Alphabet Scene
This is a game we usually like to play with two people. In this game the improvers are given a letter to start with. One person must start speaking with a word that starts with that letter. The next person can only start speaking with the next letter of the alphabet. The improvers must make it at least once through the entire alphabet to be successful.
American Musical
Usually done as a multi-scene epic (kinda like Meanwhile-Elsewhere) but with a twist. The twist being, the host will yell "musical" at random times throughout the scene, and the players must make up a song to fit the situation. Sometimes there's even dancing!
Animals
Typically 3 animals are gotten from the audience, and three performers must take the suggestions and make anthropomorphic versions of those animals and put them in a scene.
Blind Freeze
Blind Freeze requires all improvers to participate. Everyone stands in a line and turns their backs to the audience. Two people start a scene and at some point the host will say Freeze. The two people must stop what they are doing and freeze in that position. The first person in line then takes the place of one of the people and begins a new scene that makes sense with being in those positions. The person who has been replaced goes to the back of the line and turns their back to the audience. The game continues and progresses down the line. In this game there is NO fighting, dancing, or teaching allowed.
Boring
This game begins just as a standard open scene would. Eventually the improvers watching the game will get bored and somebody will say Boring. Someone/everyone in that scene will then be replaced by new people and these new people will continue with the same scene except make it more exciting.
The Bucket of Death!
Similar to "Blind Freeze" (everyone participates, 2 people in a scene, etc.) only instead of the non-acting participants having their backs turned, they get to watch. Oh, and the next one in line has their submerged in a bucket of water until someone from the ongoing scene leaves and tags them in. Now you get the name. The scenes usually get shorter, more winded, and wetter.
Chance of a Lifetime!
Ask a member of the audience what is something that they have always wanted to do but couldn’t because it was too expensive or dangerous or just plain stupid. After you get that information, you give them the chance of a lifetime! They come up on stage and, with the help of the improvers, act out their dream.
Dating Game
In this game, three bachelors or bachelorettes are given a character or character trait by the audience. This can range anywhere from having a very large pimple to being Godzilla. Someone who does not know what traits each of these three players have then ask them questions as if they were trying to decide whom to go out on a date with. After asking several questions, the person must then try to figure out who each of the players are.
Day in the Life
Ask someone for three REAL things that they did today (other than come to see improv). The group then does a scene about that person's day (as that person no less!), and make those three things the important events in that day.
Director's Cut
Not so different from a movie set, the improvers do a scene as if they were filming a movie. At any time, a designated director will come on set and say Cut signaling the actors to stop. The director will then make some change to what the actors had just done and the actors must do it over under that condition.
Dubbing Scene
Four people are required to play Dubbing Scene. Two are actors and two are their dubbers. The actors must act out a scene silently as if it was originally done in a language other than English and their voices are provided by their dubber.
Emotional Zones
Who says improv cant get emotional? The stage is divided into three sections. Each section is given an emotion by the audience. The improvers then must act out a scene but when they are in each section they must be experiencing that emotion. Heres the catch: it has to make sense.
Enter/Exit
In this game each person is given a random word supplied by the audience. They then carry out a scene but whenever their word is said by somebody they must either enter or exit. If they are offstage then the person must come up with an excuse to come on. If they are onstage they must come up with an excuse to leave.
Everyday Olympics
Usually played by four people, Everyday Olympics is not your typical Olympics. Two people are the sports broadcasters and two people are the athletes in an Olympic event. This event is an everyday activity that is given by the audience. The athletes then silently compete in the event against each other while the broadcasters report what is going on as it happens.
Fairy Tale Movie
Two ask-fors are given by the audience. A fairy tale and a genre of movie. The actors then must act out their interpretation of that fairy tale done in that genre of movie.
First/Last Sentence
In this game, two sentences are given. One sentence has to be the first sentence spoken and the other sentence has to be the last one spoken. Asides from this stipulation, the scene is done just like any open scene.
Five Ways To Die
This game is a fan favorite because the audience gets to watch the deaths of the improvers they love so much. Five performers play this game. Five strange ways to die are given by the audience. Each of those deaths must be done during the scene and it all has to make sense. Sure the ending is no surprise, but this is one of the more interesting games.
Freeze
Similar to Blind Freeze, Freeze is well its pretty much blind freeze except the people in the line do not have their backs to the audience so they can see what is going on. See Blind Freeze for a more detailed explanation.
Game Show
Now heres a game where anything can happen. In Game Show there is one rule. The scene must be some kind of game show. In this game people can get hurt, naked, or even worse!
