Team building for offsites and workshops

Turn a room full of colleagues into a human network

A free team-building game for offsites and workshops: colleagues talk, find what they have in common, and a live network graph shows the connections growing on the big screen.

Have a game code?

Your facilitator shows a 6-digit code (and a QR code) on the big screen.

Dots are people, lines are what they shareEvery connection a team finds becomes a colored line between two names.
The facilitator page: the game code, the list of participants and the timer settings
Set up a game in a few minutesSign in, upload the list of names, add starter topics and set a timer. Players only need the code.
Three phones: picking a name, adding a connection with a colleague and a topic, and the list of my connections
Join with a code on any phonePick your name, choose a colleague and a topic you share, and you are done. No account, no app.
The Timer screen for the projector: a 30 minute countdown, the join code and QR code, the rules and the live network
A big screen that keeps everyone on trackA countdown, the rules, the join code, a QR code and the network growing live.
The network view: ten people joined by colored lines with a legend of the topics
Watch the network growPeople, connections and groups at a glance. When everyone is joined into one network, the room celebrates.
The results views: top topics as a bar chart and the who-met-whom matrix
Nine ways to look at the resultTop topics, super-connectors, surprising links, who met whom, a replay and more, each exportable as an image.

How it works

Three steps from strangers to a network

1

The facilitator sets up a game

Sign in, create a game, upload the list of participants and show the join code and QR code on the big screen.

2

Everyone joins on their phone

Enter the 6-digit code, choose your name from the list and you are in. It takes about half a minute.

3

Talk, connect, watch it grow

Walk around, find what you have in common (a hobby, a country, a pet, a past job) and add it as a connection. The network on the screen grows with every conversation.

Why teams like it

Simple for players, useful for facilitators

Nothing to install

Players open a link or scan a QR code on their phone, enter a 6-digit code and pick their name. No accounts, no apps.

A live network on the big screen

Every connection appears as a colored line the moment it is added, so the whole room watches the network grow.

Timer, rules and QR code

A projector screen with a countdown, the rules, the join code and a QR code keeps everybody on track.

Nine ways to look at the result

Top topics, super-connectors, surprising links, who is still alone, a replay and more, each exportable as an image.

Private by design

Players only see their own connections. No advertising, no tracking, and games delete themselves after a few weeks.

Your topics, your game

Start with ideas such as "Play tennis" or "Have dogs"; players add their own and the facilitator can merge or remove topics.

The rules in brief

Three rounds, ten minutes each

10 min

1. Find your people

Discover and record the things you share with colleagues.

10 min

2. Unexpected connections

Look for unusual links. "We work at the same company" no longer counts.

10 min

3. Connect the network

Work together until everybody belongs to one connected network.

Read the full guide for players and facilitators →

For facilitators

Run a game in ten minutes

Sign in with a personal or work Microsoft account, create a game and you get a join code, a projector screen and a results page. You only ever see the games you created.

  • Upload participants from a simple text file, one name per line.
  • Start the timer and open the big-screen view with the live network, the rules and the QR code.
  • Merge similar topics, remove mistakes and see the results in nine views.
  • Delete the game and all its data whenever you like.

Free, as is. This service is free to use as it is, without support, warranty or service level. It can change or stop at any time. Games are kept for a limited time only, so export the results you want to keep. Please read the terms of service and the privacy policy before you run a game with your colleagues.

Open source

The code is open source

Connect the Dots is free software under the MIT License. You can read it, run your own copy and improve it.

Open source, repository coming soon

Ideas, bug reports and complaints

All feedback goes to GitHub issues, where everybody can see it: open an issue. This is a hobby-scale project without support, so please expect no guaranteed reply or deadline. Do not post personal data or security problems in public issues; the privacy policy explains how to reach us privately.

Questions

Quick answers

What is Connect the Dots?

A team-building game for groups of about 10 to 50 people in one room. People talk to each other, find things they have in common and record each discovery as a connection between two names. A facilitator projects the growing network of connections.

Do players need an account?

No. Players need only the game code (or the link or QR code) and the list of names that the facilitator prepared. Facilitators sign in with a Microsoft account.

Is it really free?

Yes. It is free to use as it is, without support or warranty. Please read the terms of service.

What happens to our data?

Only the names that the facilitator uploads and the connections people add are stored. Games close automatically after a few days and are deleted 30 days later, or immediately when the facilitator deletes them. See the privacy policy for details.

More questions and answers →