Games We Play
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| Listed below are just some of the games we play. Feel free to read the descriptions below if you're looking to be better prepared to play. |
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A Day in the Life
This is a free form game meant to follow an audience interview. Performers do a collection of scenes that reenact an average day in the life of our featured audience member. All basic improv editing tools may be used. |
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Alphabet
This is a scene consisting of 26 lines of dialogue. The first line starts with a given letter (say `R`). The reply to that line must start with a `S`, and so on, until the whole alphabet has been covered. After `Z` comes `A`. Players that hesitate, or use the wrong letter `Die`, and are replaced by another player. The replacement needs to take over the character of the player they replaces.
Notes - Urge players not to `stick` to the game - if you can`t think of a good sentence to advance the story, it`s better to just `die` than to screw up the story. The host may change the scene at their will. |
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Angels & Devils
2 players tell a story, taking turns. One storyteller, playing (the angel) starts with some good, positive things like, "Once upon a time Mary had a beautiful little lamb." Then the other storyteller (The Devil) tells the next part of the story, but it is all negative, so, "Unfortunately, the lamb had anthrax and a peg leg." The Angel storyteller, "Fortunately, Mary was a neuroscientist, and had developed a vaccine that made anthrax fun and the lamb produce Skittles." Other player: "Unfortunately, Skittles were illegal in Greece, where they lived, and Mary and the lamb were sent to farmer's prison." Etc, etc. 2 other players mime out the story as it happens. |
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Back in My Day...
Players line up, and the audience provides nouns, people, occupations, etc. One player acts as host and calls out the audience suggestions. When a suggestion is called players need to complete the sentence with the suggestion and offer a punch line in the following format. Example Facebook. "Back in my day, we didn't have Facebook, we just punched people in the face!" |
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Beastie Rap
This is a rap battle between two teams. Each team has a posse and a front man. The teams will alternate lines of the rap always rhyming the last word of the line. The front man will sing a line of a song leading to the posse all yelling the same last word. The teams will alternate lines until one team messes up causing them to change the front man. The front man is in charge of singing in rhythm and giving enough information in the line so the posse will know what word to end with. The posse will listen to the line and deliver the last word as a group. Example: Line 1 - I have a friend and his name is ROB {Rob is yelled by posse} Line 2 - I like to eat corn, corn on the {Cob is yelled by posse}. As the battle goes on, each team will rotate front men. The host will end the battle and decide a winner as they see fit {audience applause, least rotations...} |
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Blank Walks into a Bar
Players line up, and the audience provides nouns, people, occupations, etc. One player acts as host and calls out the audience suggestions. When a suggestion is called players need to fill in the "blank" with the suggestion and offer a punch line in the following format. Example Duck. "A Duck walks into a bar and the bartender says, "I'm sorry we don't serve ducks here they tend to run up a bill."" |
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Catch Phrase
This game is played with three people. Two of the people have "catch phrases", two lines of dialogue that are collected from the audience. During the scene those "catch phrases" are the only thing they can say. They may change the inflection or add different punctuation, but they may not change the words or the order of them. The third person must play the scene like normal and help bring it to a conclusion. |
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Centerpiece
This game is a lot like Revolver. 4 players in a Diamond; One person stands at the front as the centerpiece. The MC or host asks for an audience suggestion for the 2 players in front (One from the diamond and the center piece). Then the host asks the players to turn the diamond (to the right or to the left). So now we have a different player in front with the centerpiece. These 2 get an audience suggestion. Turn again and ask for suggestion again and do this once more. Then have players take their original position. The game is played as follows: the 2 players in front start improvising a scene. Players play until the host yells "Rotate right or Left", at which time all players rotate in the desired direction. The 2 players in front start playing a scene based on their suggestion until MC calls again. This is repeated. They can either plainly continue it, or continue at some time in the future (a day later, a year later, a century later). The center piece needs to remember each character and where they were in each scene. |