Half Life
Not to be confused with the popular computer game: Mine Sweeper, Half Life is definitely one of the groups favorite games. A standard open scene is done which lasts exactly two minutes. This same scene must then be done over but in one minute instead of two. The third time around the length of the scene is reduced again to thirty seconds. Finally, the actors must perform the originally two minute scene in ten seconds.
Holiday Snaps
This game requires three people to play. Two people step out of the room while one person explains that they have recently been on vacation. The audience then gives a famous person they went on vacation with, a place they went on vacation, and five things they did on their vacation. These five things are written on pieces of paper and given to the actor who puts them in his/her pocket in no particular order. The two people then enter back into the room (having no idea what any of the ask-fors are) and as the person clicks a button to begin their slide show, the two people strike a pose together. The main actor then takes out one of the pieces of paper, announces what it says, and then tries to make sense of how their pose is portraying that event.
Horoscopes
The ask-for in this game is always the same: "Can I have someone's birthday?" Once that is acquired, the host figures out their astrological sign, and (from a newspaper) reads their horoscope. The improvers must then take that look into the future and make a scene.
In Memoriam
A member of the audience has sadly passed away, and using some information abotu them (gotten just before they died) the group must eulogize this poor soul, one at a time, while the recently departed lies on stage in their best "dead."
Meanwhile, Elsewhere
A long form game that uses every improver available. A scene begins and at some point the host will say Meanwhile at the and will then say a place. Other improvers then rush on and carry out another part of the scene at that location. The scene jumps from location to location as the actors try to make sense of every part of the scene and tie everything together.
Movie in a Minute
Get a favorite movie from the audience and then act out that movie in exactly one minute. It’s just that simple.
No Rules Improv
Ironically, this game has the most rules out of any of our games. Any number of performers can take part in this scene but there is a rule given for every person. These rules are thought up by the audience and the actors them must make a scene while still obeying those rules.
Number Scene
Number Scene is similar to Alphabet Scene except it uses numbers instead of letters and is completely different in every other way. In Number Scene, each improver is given a number. Each improver can then only say that many words at once before someone else speaks. Sometimes improvers can only speak one word at a time and other times they have to speak four billion. Poor Greg is still talking to himself and playing this game somewhere. We miss you Greg, you crazy lumberjack.
Old Job, New Job
2 jobs are asked for from the audience. One job is what an improver used to be, the other is what he is now, however traits from the old one work their way into the new one, and wacky situations come up.
Open Scene
You will often here of an Open Scene in other game descriptions. An open scene is just a normal scene. There are no rules and no catches. This is as basic as you can get when it comes to improv games.
Paper Chase
This game needs a high amount of audience participation. The audience writes down various things to say on pieces of paper such as a phrase, a movie title, or a question. These pieces of paper are then scattered around the floor of the stage. A scene will then begin and randomly the players will start a sentence, pick up a piece of paper, and then finish what they were saying with whatever the paper says. Everybody then must make sense of that. The game is usually played until all of the pieces have been used.
Party Quirks
One improver is the host of a party and three others are guests at said party. While the host is out of the room, the audience provides personality traits for the three guests. The game is over once the host figures out who/what they are.
Poets Corner
One of our few two player games, Poets Corner uses a poet and a translator. The poet is from an imaginary foreign country and the translator is, thats right, their translator. The poet then recites a poem line by line as the translator tells the audience in English what the poet is saying.
Press Conference
One member of the group leaves the room and while they are gone, they are endowed with an expertise or accomplishment. When they arrive, they introduce the ‘press conference’ that reporters are at. The remaining members of the group ask questions to the person to give them hints at what they are. At the end, the person must figure it out.
Product Placement
The neat part of this game is how the rules change slightly almost every time the group plays it. Some time throughout a normal scene the host will say Product placement and somebody then has to promote a product by pulling it out of their pocket (written on a piece of paper, not the actual product) and working it seamlessly into the scene.
Props
The improvers get into two groups. Each group is given a random prop supplied by the host. The groups then have to make quick ten second scenes using their prop as something that it is not. The two groups go back and forth taking turns doing scenes until one group cant. The winning group is then declared the winner.
Puppets
This game uses four players. Two of these players, however, are your normal, every day, non-improvising citizens plucked out of the audience at random. Two actors converse their way through the scene as the two audience members moves the actors. The actors are not allowed to move on their own and their only motions can be the ones defined by the audience members. Here at Improv U, we won't just embarrass ourselves but our audience as well!
Questions Only
Again, everybody splits into two groups. Each group then forms a line that leads to the middle of the stage. The people at the front of each line then do a scene where they can only speak in the forms of questions. As soon as somebody has trouble continuing the scene, they go to the back of their line and is replaced by the person at the front. This new person then starts the scene over as a different character but keeps within the same theme as the last.
