Games

185 xxx walk into a bar

Not really improv theater but done by a quite a few troupes, and fun when done well. Get a term, e.g. Elephants. The lines go like this: ...

Bang

A warmup for concentration. All players position themselves in a circle. In circle will now be counted upwards, player 1 says "1", playe...

Bippity Bippity Bop

In this — at times slightly macabre — warm-up game, players stand in a circle with one person in the middle. The player in the middle wal...

Blinking place change

One (A) is in the middle of a large circle formed by all other players. Now the players are looking for eye contact with each other in a ...

Buzz

Actors 2-4 Suggestions location, conflict, characters Premise A scene is built from the given suggestions, but at any point, either fol...

Category Die

This is useful as a warm-up and it is also useful in performance even. The exercise forces you to be spontaneous and it also helps you ...

Category Snap

Video example Improv Warm-Ups: Category Snap

Clap Focus

Synonyms Snap Focus Introduction This warm up is to get people listening, responding fast and reacting without thinking. Everyone gets...

Conceptual circle

Different terms of a family of concepts,such as vegetables, sports, city names are exchanged crisscross form from player to player in a c...

Conducted Story

Introduction Let’s get four or five players in a line and one person to conduct a story. Description The goal of the conducted story i...

Countdown

Actors any number Suggestions variable, often a location, conflict, possibly characters/quirks, or none Premise With or without suggest...

Cross Circle

Synonyms Name Game, Shriner’s Warm-up Introduction This warm up will help us all get moving, listening and learn a few names. Let’s fo...

Dissociation

The player "associates" words one after the other that have "nothing" to do with each other. If a suitable word is associated or if the p...

Duck, duck, goose

Duck, duck, goose or duck, duck, gray duck is a traditional children's game often first learned in pre-school or kindergarten then later ...

Free Association

Introduction This warm-up will help us get into the moment for improvisation, and help us feel easier about being silly. Description T...

Genetically modified mouse

The players stand together with the game leader in a circle. This places an invisible mouse on the ground, which now runs under the feet ...

Hand snake

With this fast warm-up game, the task is to allow the flat palms of up to three players to touch each other at the same time. At the begi...

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...

House - residents - flood

This warm-up game is only suitable for a slightly larger group: 13 persons and more. It is also called: House creature flood. Groups of ...

Jonathan

A warm-up game to get to know the players' names and for quick reaction. The players stand in a circle . Player A is "Jonathan". - “Jo...

King of Siam

At The King of Siam one sits or stands in a circle. One player is the King, the others are numbered, the last one is wothout a number, he...

Knights, Horses and Cavaliers

The participants move around the playing field and wait for the words "knights", "horses" or "cavaliers" to be called. If one of the wo...

Molecules

Everybody runs around the room until the game leader shouts a number. Instantly, everybody forms groups with the same number of players...

Names - Go and clap

Another warm-up and name game. The players form a circle and reach out one hand to the center of the circle. One player Z stands in the ...

New Choice

Rules Players perform a scene based on an audience suggestion. At any point during the scene, the Host may blow a whistle and call for a...

Newscast

Actors 4 Suggestions characters, scenarios, conflicts as necessary Premise Four typical spots in this scene are the anchor, co-ancho...

One word story

One-word stories come in several forms: All in a row 4 or 5 players line up in a row. The audience dictates the title of the story and ...

Quick Death

A (slightly macabre) exercise for in between times to drive away the tiredness of the players by speed: The players are in a circle. One...

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 ...

Seven Things

Seven Things is a warm up in which players ask each other to name seven things that fall into a made up category. Anybody may start by ca...

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...

The monster

Player A stands in the middle of a big circle which all the other players form. A is the monster. He moves with forwards outstretched arm...

Toaster

4 to 6 players are sitting on the stage, spread out well. The game master now whistles or claps his hands at different intervals. At eac...

Triangle

Each player initially takes two other players as reference persons without revealing his selection. It is now the task of all players to ...

What is a what?

A warm-up game in which rhyme is played quickly. All players line up in a circle and slowly flip a rhythm with their fingers. Player A ...

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...

Worlds worst

A game for quick jokes and short laughs. The Moderator asks the audience for e. g. - a profession (i.e. police officer) - a hobby (i.e. ...