Improv Games
Here you can find a collection of improv games. This collection consists of games that can be performed in a show in front of an audience. Each of them can be announced in advance, or they can be played unannounced from a normal scene. Too much focus on performing games can negatively affect the ability to improvise freely. Many games also have a strong character in comedy. Many games are created from exercises that should help to train certain aspects of improvisation. Freeze, Hitchhiker or the abc letter game are some well known plays, but you can find many more. Have a nice time.
Categories
Experience
Energy
Competences
Countdown
Actors any number Suggestions variable, often a location, conflict, possibly characters/quirks, or none Premise With or without suggest...
Customer Service
Actors 2 or more Suggestions object, what's wrong with it, and a celebrity who previously owned it Premise One actor serves as a cus...
Drop A Line
Actors 2-4 Suggestions squibs with lines of dialogue, quotes, phrases, etc. Also location, setting, characters, etc., as necessary Pr...
Emotional Workplace
Three actors are playing at working places given by the audience. Each player gets a related feeling. Example: Player A has sadness as ...
Family Dinner
A game where audience members can be involved. Get an audience member to describe several members of their family. Do a scene about a di...
F.I.S.H.
Players 2+ Description Ask for a short word. Players act a scene in which each line of dialogue starts with successive letters of the ...
Hat off
This game is particularly suitable for theater sports matches as there is a winning and losing team. Prerequisite is a hat from the props...
Help!
2-4 players improvise a scene according to any guideline. The rest of the players look on and hold themselves ready. Whenever a player fe...
Horoscope
The moderator asks for a zodiac sign and then reads the current horoscope prediction from a magazine. The players then play a scene in wh...
Job Center
A player leaves the room. The public is asked to name an extraordinary profession. The player is invited back in, sits behind his desk an...
Last word - first word
Two players can participate in this game A random rule is added. The tricky part is, that in the dialogue between the two, the last w...
Living Scenery
Another funny, silly shortform game. The host asks for a suggestion of a situation or a daily routine at a location. Two players then ac...
MacGyver
Summary MacGyver is an improv game for two players in which the audience throws them into a life-threatening situation β and gives them ...
Marriage Guidance
A game for three players. One player is the therapist, the other players are the couple for treatment. The first couple is sent out and t...
Multi-headed Expert
At least three players form a character, the multi-headed expert. To achieve this they stand next to each other and put their arms around...
Multiple personalities
Silly, funny little shortform game. Played by 3 players. The host asks the audience to hand over three props. Then the host ask for a su...
Newscast
Actors 4 Suggestions characters, scenarios, conflicts as necessary Premise Four typical spots in this scene are the anchor, co-ancho...
Old Job - New Job
Ask for two professions that have nothing to do with one another. Someone in the scene plays a character that is now doing the second job...
Pan Right - Pan Left
Pan Right / Pan Left Players: 4 β 8 (Can be played with any number of players, but should be played with two evenly sized teams in shows)...
Party Quirks
Time: 10 Minutes Number of Participants: Best in groups of 4 or 5 Required Equipment: The only equipment needed are pieces my paper wit...
Pecking Order
An exercise i.e. a game for three players. The players form a hierarchy (A has the highest status, B the middle, C the lowest). It's gove...
People Watching
This is best explained by an example involving players A, B, and C. A waits for B and C to leave before asking for a suggestion. A ask...
Poets with Feeling
Three or four players are involved. The moderator asks the audience to provide a random sentence. Additionally, he lets each of the three...
Prison visitor
A musical game. The host asks for two suggestions: a country (where the one player is in prison) and a crime the player committed. The ...
Quintet
At first five different scenes are played. The audience then decides on one of these scenes to be removed. The remaining four scenes cont...
Revolving Door
A game for 4-5 players. A player stands in the center and will quickly exchange places with where the other players started. The player ...
Road Trip
Info 10 + Minutes Groups of approximately 10 to 15 people. Enough objects for the entire group except for one participant. Recommended Ag...
Serenade
(For as many people as desired) The first sings the chorus as far as possible simply to denote the text , one, maximum two lines. This ...
Stage Directions
Players 3+ Rules Players perform an ordinary scene based on an audience suggestion. A player outside of the scene will occasionally in...
Superscene
Three to five people can take part in this game. Each of the players is responsible for one of the stories, as its director. He introduce...
Swinging Pendulum of Death
Actors 3 Suggestions 3 locations, 3 conflicts, 3 characters Premise This game is complicated but can be extremely entertaining if do...
Talking animals
The players receive a species of animal from the audience. Then they play a scene in which they both play the part of this animal. (F...
Terrorist
One player leaves. Ask for a mode of transportation, an object, and a desire. The returning player is a terrorist who must be manipulated...
The central theme
A real object from the audience is placed on a stage. The object is really the object it is. This object specifies the location of the fi...
The Evil Twin
The moderator provides a relationship between two people or an activity. Two players begin to act out the scene. The scene can be stopped...
The Excuse
One of the Improv-players must leave the room for a short time. In the meantime, the audience decides on a reason why the player wa...
The Prophet
One player leaves the room. This will later be the prophet, who must guess the prophecy which is made up by the audience. There will be t...
The Voice
The Little Voice This improv game is all about interacting with the invisible. One player acts in a scene while one or more fellow playe...
Three Rules
The moderator asks for three personal rules for the players in the scene to observe. For example, that they have only one arm, may not...
Time travel
We will first present a simple neutral scene that is based on a suggestion from the audience. Then we will see a series of scenes that le...
Walking Backwards
The "walking backwards into the future" is an exercise, but can also be used as a presentation. One player stands at the front of the st...
What's on TV?
Quick, change of scene based improv game. Audience have control of 'TV' - two characters to represent the media on TV. Audience can 'chan...
Improv games are often played as part of theatre sports. Here, two teams usually play a series of improvisations against each other. This kind of format has a strong connection to comedy. This does not have to be the case and was not intended by Johnstone, the inventor of theatre sports. According to his idea, this format should include both serious and comic performances. The games are often played by one to four players and take only a short time, maybe up to 10 minutes. It is important to make sure that, despite the comedy character, the story is not forgotten in the game.
Improv games are a good way to relax during the theatre practice or break the ice at a party or at the beginning of a workshop. Improvisational acting teaches you to think quickly and to read other people while you are performing. And best of all, you don't need any special props or equipment, just your imagination and the courage to surpass yourself.
If you know a good game, that is not in our list, please add it here. You just need to register and then you can add new improv stuff. Thank you for your time and for your work.