Depends on the setting. At work, one is too many.

my husband wrote a mini game for ice breakers in networking situations. He calls it small talk but it is curated meaningful but not too personal questions you ask with a randomizer.

The only one I've ever really enjoyed (not hated) was a list of questions you could choose from to answer.

Favorite movie, the last book you read, your family or pets, your plans for the weekend, or strictly about your experience and goals for the topic of the class/meeting.

It seemed to make most people comfortable enough to give a "real" answer, and I felt like I learned more about people just from the question they chose to answer than a lot of other icebreakers.

Any I was on, ever, were terrible for everyone.
Also the office applauded the year the boss suggested a Christmas bonus instead of the Office Christmas dinner/party at some hotel.

There are things that need teams. But they are not "built" or improved by artificial "team building exercises". Good leadership, good environment and carefully chosen staff.

I was part of an org that put a LOT of importance on creative warmups, some of which were fine and some completely alienating to me. My broad advice after many experiences is: 1) know what you want the exercise to accomplish (the why behind the how) and 2) provide a variety of prompts, allowing for differences in mobility, emotional expressiveness, and verbosity. Or an "in your own way" catchall prompt

@lydiaschoch team building exercises are inherently torture to most folks

(But I appreciate the desire to improve them - that’s certainly never been a goal that I’ve noticed, and I’ve been through countless variations!)