Improv Game List
There are so many different ways to enjoy improv, aside from the games & prompts I have curated/formalized for you. Here are 60 different improv format to try out. Use search bar if you are looking for a specific one.
Freeze
A fast-paced game that challenges participants' spontaneity and imagination.
How to play: Two players begin a scene inspired by a suggestion. At any point, someone yells 'Freeze!', the actors freeze, and the one who called 'Freeze!' takes the place of one of the players, starting a new scene.
Zip Zap Zop
A quick warm-up game that helps players hone their focus and attentiveness.
How to play: Players stand in a circle and pass along 'Zip', 'Zap', 'Zop' in order, using a specific hand gesture. The aim is to maintain the rhythm and not get the sequence wrong.
World's Worst
A fun, comedic game where players portray the worst versions of various professions or activities.
How to play: Each player steps forward and depicts a humorous and exaggeratedly incompetent version of a given profession or task, based on a prompt.
Park Bench
A character-driven game where players must convince a stubborn park bench sitter to give up their spot.
How to play: One player sits on a 'bench' and others try to convince them to leave by taking on various unique characters and employing persuasion tactics.
Yes, And...
The cornerstone of improv, teaching players to accept and build on their partners' ideas.
How to play: Players perform a scene where they must accept all offers made by their partners (Yes) and then expand on them (And).
Party Quirks
A hilarious game where the party host must guess the eccentric characters of the guests.
How to play: One player is the host of a party and the others are guests assigned unique quirks. The host has to guess what each guest's quirk is.
Conducted Story
A cooperative game where players tell a story, one person at a time.
How to play: Players stand in a line. The conductor points to a player who must continue the story. When the conductor points to another player, the first one stops and the second one picks up the narrative.
Lines from a Hat
A creative game where players must incorporate audience-suggested lines into a scene.
How to play: Players perform a scene and at random moments, they must draw a line from a hat and seamlessly incorporate it into the dialogue.
Alphabet Game
A game that requires players to create a scene where each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet.
How to play: Players perform a scene where each new line of dialogue must start with the subsequent letter of the alphabet, starting with any random letter.
Change
A quick-thinking game where players must adapt their actions or dialogues whenever 'change' is called.
How to play: Players perform a scene. Any time a director or audience shouts 'Change!', the player who just spoke or acted must change what they said or did.
Three-headed Expert
A hilarious game where three players jointly become an 'expert' on a certain subject.
How to play: Three players speak in turn to form coherent sentences, acting as one 'expert'. They answer audience questions about a chosen topic.
Foreign Movie
A funny game where players perform a 'foreign language film' and others 'translate'.
How to play: Two players perform a scene in a made-up language while two others provide English 'subtitles' or translations.
Expert Double Figures
A game that involves players acting as one person with four arms.
How to play: Two players act as one 'expert', with one player providing the arms. The 'expert' is then interviewed about their specific area of knowledge.
Fortunately/Unfortunately
A storytelling game where players alternate between positive (Fortunately) and negative (Unfortunately) scenarios.
How to play: Players tell a story in turns. One player starts a sentence with 'Fortunately' and the next with 'Unfortunately', each time advancing the story.
One Word At A Time
A cooperative game where players tell a story one word at a time.
How to play: Players stand in a circle or line and each contribute one word at a time to create a collaborative story.
Gibberish Interpreter
A game where one player speaks in gibberish and another translates.
How to play: One player speaks only in gibberish while another player translates for them, creating a coherent (and often humorous) narrative.
Sit, Stand, Bend
A physical game where players must always be either sitting, standing, or bending.
How to play: Three players perform a scene and must always have one player sitting, one standing, and one bending. When one player changes their position, the others must adjust to maintain the balance.
Revolver
A dynamic game where multiple two-person scenes happen in the same space.
How to play: Four players are paired up for two separate scenes, happening in the same space. When 'Switch!' is called, the scenes rotate and continue where they left off.
Backwards Scene
A challenging game where players perform a scene in reverse.
How to play: Players perform a scene starting with the ending and working their way to the beginning, reacting to things before they 'happen'.