Rhyming Scene
Like a made-for-tv-Dr. Seuss special, this game is made entirely of rhyming couplets that are usually ended with words that don't actually exist. It rhymes though. Usually.
Scenes From A Hat
Before this game begins, the audience writes down suggestions on pieces of paper that can be used to make scenes out of. All of the improvers then stand in a line facing the audience and the pieces of paper are pulled from a hat by the host and read out loud. The improvers then step forward one at a time in no particular order and do a quick ten second scene using what was said. This is done a couple of times and a new suggestions is drawn.
Scripts
A scene is performed with any number of improvers. One person, however, has a script from a well known play and can speak only using lines from that play. Others in the scene have to make what they say fit into the logic of the scene.
Secrets
Three/four players leave. Ask for three words and write each of them on a piece of paper. When the three players return, tape one paper to each of their backs. They must manipulate each other into saying their word.
Shakespeare Scene
This is an open scene with one requirement: it has to be performed as if it were a Shakespearean play.
Should Have Said
In this game the players do an open scene. After somebody says something, the host might say Should have said and everybody then has to act like nothing was said and that person has to then say something different to replace it. A very fun game to watch.
Show Me That
In Show Me That, the players tend to make obscure references to things that have happened before, things that are going to happen in the future, and things that are happening somewhere else. After one of these references, the host will then say Show me that and the players then have to act out that reference. The host will then clap twice and the player switch back and continue the scene they were doing originally.
Song
This is one of those games in which you, the audience, can usually figure out what is going to happen just based on the name of the game. In this game, there are usually two improvers that perform a song. The song title is given by the audience. Usually there is a singer and somebody with an instrument to provide musical accompaniment.
Sound Effects
This game involves one member of the group and one member of the audience in a risky endeavor. The group member simply does a scene while the audience member makes sound effects for the performer to use. Often the sounds are difficult to understand which only makes the performer have to work harder.
Stand, Sit, Kneel
This game has two names depending on the number of people playing. Stand, Sit, Kneel can also be called Stand, Sit, Kneel, Lie Down. At any given time during the course of the scene, each of the improvers must be fulfilling one of these objectives. That means somebody must be standing, somebody must be sitting, and somebody must be kneeling. If somebody changes and does something else, the others must be prepared to take that persons former job.
Stunt Double
Stunt Double is a four person game. There are two actors that progress through a standard open scene. Each actor has their own stunt double hiding off stage. When the actor is about to do something that they dont want to do for some reason (usually some basic, every day activity (but sometimes dangerous or gross)), they will say, "Stunt double" and their stunt double will then run out and take their place for that particular action. After doing the stunt, the two people will then switch places again and the actor will continue acting. The actor is fine after the stunt takes place but the next time the stunt double enters they will still be injured from the last stunt.
Super Heroes
Definitely the groups funniest game. Somebody starts this game as a super hero titled by the audience. The hero is also given a world crisis that needs to be solved. Another hero soon enters the scene and this person is named by the hero currently on stage. The next hero to enter is named by the person who has most recently entered the scene. When there are four heroes on stage together they solve the crisis somehow and then leave in the reverse order in which they came in.
Switch
Progressing as an open scene, switch can have any number of players and has but one rule. When the host says Switch then each person in the scene has to take the place of the person on their left and become that character. The person on the far left has to take the position of the person on the far right.
Tasks
While one performer is out of the room, 2 others are given 3 things that they must make the first guy do. However, they can't simply tell him to them, they must somehow make it seem natural, at least to a degree.
Three-Headed Opera Singer
This is another one of our musical games. Three people stand together in a line. They are given the name of their opera song that they are about to sing. The three people then sing a song but they can only sing one word at a time each, going in order from left to right.
Three Man Dub
Player 1 provides the voice of player 2. Player 2 provides the voice of player 3. Player 3 provides the voice of player 1. It gets overly complicated.
TV Channels
This one is a multi-part game. First, a story is gotten from the audience (a well-know one, usually a fairy tale). Then each improver is given a TV channel - sometimes real ones, sometimes not - that they must tell the story in the style of.
TV Guide
Getting a favorite show from the audience (or from a TV Guide - hence the name...) the gang acts out an episode of the series that was never aired, usually because of swearing or continuity problems.
Typewriter
In Typewriter, somebody becomes a person writing a novel, article, or story on a typewriter. They type aloud as the actors act out the story. At times the typist may leave the story in the hands of the actors and at other times the typist will be in complete control.
Um, Er
During this scene, an actor may stop in the middle of a sentence and say Um, er and the rest of their sentence must then be filled in by the host. The actors may say this at any time in the scene and make sense of whatever the host gives them.