The Green Glass Door game is a fun team-building activity that encourages communication, listening, and problem-solving.
As remote work and distributed teams become more common, activities like the Green Glass Door game help bring teams together through shared experiences.
This guide will provide tips and instructions for facilitating the Green Glass Door game with your team.
What is the Green Glass Door Game?
The Green Glass Door is a word game in which the leader creates a pattern of words that can and cannot pass through the imaginary “green glass door.”
The rest of the team asks yes or no questions to try and deduce the pattern.
The game requires careful listening, creative thinking, and teamwork to discover the secret rule.
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Why the Green Glass Door Game Matters for Teams
Playing the Green Glass Door game allows teams to:
- Improve listening and communication skills in a fun, low-pressure environment.
- Think creatively and problem solve together.
- Bond and build trust through shared collaboration.
- Practice inclusiveness by making sure everyone has a chance to participate.
- Energize and engage team members through an interactive activity.
Bringing teams together regularly for activities like this can strengthen relationships, align thinking, and reinvigorate creativity.
How to Play the Green Glass Door Game
Materials Needed:
- None! Just the team’s imagination.
Number of Participants:
- 5-10 works best, but it can be played with any number
Time Required:
- 10-20 minutes
Steps to Play:
- The facilitator comes up with a secret rule that determines which words can pass through the imaginary “green glass door.” This should be a pattern or category. Examples: words that contain double letters, words with three syllables, rhyming words, etc.
- The facilitator tells the group: “I am thinking of a secret rule that determines which words can pass through the green glass door. You can ask me any yes or no question to try and guess the rule.”
- The team asks questions like “Can the word ‘dog’ go through the green glass door?”
- The facilitator answers yes or no based on the secret rule.
- The team continues asking questions until someone guesses the secret rule.
- Once the pattern is guessed, play again with a new rule.
Tips for the Facilitator
- Choose creative or unexpected categories to keep the team engaged. We hear this from customers that regularly use of our training courses.
- Don’t make the rules too complex. The team should be able to deduce it within 10-15 questions.
- If the team is struggling, you can give clues to steer them in the right direction.
- Invite everyone to participate by taking turns asking questions.
- Keep track of time and set a time limit for each round.
Example Activities
Rhyming Words
The rule is the word must rhyme with “cat.”
Q: Can “dog” go through the green glass door?
A: No
Q: Can “bat” go through the green glass door?
A: Yes
Double Letters
The rule is the word must contain a double letter.
Q: Can “help” go through the green glass door?
A: Yes
Q: Can “house” go through the green glass door?
A: No
Three Syllables
The rule is the word must be three syllables.
Q: Can “computer” go through the green glass door?
A: Yes
Q: Can “book” go through the green glass door?
A: No
Conclusion
The Green Glass Door game provides an engaging and rewarding experience for teams.
By practicing active listening, communication, and problem solving in a fun, low-pressure environment, team members can strengthen relationships and align thinking.
Consider adding this collaborative activity to your next team building session!
With 30+ years of training experience, I founded Oak Innovation (oakinnovation.com) in 1995. I help busy training professionals and business managers deliver better training courses in less time by giving them instant access to editable training course material. I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from University College Cork. I hold qualifications in Professional Development And Training from University College Galway. Clients include Apple, Time Warner, and Harvard University.