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Chainsaw
The game leader gets three or four audience members. All but one leaves the room. Then the game leader gets an occupation, a location and an object. One audience member returns and the person who remained gives clues to help the returning member guess what the three things are beginning with the occupation. The catch is that the person giving clues cannot use words, only gibberish and actions. When the guesser thinks they know what the occupation they clap and the clue giver moves on to location following the same rules. When the object is guessed it is used to kill the clue giver and the guesser now becomes the clue giver. The next person enters. When all the people who left have taken turns then they line up and tell, in reverse order, what the occupation, location and object were as far as they know. |
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Curtain Call
A song game done at the end of our shows, where we get suggestions and the step forward one at a time and sing a song about it. After four people have sung one line each, we sing the chorus. |
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Dating Game
This is played like a Blind Date show. One player leaves the room, and the audience provides endowments for the 3 others. Examples might be No. 1 is stupid, No. 2 is a serial killer and No. 3 thinks he`s a macho. 4th player returns and gets to ask questions of each contestant. Player 4 should try to guess what the endowments were. |
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Do Run
Several players line up and start to sing in the following pattern. A, A, B, B, B. This is best explained by example: Player one, "I went to the store to buy some pop." All players, "a do run run run a do run run." Player two, "And on the way there I met a cop." All players, "a do run run run a do run run." Player three, "hey and that cop was lean." Player four, "hey she started to make a scene." Player one, "hey and she was really mean." All players, "a do run run run a do run run." Player two, "the cop pushed me up against her car." All players, "a do run run run a do run run." Player three, "that's how I got this terrible scar." And so on.. Until the story is told. |
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Everything Emporium
One player leaves the room. Audience provides an 3 object, and something not-so-obvious that they each do that make it special. They assign each of the objects for three other players. In the game the player that is 'the shopkeeper' runs a fabulous store that has everything you could imagine, and must help the 'customers' find what they are each looking for, without knowing what they are. People snap fingers when the shopkeeper is close to guessing or on the right track. Everyone claps when the object and problem is guessed. |
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Excuses, Excuses
One guesser will play someone late for work. At the start of the game they will be sent out of the room. The host, who will be playing their "boss," gets two more players to act as the other player's "co-workers." The host will then get audience suggestions for a series of crazy events that once made the "boss" late for work. Once the late employee is called back in, they must come up with that exact series of events as his excuse for being late. His "co-workers" will help out by miming the events, in order, behind the "boss'" back. When he gets all of it, the Boss will relate to his problem and the scene ends. |
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FAMily Dinner
This is a free form game meant to follow an audience interview. Performers will act out a scene, each playing a different character (Friend, Enemy or Family Member) from the interview. The FAM will sit off to the side with two other improvisors. Each of those improvisors will play a buzzer. One "ding" one "buzz". If the performers are playing the characters in the FAM's life correctly, then they can hit the "ding" button. If not, then they will hit the "buzz" button and then the performer will have to change their character until the FAM presses the "ding" button. The scene will go on until the FAM feels we got their family and friends right. |
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Famous Last Words
Players line up, and the audience provides nouns, people, occupations, etc. One player acts as host and calls out the audience suggestions. When a suggestion is called players need to complete the last words of that person, place or thing. Example Myspace. "Damn you Facebook!" |
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Freeze Tag
This is a free form game. Two people start a scene, at anytime someone can yell "Freeze". When "Freeze" is called all players freeze, the person who called it comes up, tags one person or more person out of the scene, takes their exact same physical position and begins a completely different unrelated scene. That scene continues until someone else calls "Freeze" and so it continues. |
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Good Cop/Bad Cop
