The Wheel We Spun at the Party

You know that moment at the year-end party, right after the speeches, when the music is a bit too loud and everyone is just sort of standing there? I was standing by the snack table, watching the awkward silence start to settle in like a fog. I figured we needed something to break it, something that didn't feel like a forced team-building exercise.

Someone Found a Wheel App

It was Sarah from accounting, I think. She just pulled out her phone and said she had this silly app. We all crowded around her screen, a little skeptical but willing to try anything. The idea was simple: you spin, you do whatever it says, no questions asked.We typed in a bunch of random party game ideas, things that felt spontaneous and easy. Nothing that required props or a lot of explanation. The first few spins were just okay—someone had to tell a bad joke, another person did an impression of the boss. It got a few chuckles, but the ice was still pretty thick.

Then Mark from IT Got "Air Guitar Solo"

Mark is usually the quiet one, the guy who fixes the projector. He looked at his result, sighed dramatically, and then just went for it. He closed his eyes, found an invisible guitar, and launched into the most earnest, terrible, incredible air-guitar rendition of "Sweet Child O' Mine" I've ever seen.The room went silent for a second, and then it just erupted. Not polite laughter, but the deep, belly-laugh kind that comes from pure surprise. You could see the tension just evaporate. People were wiping their eyes, clapping him on the back. It was the most human moment of the whole night.After that, everyone wanted a turn. The wheel wasn't a game anymore; it was just the excuse we needed to be silly together. The rest of the evening had this easy, shared energy that hadn't been there before. We weren't just colleagues in a room; we were the people who saw Mark's air guitar solo.