Death in a Minute
A dramatic game where players must die dramatically within a minute.
How to play: A player is given an unusual cause of death by the audience and has to act out their death within one minute.
Emotional Symphony
A game where players express emotions as if they were instruments in an orchestra.
How to play: Each player is assigned an emotion by the audience. The 'conductor' cues players to express their emotions, creating an 'emotional symphony'.
Machine
A physical game where players form a 'machine' with repetitive motions and sounds.
How to play: One player starts with a repetitive motion and sound, and others join, adding their own actions and sounds to create a 'machine'.
Alien, Tiger, Cow
A silly game similar to 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' with theatrical elements.
How to play: Players form pairs and play a variant of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' where Alien beats Cow, Cow beats Tiger, and Tiger beats Alien, all with fun theatrical poses.
Survivor
A challenging game where players perform a scene repeatedly, each time with fewer actors.
How to play: Players start a scene. After each round, one player is 'voted off', and the remaining players re-enact the same scene without them, filling in for their character.
Columns
A game where players need to incorporate audience-suggested words into their scene.
How to play: Two or more players perform a scene, and when they tap the shoulders of the audience volunteers, they must supply a word or phrase, which then needs to be justified within the scene.
Dubbing
A creative game where players act a scene silently while other players provide their voices.
How to play: Two players perform a scene without speaking and two offstage players provide their dialogue.
Half-Life
A challenging game where players must repeat a scene in progressively half the time.
How to play: Players perform a scene in a given time, then repeat it in half the time, then half again, often resulting in frantic hilarity.
Sounds Like a Song
A musical game where normal scenes turn into spontaneous songs.
How to play: Players perform a scene and when a director or audience calls out 'Sounds like a song!', the player speaking must turn their dialogue into a song.
Switch
A dynamic game where players switch roles when 'switch' is called.
How to play: Two or more players perform a scene and when 'switch' is called by a director or the audience, the players must swap characters.
Emotional Rollercoaster
A game where players must quickly shift between various emotions.
How to play: Players perform a scene where the director or audience shouts out different emotions that the players must adopt immediately.
Pillars
A game where audience members assist players in completing their dialogues.
How to play: Two players perform a scene, and when they pause, an audience member 'pillar' provides a word or phrase that the player must justify as part of their dialogue.
Pan Left, Pan Right
A game where players perform multiple scenes that rotate as if on a revolving stage.
How to play: Four players form two pairs and each pair starts a different scene. When 'Pan left' or 'Pan right' is called, the pairs rotate, transitioning to the other scene.
Chain Murder
A hilariously morbid game where players must mime a chain of outlandish murders.
How to play: In a line of players, a murder weapon, location, and occupation are mimed from player to player. Each player must correctly interpret and mime the sequence to the next player.
Sound Effects
A game where audience members provide the sound effects for a scene.
How to play: Two players perform a scene and a couple of audience members are chosen to provide live sound effects for the scene.
Living Scenery
A game where some players act as props in a scene.
How to play: Two players perform a scene while another one or two players act as any props that are used.
New Choice
A game where players change their last line when 'New Choice' is called.
How to play: Players perform a scene, and when 'New Choice' is called by a director or the audience, the player who just spoke must come up with an entirely new line.
Three Things
A fast-paced game where players must think quickly to replace objects in activities.
How to play: A player is sent out of the room, and the audience picks an activity and three items to replace. When the player returns, they must guess the activity and the replacements with clues from the other players.
Two-Line Vocabulary
A challenging game where two players can only say two specific lines.
How to play: One player can speak freely, while the other two are each assigned two specific sentences which are the only things they can say during the scene.
Hitchhiker
A game where players adopt the emotions or behaviors of the 'hitchhiker'.
How to play: Three players are in a 'car'. They pick up a 'hitchhiker' who exhibits a strong emotion or characteristic, which all the players in the car gradually adopt.
Slideshow
A funny game where players become a 'human slideshow' to accompany a tale.