One player is sent out of the room while the host gets what the crime committed was from the audience. Usually the crime consists of killing a celebrity and how the murder was committed. 2 other players play cops with one being good and the other being bad. Players need to get the criminal to confess their crime. |
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Grand Theft Auto
This is a warm up game played with three teams and a "car" set up on stage. Each team will take turns in the car. As one team is in the car, they will exclaim, oh my god we are being taken over by _____. Another team must become what ever that suggestion was, over take the car and continue until they yell out what they are being taken over by. This continues until a high point is reached and scene is called. |
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Greatest Hits
This is a musical improv game. The host will get a one word suggestion and the last text message on someone's phone. The game will be hosted by two people telling us about the new Greatest Hits Album based on the one word suggestion. Four "singers" will be standing by to sing the greatest hits song suggested. One, Two, Three or all Four may step up and sing the song. Then at the end the hosts will tell us about the best song on the album, which will use the text message as the chorus line. The whole group of singers will sing the song together and everyone can sing along to the chorus. |
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Growing and Shrinking
One person starts a scene based off of suggestion for ONE beat. At the beat, anyone else can clap-in and join. Similar to Freeze Tag, a whole new scene starts with those two people in relation to the physicality at hand. After a couple beats another person claps in. This continues until all members are on stage. At this point, you start clapping-out in the order. The last person to clap-in is the first person to clap themselves out. The scenes go back down the line picking up somewhere near where they left off or a bit in the future. It gets back to that first person, they clap. Scene. |
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Guidance Counselor
This is a song game where one person plays an advice giver. Each "client" comes in with a problem and it is the advices givers job to listen to their problem and provide a solution. The catch is that both the problem and solution are presented in song. |
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Helping Hands
Scene played by 4 players, playing 2 characters. Each character consists of one player, who does the voice, holding his hands behind his back. Another player stands behind player 1, and provides the `hands`. The story should be a give and take between voices and hands. |
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Highlander
This is a 4-Person Scene game. A short scene starts off of any suggestion. When the scene is done, the audience applauds for the players they liked the best. Whoever receives the least applause will be eliminated. The remaining players do the same exact scene, but fill in the role of the missing player. Players are eliminated one at a time, each time replaying the scene and filling in the spots, until there is "Only One" who will replay the scene doing all four roles. It should be noted that a good improvisor would get out first because they would be providing good support, gifting and not trying to steal the focus. |
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Hoedown
This is a musical game where a subject is chosen and four performers each get 4 lines of a song to sing about the subject in a AABB rhyme scheme. When the last performer sings the last line, that line becomes the hook that everyone sings. |
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Interrogation Lineup
A lineup of criminals leave the room. An investigator and witness stay in the room. A crime, accomplice, and location are gathered through suggestion. The criminals then form a back line as if on the other side of a double-sided mirror. (Criminals pretend to not see the investigator or witness). The investigator and witness give clues discussing the crime as criminals take turns stepping forward to exclaim their innocence through "guessing". The audience snaps and claps if they are close. The investigator or witness determine who is the culprit or culprits as they choose at the end of the game. The chosen criminals are then arrested. |
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Irish Drinking Song
This is a song game where a topic is chosen and four singers each sing one line of the song with a fun musical interlude. Can also be played as a Mexican Drinking Song. |
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Lines from a Cookie
Same thing as "Lines from a Hat," but from a delicious cookie! |
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Lines from a Hat
Players get suggestions for famous quotes, lines of dialogue, sayings or even cliches from the audience by having them write their ideas down on slips of paper. An idea is obtained i.e. location, relationship, conflict. Two players are selected and they take some of the lines from the "hat". The scene begins and at random times during the scene the players substitute the written lines in their pocket for their dialogue. Other players may enter but must pull from the hat and use the audience lines also. The scene runs to a logical conclusion by calling "scene". |
