Find Your Herd
You've been given an animal. So have three other people. Find them by sound alone.
Everyone gets an animal and has to find the others with the same one using nothing but the noise it makes. A room of forty people all mooing and barking at once is a properly funny thirty seconds, and it sorts a room into random groups faster than any counting off.
I'm giving each of you an animal. Don't tell anyone. When I say go, make your animal's noise and find everyone else making the same one. No words, no miming — sound only. When your group is complete, sit down together.
You need to split a room into random groups and would rather it was thirty seconds of noise than a minute of counting off.
Props: None — animals can be assigned by pointing
Run this when…
If none of these is your room, pick another.Splitting a room into groups for what comes next
A loud icebreaker with strangers
Any session that needs random teams
How to run it
Written to be glanced at mid-room, not memorised.
- Decide how many groups you need and pick that many animals with obvious noises.
- Go round pointing at people and naming their animal quietly, or hand out slips.
- No words, no miming — sound only. That is the rule that makes it funny.
- Say go, and let the noise happen.
- Groups sit down together when they think they are complete.
- Check the group sizes, then move straight into whatever you needed the groups for.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- Pick animals with unmistakable noises — cow, dog, sheep, cat, duck. Anything ambiguous produces a group of people quietly arguing about what a giraffe sounds like.
- Sound only is the whole rule. The moment miming is allowed people identify each other silently and there is no noise, which is the entire point.
- Assign the animals by pointing rather than handing out paper. It is faster and it means you control the group sizes exactly.
Watch out for
Space, safety and the traps worth knowing before you start.
- People walk while making noise and not looking. Clear bags and chairs first and say walking pace.
- It is loud enough to carry. Check what is next door before you run it.
- Anyone who would rather not make animal noises can hold up fingers for their number instead — it still sorts them.
Seated version
“Everybody stand up” is not a neutral instruction. Offer this alongside, not instead.
Each person makes their noise from their chair and raises a hand when they hear a match; groups form by pointing rather than moving. Noisier and slower, but it works.
Run it yourself
Free for thirty days, no card. Put it on the projector and step through it — nobody in the room needs a phone.
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- Where
- Needs a room
- Props
- None — animals can be assigned by pointing
- Big screen
- Required
- Teams
- Supported