Game-O-Matic
This game is like “invent-your-own-game.” The audience is asked for the name of a non-existent improv game, and players invent the rules on the spot, then play it. It can be risky but is easier for groups experienced with short-form improv games.
Genre Day in the Life
An audience member is interviewed about their average day, and players then improvise a day in the life of this audience member, but in the style of a certain genre.
Genre Options
A scene switches to different suggested genres as it progresses. The opening scene is played neutrally, then repeated in various genres (e.g., Western, science fiction, sitcom, commercial).
Genre Replay
A short, neutral scene is played, then repeated three times with different suggested genres, taking different turns in each replay. This game helps with character development, as players match strong character and emotional choices to the genres.
Genre Rollercoaster
Two or three improvisers start a scene based on an audience suggestion. Throughout the scene, the host pauses and asks for a new genre suggestion. The scene continues with the same story and characters but is now influenced by that new genre.
Gerbil
Description not available in research material.
Get Them To
Players work in groups of three. Each player is privately given a random objective or “want.” They improvise a scene in a known environment where they must actively strive to have another onstage character fulfill their secret want. If successful, the character says “Thank you” and leaves.
Gibberish Commercial
Players create a commercial for a given (often ridiculous) product. All dialogue occurs in Gibberish, as if watching an ad in a foreign hotel. The focus is on crafting a world where the product is needed and committing fully to that reality, using big and emotional choices.
Gibberish Commands
Players work in pairs. Each player issues a command to their partner in Gibberish. Players cannot move on until the command is understood and executed. The idea is not to mime the command, but to make it obvious through the way the command is issued and the established environment.
Gibberish Expert
One player is an expert on a subject (often audience-provided) and is from a foreign country. The expert gives a lecture in Gibberish, and a second player translates. Variations include having the expert tell a story instead of a lecture.
Gibberish Job Mime
Players work in pairs. Player A privately selects an occupation to endow onto Player B. Player A uses only complementary actions as interactive clues, communicating in Gibberish and physical choices. Player B responds in English, trying to ascertain their identity. If successful, Player A signals, and roles exchange.
Gibberish Malapropism
Players walk around the room, pointing to objects and calling out what they are not, using words with a similar sound (e.g., pointing to a desk and saying “Pesk!”). This can be done with gibberish words that sound similar.
Gibberish Pitches
Description not available in research material.
Gibberish Scene
A scene is performed using a nonsense language. Improvisers are encouraged to experiment with different types of gibberish (e.g., Japanese, French, Swedish, Zulu, German) and to use voice tone, pace, pause, pitch, and intonation to convey meaning.
Gibberish Switch
A scene is played in the local native tongue. When an offstage bell rings, the current speaker must immediately continue speaking their dialogue in gibberish. The scene continues until the bell strikes again, and players revert to their own language.
Gibberish Typewriter
One player serves as the typist, writing aloud and pantomiming. The characters in their imagination come to life, embodied by teammates. The scene alternates seamlessly between the typist’s narration and the embodied dialogue and action of the onstage characters.
Gift Freeze
Similar to Freeze Tag, but instead of the group calling out “freeze,” anyone can call it out and then say another player’s name. The named player will tag out one of the scene players, assume their position, and start a new scene based on the pose.
Give and Take
Players are divided into two groups. One group forms a semi-circle on stage. Only one person can be moving (taking focus) at any given time; once another person starts taking, the current taker must freeze (giving focus). This game helps students understand when to give and take focus, especially useful for those who tend to dominate scenes.
Goalie
One player is the “goalie” at the front. Other players, each with a conceived opening line and distinct character, “bombard” the goalie with their offers one at a time. The goalie must immediately acknowledge the offer, snap into an opposite character, and reply from that new perspective.
Good, Bad, Worst Advice
Three guests act as experts on a topic: one offers “good” advice, the second “bad” advice, and the third the “worst” advice. A host asks questions, moving focus between them. The “worst” advice can be naive, passionate, or narrow-minded, but should not be offensive.
Goon River
A long-form improv format consisting of monologues. Players (typically 3 or 4) line up and, based on a single audience suggestion, all tell the same story, each as their own character in that story. Each character reflects on what is happening from their own perspective and adds elements to the story.
Gorilla Theatre
An advanced form for experienced improvisers, involving a “live gorilla” (a performer in a gorilla suit) that adds spectacle and playful misbehavior. A cast of 4-5 improvisers take turns directing each other in scenes. The audience rewards or punishes the director by yelling “BANANA!” or “FORFEIT!”
Grandmother’s Footsteps
An old children’s game where one person is the “Grandparent” with their back to the class, and others sneak up to try and touch their shoulder. If the Grandparent turns and catches someone moving, that person returns to the start. The first to touch wins.
Greatest Hits
Typically played with four players, two hosts sell a CD compilation of “greatest hits” based on an audience-suggested theme (e.g., “Songs for Accountants”). The hosts discuss the CD and select 3-4 tracks, each with a title and style. The other players then improvise that song in the given style.
Greetings
Players in two lines greet each other using specific phrases (e.g., “Hi, how are you?” and “Fine, thank you very much”). After practicing, players greet each other in various creative ways, such as imitating different characters or emotions.
Group Environment
Players are divided into groups. The first person enters a space and mimes an action that defines an environment. Once another group member knows the environment, they enter and perform a complementary action. This continues until the entire group is in the environment, creating a complete picture.
Group Freeze
Everyone mills about the room. At any moment, a player may stop, and as soon as that happens, all other group members should also stop. Anyone in the group may start moving again, causing the entire group to move. This game reminds actors that what they do onstage is dependent on what other actors do.
Group Order
A warm-up exercise to help the group function as a whole. Players mill about the room and then line up according to various criteria (e.g., by age, weight, shoe size, or more silly criteria like “by blue”). The goal is for the group to agree on the order.
Group Performances
Students are divided into groups and given a topic, situation, phrase, or plot to develop a quick script, which they then perform for the other groups. This promotes teamwork, thinking on your feet, and overcoming stage fright.
Group Story
Several players tell a story, stepping forward to take over the narrative or add details.
Growing and Shrinking Machine
The first player establishes and plays a scene alone. A second player enters and plays a completely new, unrelated scene with the others. A third player enters and plays another scene, and so forth, until all players are on stage. Then, players leave in reverse order, and the remaining players fall back to the scene they were in before the departing player entered.
Guess the Tableau
Players present three tableaus (e.g., a movie, a famous historical event, or the life of a celebrity), and an audience member tries to guess each one.
Guess the Crime
One player volunteers as the “criminal” and leaves the space. While they are absent, an absurd crime is cobbled together from non-criminal elements (e.g., weekend activity, harmless object, landmark, celebrity). When the criminal returns, teammates use leading questions to make them confess.
Guest Game
One player is a guest somewhere, and their identity, reason for visiting, or relationship with the characters at the location is unknown. All other characters in the scene behave strangely or suspiciously, as if they have a secret. The idea is that by the end of the scene, the audience understands their secret.
