Santa Claus is dead and he needs a successor — that is what this evening is built around.
Rough timeline
Time in minutes — activity
00:00 — Warming up the audience
00:10 — Explaining the rules
00:15 — Defining characters
00:20 — Short-form games
01:00 — Interval
01:15 — Warming up the audience
01:20 — Vote on the new Santa
01:25 — Scene: the death of Santa
01:35 — Farewell / second climax
02:00 — Goodbye
02:10 — Encore if needed
Detailed flow
00:00 — Warming up the audience
- Practising applause / emotional reactions
- Practising the count-in (3, 2, 1)
- Pulling in suggestions (audiences are usually shy at first)
- A creativity exercise (e.g. copying the Macarena)
- Pulling in more suggestions
- Bringing the players on stage
00:10 — Explaining the rules
- Tonight Santa Claus is going to be killed
- You'll have to choose a new Santa
- Afterwards you'll find out who the murderer was
00:15 — Defining characters
- A piece of clothing
- Name / nickname / profession
- Tic / hobby / dreams
- A card with: Santa (×1) / candidate (×1–3) / murderer (×1)
- Only the player knows which role they are playing!
00:20 — Short-form games
- Scene Noir
- Dutch triangle (Dutch Square with three people)
- Reveal: who is Santa?
- Genre Twister
- Speak on Touch
- Change
- Standing-Sitting
01:00 — Interval
01:15 — Warming up the audience
- Echoing the first warm-up
- Do you want a new Santa?
- Do you want to know who has the new Santa on their conscience?
01:20 — Vote on the new Santa
- All candidates summarise their motivation to be Santa
- The audience applauds for their favourite Santa
01:25 — Scene: the death of Santa
- All three potential murderers turn their backs to the audience
- Just before the murder, Santa receives a visit from each of them
- The last visitor is the one who kills him
01:35 — Farewell / second climax
Has the audience just made the murderer the next Santa?
- The other two candidates try to stop him
- Otherwise the villain still tries to take over as Santa
02:00 — Goodbye
- Thank-yous
- Upcoming dates
- Bow and exit
02:10 — Encore if needed
Notes
This format thrives on being absolutely pitch-black in its humour. That isn't for every group, but if a group can lean fully into it, it gets that much funnier. The format also lives off strong characters in the first half — there is not much room for deep stories, so the characters have to carry it. (We had, for example, a pacifist carpenter, an honest contract killer (our Santa), her brother a sign-maker (Mr Piffy), and a chimney sweep whom the killer fancied.)
The plan was made to the best of our knowledge and probably won't survive first contact with reality. The short-form games above happen to be ones we like — you'll likely prefer different ones. Take the plan as inspiration and do whatever works best for you. :)
Best regards
Ben — schlAGVertig (Munich)
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