Participants form a large circle. One player initiates a small gesture and sound. The next player attempts to replicate it, and this continues around the circle. The gesture and sound are expected to subtly transform as they pass from person to person, and subsequent players must accept and incorporate these changes.
One improviser performs any physical action, and their partner justifies what they are doing. Both agree with the established reality.
With the group standing in a circle, participants each choose an action for every syllable of their name. After one person does their action while saying their name, the whole group repeats. This continues for each subsequent person, with the group repeating all prior names and movements.
Two players are on stage. One player receives a script with lines on paper and reads them aloud. The other player’s role is to improvise and justify whatever the scripted player says, creating a coherent scene around the given lines. It is also known as “Playbook.”
This game is an advanced version of “Yes Lets” where the setup involves inventing an advertising campaign for an unknown or imaginary product.
Players obtain an adjective from the audience and then construct a scene in which they play members of a family that embody that given quality. The focus is on exploring the energy of the quality rather than just stating it.
This is a fun observation game where players form a line. The first player walks around the room in a large circle, and the second player follows, trying to imitate the first player’s movement. After a few rounds, the first player goes to the back of the line, and the third player starts following and imitating the second.
In this scenic exercise, two improvisers are given a scene suggestion that would usually result in conflict and arguments. By listening to each other, they try to find agreement and relationship in the scene instead of the conflict.
Alien Dance Party
All players form a circle. Someone starts to dance, feels it for a bit, then turns to the person to their right, who does their best to do the exact same dance. When the initiator feels the other person has got it, they stop dancing, and the other person continues until they create a new dance and pass it to the next.
Alien Tiger Cow
Players form a circle. There are three things a player can be: an alien (index fingers up, “Bleeb bleeb”), a cow (bend forward, hand on tummy, “Moooo”), or a tiger (push hand forward, roar). On a signal, every player decides to become one of the three, with the idea for everyone to become the same.
Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
Players form a circle and establish a rhythm by saying “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” repeatedly. One person starts making a simple, repeatable gesture to this rhythm. The player next to them takes over this gesture, while the first one starts a completely different new gesture, and so on.
Alliterations
Players introduce themselves by making a gesture and alliterating to their name (e.g., “I’m Wonderful Wendy”). The next player repeats the previous player’s name, attribute, and gesture, then does something similar for themselves. This continues until the first player has to repeat everyone’s.
All Questions
In this game, two or more actors perform a scene speaking exclusively in questions. The group first decides on a scenario. The game can be made competitive by deducting points or eliminating players for hesitating or making statements.
Alphabet Circle
Participants form a circle. One player begins by “throwing” the letter ‘A’ to another player. That player then quickly “throws” a ‘B’ to someone else, and the game continues sequentially through the alphabet to ‘Z’. For larger groups, the game can be divided into teams and timed.
Two players exchange dialogue where the first word they speak must begin with the next letter of the alphabet, starting with a chosen letter and finishing just before it. The conversation should make sense and propel the scene.
American Idol
This is a spoof of the TV show “American Idol” where new singers are discovered. One player is the host, another is the bad judge, and two others are candidates. Candidates introduce themselves and then sing their song based on an audience suggestion.
And Then He Said
A variation on “He Said, She Said,” where players describe their partners’ actions, ending with “And then he said…”
Angry Mob
Audience members are conscripted to play an angry mob. Two improvisers play a scene with a minor disagreement, and one character summons the mob for support.
Animal Characteristics
Each player obtains a different animal from the audience. Players construct a scene in which they utilize the physical, verbal, and motivational qualities of their assigned creatures as the basis of their unique characterizations and relationships.
Animal Characters
Players are animals, usually ones who talk and behave like humans – e.g., two birds trying to decide if they can afford to buy a larger nest.
Animal Imposter
This is a scene where one character is an animal trying to pass as human, perhaps disguised as someone the other characters know. The human characters are fully human and alert to odd behaviors, and the animal character must justify their behavior.
Animalistics
Players receive a species of animal from the audience. Then they play a scene in which they both play the part of this animal. The animals can speak and are usually anthropomorphic, having typical preferences and worries of their species.
Annoyance Scenes
Five improvisers line up along a back wall. The teacher gives them each a number, then calls out two numbers at random. Those players step out and start a scene immediately from no suggestion. The teacher edits the scene by clapping and saying two other numbers, bringing in new players.
This is a long-form improv format named after its creator, Chicago Improv teacher and player Armando Diaz. It starts with a storytelling-style monologue, based on an audience suggestion, which then inspires improvised scenes. The monologue may even continue later in the performance.
Arms Expert
One performer supplies the body and mind for a character, and another performer supplies the arms, passing them through the armpits of the first player. The combined performer is usually interviewed by the host or another performer, answering questions and trying to justify the actions of their arms.
Arms Scene
A scene where one player has arms provided by another, with the arms leading the action. This is a team game where two pairs of players form one character each, with one person providing the body and the other the arms.
Artist Model Clay
Players organize themselves into a model, a lump of clay, and an artist. The artist manipulates the clay (without touching or talking) to match the model’s pose. The clay needs to listen and accept the atypical offers made by the artist.
Asides
An improvised scene is played. Any player can stop it at any time by yelling “freeze.” At that point, the player steps out of the scene and tells the audience what their character is really thinking, after which the scene continues.
Ask-Fors
Ask-Fors are concepts, facts, or things that the improv player or moderator obtains from the audience before beginning a game or scene. The scene is based on these, or they will be incorporated into the scene.
Assassin
Assassin, also known as Assassins or Gotcha, is a social role-playing game where players attempt to “kill” other players by touching them with a pretend weapon. Players are usually assigned specific individuals to hunt.
Association Chain
Players are given two unrelated words. They need to come up with a chain of associations that brings them from the first word to the second. This can be done with all players at the same time or individually.
Association Jump
This is a physical association warm-up. The leader calls out the name of one of the players milling about the room. That player will make a small jump and strike a random pose. The remaining players in the room rush to that player and strike poses around them, creating a still scene or tableau.
At the Movies
A cinematic performance format where players recreate the experience of working on a chaotic film set, instantly shifting between performing the fictional movie characters and dropping character to interact as the actors, directors, or crew behind the scenes.
Audience Freeze
Two players start and play a short scene. When a beat is reached, one of the non-participating players claps their hands and/or calls “Freeze!” The performers immediately stop and freeze in the pose they just have. The player who has clapped taps one of the two players and takes exactly their position. Then a completely new scene starts. In this variation, spectators are allowed to clap their hands and freeze.
An audience member is given a microphone and asked to provide sound effects for players’ actions.
Audience Volunteer
An audience member is invited to be a character in a scene. Audience volunteers share a story based on a prompt, and improvisers perform an original set of scenes incorporating actual details from the stories collected.
Audience Warm-ups
Games designed to prepare the audience for an improv show. These games aim to put the audience in a positive mood and to acclimate them to actively participating in the show by providing suggestions.
Automatic Storytelling
This is an exercise you can only do once with a group to show that making stories is not that difficult. Half of the players leave the room while the game is explained: pairs will make up stories, and the others have to guess it by asking yes/no questions. The catch is that answers are predetermined (e.g., “no” to questions starting with a vowel).
Actors draw celebrity names from a hat to portray in a serious, high-stakes scene. The comedy relies on juxtaposition; players must perform impressions with 100% earnest commitment, treating it like an Oscar drama rather than a sketch comedy piece.