How to play: Some players act as a slideshow, striking poses to represent scenes. One or two players act as presenters, narrating a story that fits the poses.
Taxi
A game where the 'taxi driver' adopts the characteristics of their passengers.
How to play: A 'taxi driver' starts with a basic character. Each passenger that enters exhibits a different character trait, which the driver adopts for the rest of the game.
Day in the Life
A personal game where players act out a typical day in someone's life.
How to play: Players ask an audience member about their day, and then perform a series of scenes based on the events described.
Story, Story, Die
A fast-paced story-telling game where hesitation can lead to 'death'.
How to play: Players stand in a line and take turns to tell a story. If a player stumbles, contradicts, or hesitates, the audience yells 'Die!', and the player is out.
Eulogy
A humorous game where players give a eulogy for an audience member's imaginary relative.
How to play: Players take turns giving a eulogy for an audience member's bizarre imaginary relative, based on traits suggested by the audience.
Dating Game
A funny game where a 'bachelor or bachelorette' must guess the quirks of their suitors.
How to play: A 'bachelor or bachelorette' asks questions to three 'suitors', who each have a unique quirk. The aim is to guess each suitor's quirk.
Late to Work
A game where an 'employee' must guess why they're late, based on mime clues from colleagues.
How to play: The 'boss' sends the 'employee' out of the room, and the audience provides reasons for their lateness. When the 'employee' returns, their 'colleagues' must mime the reasons while the 'employee' guesses.
Blind Line
A creative game where players incorporate pre-written lines into their scene.
How to play: Before the scene, audience members write down random lines of dialogue. During the scene, players must pick up these lines and incorporate them into the scene.
Objection
A fast-paced game where players argue about who should control a scene.
How to play: Players start a scene, and anyone can yell 'Objection!', stating a reason why they should take over the scene. The referee decides if the objection is sustained or overruled.
Space Jump
A game where players add on to a scene one by one, each changing its context.
How to play: A player starts a solo scene. Additional players join one by one, each adding a new context or environment, which is justified by all.
The Oracle
A game where a 'wise entity' answers audience questions one word at a time.
How to play: Three or more players act as a 'wise entity', answering questions from the audience or a host one word at a time.
Audience Soundtrack
A game where the audience provides the soundtrack to a scene.
How to play: Players perform a silent scene while the audience provides all the sound effects and dialogues for them.
Interrogation
A game where a 'criminal' must guess their own crime based on their 'interrogation'.
How to play: The 'criminal' is sent out of the room, and the audience suggests a crime, accomplice, and location. When the 'criminal' returns, two 'detectives' give them clues to guess these details.
Moving Bodies
A game where players are 'puppets', moved by audience members.
How to play: Two players are 'puppets' who can't move unless moved by audience members. Despite their inability to move on their own, they still carry out a scene.
He Said, She Said
A game where players repeat the last line of their scene partner and justify it.
How to play: Two players perform a scene, where they have to start their line by repeating the last line of their scene partner and justifying it in their context.
Who's Line
A game where players must use specific lines of dialogue in their scene.
How to play: Before the scene, each player receives two or three lines of dialogue that they must incorporate into the scene at appropriate moments.
What Happens Next
A game where the audience decides what happens next in a scene.
How to play: Players perform a scene, and at various points, they ask the audience 'What happens next?', and then incorporate the suggestions.
Story Spine
A cooperative game where players tell a structured story.
How to play: Players take turns to tell a story, each providing one line at a time. The structure typically follows: 'Once upon a time... Every day... Until one day... Because of that... Until finally... And ever since that day...'.
Party Quirks
A game where a 'party host' must guess their guests' quirks.
How to play: A 'party host' must guess the unique quirks of their 'guests', which have been assigned by the audience.
Change of Company
A game where the 'job' of a company changes throughout a scene.
How to play: Players perform a scene in a company setting. At any point, the audience or a director can shout 'Change!', prompting the company's business to suddenly change.
Genres Replay
A game where a scene is replayed in different genres suggested by the audience.
How to play: Players perform a simple scene, which they then replay in various genres or styles suggested by the audience.