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Madam Zelda
One player leaves the room. Audience provides an 3 things that will happen to them in the future, each one more ridiculous than the last. In the game the player that is 'Madam Zelda::Fortune teller' needs to guess the three fortunes. The host, who will be playing their "customer," will be coming in to ask thier fortune. The other player's "spirits" will help out by miming the events, in order, behind the "customers'" back. When all fortunes are guessed the scene ends. |
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Marriage Counsel Endowment
One player is sent out of the room while the host gets 2 relationship problems from the audience. 2 other players play a couple with these problems, and player one is the therapist. Players need to get the therapist to figure out what the relationship problems are. |
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Meanwhile
This is a free form game. Two people start a scene, at anytime someone in the scene may mention or reference a location. Someone from the back line can cross in front of the scene yelling the line "Meanwhile at the (For mentioned location)." and a couple of new players step forward, take their place and begin a completely different scene. That scene continues until someone else crosses the scene resting the location again. |
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Movie Critics
Ask the audience for a fictitious movie title or general suggestion and you create the movie title. 2 players will do a movie review. As the movie is discussed, certain scenes are suggested as clips (keep it vague) and the other players act out the clips. Usually do three clips. |
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New Born
This is a guessing game where a lovely couple just had a baby, and they need to guess three things. Who they are and what they named their baby. The names of each person or the baby can be a person, place or thing. They continue a scene looking into the nursery until they have guess all three elements. Everyone else plays people at the hospital giving them clues to their identities and names. |
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Party Quirks
One player plays a character that is having a party. The other players will be the guests, and the audience provides us with who the guests might be or what their quirks might be. Of course the host does not know who the guests are. His task is to guess who the guests might be, based on hints the guests offer. The games is over as soon as the host has guessed all guests. |
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Pavlovian Response
This is a three person scene where each person is affected by their own conditional response. Each person is going to receive a stimulus {something to respond to} and a reaction {response}. A stimulus can be anything from hearing a specific word to an action or movement made by the other players. The reaction, again, can be anything from saying words/phrases to performing specific actions. Example: Anytime person B or C says the word "the", person A twitches. The stimuli and reactions can be something subtle or something big and outrageous. One player is Pavlov, and knows the other players stimuli. The other players are participants in the experiment and so they do not know anyone else's stimuli, but if they can figure it out, they can use it to there advantage. The scene will go to a logical ending point where we ask the two participants about the other stimuli and reactions. |
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Pillars
Two people are sitting at the front of the stage, that fill in the blanks on lines during a scene. Players are selected for scene and an idea is obtained i.e. location, relationship, conflict. The scene begins and at random times during the scene the players point to the two seated people for a word to fill in a blank in the dialog of the scene. They must make these suggestions make sense in the scene. The scene runs to a logical conclusion by calling "scene". |
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Post It
Players get locations, occupations and objects from the audience. These are written on post it notes and stuck to an object in the middle of the stage. Then two players get up and each picks one post it and they play a short scene. Then two other players take post its and play another short scene. The scenes are quick and in rapid succession until all post its are used. |
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Press Conference
This is a verbal improv game, played with 3 to 8 players. One player leaves the room, while the audience provides the name of a famous or historical person. The `absent` player will give a press conference, but he does not know who he is. The other players are journalists, whose questions should provide indications to who the mystery guest might be. Game ends when our player guesses who he is.
Notes - The `journalists` should really play journalist characters. They can take photographs, or have a fight about who gets to ask the next question.
