Two Truths, One Lie

A quick and engaging icebreaker activity that helps remote teams build rapport while having fun guessing which statements about their colleagues are true or false. This classic team-building exercise encourages personal sharing in a structured, competitive format that works perfectly in virtual environments.

What Is Two Truths, One Lie?

Two Truths, One Lie is an interactive icebreaker where participants write three statements about themselves—two factual and one fabricated. Team members then collaborate to determine which statement is false, encouraging conversation, critical thinking, and learning surprising facts about colleagues. The game creates a lighthearted competitive environment while revealing interesting personal details that might not emerge during regular work interactions.

Benefits & When to Use

• Builds team rapport quickly at the beginning of meetings, workshops, or when onboarding new team members
• Creates psychological safety through structured sharing that's fun rather than intimidating
• Encourages active listening as team members pay close attention to details about their colleagues
• Works perfectly for remote/distributed teams who need connection-building activities
• Balances competitiveness with collaboration, engaging both extroverts and introverts
• Requires no prior preparation from participants beyond their own knowledge

How to Run a Two Truths, One Lie Session

1. Set the stage (2 minutes)

   • Explain the rules and objective: each person will write three statements about themselves, only two of which are true
   • Split participants into two equal teams
   • Have each participant add their token to a row on the board (they can drag from their avatar in the top right)

2. Create statements (4 minutes)

   • Enable private writing mode for this step
   • Each participant writes their two truths and one lie on separate sticky notes
   • Encourage statements that are interesting but not too obvious
   • Once everyone has finished, have participants reveal their statements

3. Begin the guessing game (10-15 minutes)

   • Teams take turns selecting one person from the opposing team
   • The selected person's statements are read aloud
   • The guessing team discusses which statement they believe is the lie
   • After making their guess, the selected person reveals which statement was actually false

4. Score and continue (1 minute per round)

   • If the guessing team correctly identifies the lie, they earn a point
   • If they guess incorrectly, the selected person's team earns a point
   • Track scores in the designated area on the board
   • Continue until everyone has had their statements guessed

5. Wrap-up (3 minutes)

   • Tally the final score and announce the winning team
   • As a bonus activity, have participants vote for "best liar" and "most surprising truth"
   • Invite brief sharing about any particularly interesting truths that emerged

Tips for a Successful Session

• Keep statements balanced – not too obvious but also not impossible to guess
• Encourage interesting personal facts rather than work-related information to build deeper connections
• Set a time limit for guessing (about 1-2 minutes per person) to maintain momentum
• Consider a practice round with a volunteer to demonstrate the process
• Make sure private writing is enabled during the statement creation phase to preserve the element of surprise
• For larger groups, consider creating more than two teams or selecting a subset of participants to keep the activity within 20-25 minutes
• Pay attention to time management – it's easy for this activity to run long if discussions aren't moderated

This template works especially well as an energizer before diving into more intensive collaborative work, helping to create an atmosphere of openness and engagement.