the second Friday in December, ten past five. The storm that had been sitting over the ocean all afternoon finally arrived, and forty-five staff in company polo shirts sprinted from the green to the function room with their drinks held over their heads. Inside: a carpet with a pattern last fashionable in 1989, a bain-marie of party pies, a pull-down screen and a projector on a trolley that the club manager wheeled out with the words, "It works if you jiggle the cable."
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Most end-of-year work functions I've hosted in this country have the same problem once the outdoor bit is over. People split into their departments, the finance lot at one end of the bar, the warehouse crew at the other, and the managers circling awkwardly in between. A couple of well-run games on the screen fix that faster than any speech from the MD.
With PULTEVENT you run the whole program from a laptop browser. The projector or the venue's TV shows the games, staff scan a QR code and play on their own phones, and there's nothing to download or sign up for. The phones need a connection, venue Wi-Fi or mobile data, so it's worth asking the function coordinator about it when you book.
8 games for an Aussie work function
1 Guess the colleague
Little-known facts about staff come up on screen: who was a junior surf lifesaving champion, who has been to every state capital, who once met a prime minister at a sausage sizzle. The room guesses from their phones.
How to run it. Collect the facts through a short form a month ahead and only use the ones people are happy to share.
People learn something real about colleagues they've only ever emailed.
2 The year in review quiz
Ten questions about your own year: the month of the office move, the name of the new software nobody could pronounce, how many coffees the kitchen machine made before it died. Teams answer from their phones.
How to run it. Crowdsource the questions from each department. The best ones come from reception and IT.
It turns the year's frustrations into shared jokes, which is most of what an end-of-year function is for.
3 Office awards
Staff vote from their phones on categories you set: best desk snacks, most creative excuse for being late, calmest person during the server outage, the person most likely to reply-all.
How to run it. Run the voting during the week before the function and reveal the results on the night.
Everyone gets a shot at an award, and nobody's feelings are hurt if you write the categories kindly.
4 Department challenge board
A board game-show format on the screen: five categories, tiles worth different points, departments or mixed teams picking in turn. The team scoreboard tracks every point.
How to run it. Include one category about the company and one about Australia, so everyone has a subject they're good at.
It gives the quiet high-achievers a chance to be the heroes of the night.
5 Department karaoke battle
Each department puts forward a singer (or a whole choir) and the lyrics come up on screen. Everyone votes from their phones for the winner.
How to run it. Line up volunteers when you send out the invitations, not on the night.
The best way to see the CFO do an 80s power ballad, if the CFO is up for it.
6 Drift Arena tournament
Up to twelve drivers steer cars on the big screen from their phones. Run heats by department and a final for the winners.
How to run it. Keep each heat short. The crowd watching is half the fun.
Anyone can play, no knowledge needed, and it's the loudest ten minutes of the night.
7 A message from the other offices
The Perth branch, the regional depot, the team in Auckland: short video clips from the people who couldn't be there, played on the big screen between games.
How to run it. Ask for thirty seconds, filmed at their own end-of-year do if possible.
Staff in other places feel part of the day, and the head office sees their faces for once.
8 The podium and the credits
The team scoreboard finishes with an awards ceremony, then end credits roll on the screen with every staff member's name, like the end of a film.
How to run it. Get the full staff list from HR, and double-check the spelling of every name.
Everyone sees their name on the big screen, which says thank you better than a speech.
Breaks up the department cliques
Mixed teams, one QR code, and suddenly finance is cheering for the warehouse.
The year, on the big screen
A quiz about your own year: the move, the new system, the week the air con died.
Remote and regional staff included
Other offices join through a video call and play from their phones.
A proper ending
Awards, a podium, and end credits with everyone's name before the bus.
When to play in a breakup party
Most Australian workplaces hold their end-of-year do in late November or the first half of December, often a Friday afternoon that runs into the evening. The games work best in the first two hours, after the outdoor activity or the lunch, and before the bar tab has done too much work. After that, let the DJ or the playlist take over.
A good running order: guess the colleague as people arrive, the year-in-review quiz after food, a karaoke battle and a Drift Arena tournament, then office awards and the podium. End credits as people head to the bus or the taxi rank.
Working with the venue
Bowls clubs, pubs with function rooms, harbourside venues, a hired space at a brewery: most have a screen or a TV and a way to plug in a laptop. Ask your function coordinator three things when you book: where the HDMI connection is, whether there's an adapter for your laptop, and whether the Wi-Fi will handle sixty phones at once.
"Do we need our own cable?"
"Bring one. Ours went to the Christmas party last year and never came back."
If the signal is patchy, the video messages, the credits and the podium still run from the laptop. The phone games need internet.
Remote, FIFO and regional staff
In a country this size, a lot of teams have people in other states, in regional depots or on fly-in fly-out rosters. Share the stage window in a video call, and those staff see the big screen and play from their phones through the same QR code. The time zone difference with Perth means their party might be starting as yours winds down, so play the video message from them early.
Teams that speak more than English
Plenty of Australian workplaces are multilingual. The guest screens follow the language set on each staff member's phone, and you can turn that off if you'd rather everyone see the same thing. The host console runs in English. The quiz questions are yours to write, in whatever language suits the room.
Trying it before the invitations go out
Sign up for the free 3-day demo, no card, and build the year-in-review quiz at your desk. Run it on the boardroom TV with the social committee. If it works, the full version is a one-time licence, not a subscription, so the same setup covers the Melbourne Cup lunch, the mid-year function and next year's breakup. The price is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run games at an Australian work function
- 1
Four weeks out, send a short form for colleague facts and open the office awards nominations.
- 2
Collect year-in-review questions from each department and build the quiz.
- 3
Ask the other offices for short video messages, and get the full staff list for the credits.
- 4
Confirm the venue's screen, cable and Wi-Fi, and test the QR code from a phone in the function room.
- 5
On the day, run guess the colleague, the quiz, the karaoke and the Drift Arena heats in the first two hours.
- 6
Close with the awards, the podium and the end credits.
FAQ
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See also
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