This is an activity I’ve used a few times and found useful, so I thought I’d write it up in case anyone else wants to try it. I think I made this up myself, but if you’ve seen this before please let me know — maybe I saw a version somewhere once and forgot about it!

This is a short group activity (can be just 10 minutes, or longer if you want) that’s a fun way for people to learn a little more about each other, realise some things group members have in common or have completely different experiences with, and to have a bit of a laugh. It can also be very competitive, especially if you want to have a few rounds of it and encourage people to beat each other’s scores.

How it works

With everyone together, explain the plan: we’re going to do an activity called “What’s true just for me and you?”

We’re going to split this group into pairs. Each pair will have a few minutes to chat, and to try to find some facts that are true for both of them. For example, “I went to Manchester university”, “I’ve visited Petra, the city carved out of rock in Jordan”, “I can play Nirvana’s ’Come as you are’ on the guitar”.

From these, pick one fact that’s true for both of you, and you reckon has a good chance of it being true for only you two out of this whole group. If you and your partner both went to Manchester uni, do you think nobody else at all in this room did that too? Pick your best contender from the facts you share.

Then, get the whole group back together and start sharing! First pair shares their fact, and then everyone else puts their hand up if it’s true for them too. The number of hands is that pair’s score — lower is better.

For example: “We both use post-it notes a lot in our job” (10 hands go up, terrible score).

Or: “We both watched Toy Story 4 in a Welsh cinema that’s well over 100 years old” (no hands go up, perfect score).

Go round everyone, see which pair’s the winner.

Variations

For longer versions: Can have more than one round (people get much more creative!), or have a longer initial chat and ask people to bring top 3 facts instead of just one.

You can lean into the gameshow aspect as much as you like (leaderboard at the front, hand out small prizes, maybe the facilitator can have a sparkly jacket…)

You could play this several times over weeks (maybe at the start of some regular team meeting), giving the team a chance to pay attention and get more understanding of each other over time.

Have fun!