Variations - Instead of a famous or historical person, choose an expert. The game is over when the `expert` figures out what he or she is expert in. |
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Questions
We need 5-6 volunteers. Two people get a suggestion from the audience and begin a scene using only questions. When someone slips up and uses a statement they are out and another player takes their place. You're out for statement, repeating, rhetorical and unrelated questions that don't help drive the scene. The scene should play to its logical conclusion. |
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Quick Scenes
This game is a series of short scenes {3-5 Lines or a "beat"} using a back line of players. A suggestion is taken from the audience, and two players from the back line will step forward and begin a scene. After a beat, someone from the back line will end the scene by cutting through and asking for a new suggestion based off of information from the scene; two new players will begin a scene from this. A number of short and quick scenes will be seen until the game reaches a high point and ends. |
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Remake
The title of a fictitious movie is gotten from the audience. Two players play a scene from the film. The audience is then told that the movie was remade in a different genre. A new genre is procured from the audience and two new players play the same scene in the different genre. This is repeated one more time. |
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Revolver
4 players in a square; 2 in front, 2 behind them. The MC or host asks for an audience suggestion for the 2 players in front. Then the host asks the players to turn the square (to the right or to the left). So now we have a different combination of players in front. These 2 get an audience suggestion. Turn again and ask for suggestion again and do this once more. Then have players take their original position. The game is played as follows: the 2 players in front start improvising a scene. Players play until the host yells "Rotate right or Left", at which time all players rotate in the desired direction. The 2 players in front start playing a scene based on their suggestion until MC calls again. This is repeated. They can either plainly continue it, or continue at some time in the future (a day later, a year later, a century later). |
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Rope
This is a warm-up game intending to get you to not think or plan stuff out. A line of players is created. The first person in line steps forward. The second person in line turns their back to them. The first person does any non-verbal action. Someone lets the second person know that the first person is ready. The second person delivers a single line as they turn around. The first person must respond verbally with a line that appropriately ties the action and the second person's delivered line together. If they are unsuccessful, someone from the line can call out, "Rope" and they must start over with a new action and line. If they are successful than the first person goes to the end of the line, the second person becomes the first person and a third person becomes the second person. We continue on till someone calls "scene." |
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Say It Again
Players begin a scene with one player acting as director. At any time the director will ask a player to say a line differently by either ringing a bell or saying "Say It Again". The scene runs to a logical conclusion then someone calls "scene". |
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Serious Scene
This is a game based on the idea of "Don't make 'em laugh." A director hosts the game. Two performers get a suggestion and start a serious scene based on that suggestion. Other players wait in the wings ready to jump in at moments notice. If at anytime during the scene, anyone laughs, chuckles, smirks, snorts, smiles, etc. The director can "fire" which ever performer he thinks caused that reaction and one of the performers in the wings must rush on and take their place. Once they do they must become the exact same character and pick up where the last performer left off in thier sentance. The scene continues until another performer is "fired" and so on and so forth. At some point a performer may come in and add a third (usually riduclous) character to the scene. |
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Short Cutz
This is a free form game similar to most improv editing. A scene will begin during that scene or any other scene edits can be made. You can tap out, move time, change location add elements or just wipe the scene to start a new unrelated scene. There are many other types of edits, that can be used from any of the forms of improv edits out in the world. |
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Sing-A-Scene
This is a song game where two singers sit off the side of the stage, each singing the internal monologues or actions for a different character on stage. The two characters on stage act out the scene. Both the singers and the characters must listen to each other and help each other through the scene. Other characters may come on to help enhance the scene. |
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Sing It
This starts as a normal scene. At any time, the host/audience volunteer can yell “Sing It” and the player who said the last line will sing/rap a song based on that last line of dialog. The singer is in charge of deciding the length of the song, and after the song is complete, everyone falls back into the normal scene. |
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Sit, Stand, Lie Down
Host gets a situation from audience and gets three players to play the scene. At any point in time, there should always be one player standing, one player sitting and one player lying down. As soon as a player changes position, one of the other players has to change also to maintain the three positions while trying to justify the moves! |
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Six Pack
Three teams of two people are formed. Each team gets a different one word suggestion to start their scene. Group one starts a scene, at any time either of the other groups may clap, which stops the scene. The group that stops the scene then start their scene with the last line of the previous group. This continues and increases in speed until a common ending is reached. |
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Slogans
Players line up, and the audience provides nouns, people, occupations, etc. One player acts as host and calls out the audience suggestions. Players step out and give suggestions for Slogans to help sell the suggestions. |
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Sports Commentator
3 players, and an every day activity (brushing your teeth, washing your car). In this game, the every day activity is performed as if it were done at the olympics or at a world championship. One player is the athlete, and the two others are in a commentators - one is the play by play person and the other is the color guy. Usually, something goes wrong and the athlete fails miserably. Gimmicks may include:
Interviewing the athlete on the field after the win (or the disaster),
Asking for a replay of a particularly dramatic moment,
Asking for a replay with a different camera (different angle),
Seeing something in slow motion. |
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Story, Story, Die
Players form a line on the stage. A title for a story, and a story genre is obtained from the audience. The MC starts the game by pointing to a player, who needs to start telling the story. At any point in time the MC can switch to another player, who needs to continue the story flawlessly, even if the switch happened in the middle of a sentence or even in the middle of a word. Players that hesitate, or whose sentences are not grammatically correct or don`t make sense, are boo-ed out of the game, by the audience yelling `Die`. The last player left ends the story. Feel free to add genres or themes to each player to increase difficulty. |
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Tableau
It stars with two groups of folks at either ends of the stage. We get a suggestion from the audience, and then using that as inspiration, the first person comes to center stage, strikes some type of descriptive-action pose, and then announces what they're doing. "I am sweeping up a dirty hallway." They then freeze, and a second person enters the scene, and adds to the scene as someone or something with its own distinct action. They then announce who or what they are, and then freeze. We continue to build the tableau in this fashion until we have 4-6 complimentary actors on stage. The host will then either call upon one of the actors to sum up the scene with some sort of tagline or quick song, or simply call "break" which signals the folks on stage to clear out so that those waiting in the wings can start a new tableau based on some inspiration from the previous one. |
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
3 players, form a line (or sit down). The audience provides questions or problems for which they need advice. The 3 players provide good, bad, and really bad advice. Have the MC choose who provides what advice, so everyone can have a stab at really bad advice. If the `bad advice` is really bad, then the Ugly advice should be even worse. You can play this as a die game - if a bad advice is not followed by an even worse advice, replace the last player by another one. |
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The Quickest Minute
Two people get a suggestion from the audience and perform a scene which is timed and completed in 60 seconds. The same scene is performed in 30 seconds and then again in 10 seconds. The results are hilarious. Can also be done in ascending time order. |
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Timmy in the Well
This is game that plays on the old Lassie TV show. One or two people, (The Guessers) leave the room. Two or three volunteers play the "dog" who will get three elements: "Who is in trouble, doing what and where?" The guessers come back in the room and must guess the three elements. The "dogs" using only mime and dog speak (ie. bark, woof, arf.) must give clues to help them guess so they can save "Timmy in the Well." |
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Try That On For Size
This is an association game, where two people go head to head at a time. The first person starts an very repetitive motion and then says what they are doing. They follow it up by saying, "Try that on for size." The second person does the exact same action, but says they are doing something completely different that make sense with the action. Then it goes back to the first person with the same action. This goes back and forth until one person cannot come up with something for that action. They are then eliminated and a new person comes and takes their place and a new action is chosen. |
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Typewriter
This is a nice handle to structure scenes. One of the players is the Narrator. He has a (mimed) typewriter and starts the scene by reading aloud as he types. As soon as the Narrator has given a few elements, the players take over and start playing the scene. At any point, the Narrator can take over again, perhaps switch to another location, introduce new character, provide tilts or flashbacks. Variations - When a scene goes bad, the Narrator can mime ripping a couple of pages of his story apart, and restart the scene (or the story). |
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Welcome Song
After doing a FAM interview, we will each sing a stanza of a song devoted to the FAM. |
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What Are You Doing?
This is really a dissociation game, but fun to play. Form two lines. The first player of line 1 steps into the center and starts miming an activity. As soon as the activity is clear, a player from line 2 approaches the player from line 1 and asks "What are you doing". The first player answers something that has nothing to do with what he's actually doing. E.g. if player 1 is cutting someone's hair, when asked what he's doing he might say "I'm reading the newspaper". First player moves away, and the second player starts miming the activity stated by the previous player. A third player comes up to player 2, asks what he is doing, and so on. Play until everyone has mimed something, and has answered the question. |
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World's Worst
Players line up, and the audience provides nouns, people, occupations, etc. One player acts as host and calls out the audience suggestions. When a suggestion is called players need to complete a punchline with the worst example of that. Example: Doctor "Oops, I'm sorry, that was a rectal thermometer". |
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Game Graveyard
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| Confucius Says |
| Hot Seat |
| Medical Excuses |
| Song Titles/Movie Titles/Book Titles |
| Wait Right Here |
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