Creating Improvisational Games for Language Learners
Presenter: Jon Wilkerson
International Funny Business
303-818-7255
jongwilkerson@comcast.net
www.jonwilkerson.com
What is improvisational Theater?
Improvisational theater is theater that is created on the stage live in front of an audience without
any scripted or rehearsed material. The actors create it on the spot.
What are Improvisational Games?
They are scene structures—usually consisting of certain rules or objectives—that challenge the
actor, and make the scene interesting to watch.
Why use “improv” games in language teaching?
Three powerful reasons:
BUILD FLUENCY (TEACH)
Improvisational games give students a vibrant environment for rehearsing and reinforcing
the language they have learned. Because the emphasis is usually on communicating and
using what you know, students increase their ability to access the material they have
learned and use it in real-life situations.
“Jon's workshops bring fun and laughter into purposeful communication practice.” –
Gretchen Hack, English Instructor.”
CLASSROOM ENERGY (INSPIRE)
Improvisational games are fun—really fun. The classroom is generally filled with great
laughter and attention. As one seminar participant said, students
“Students have so much fun that they ‘forget’ they are acquiring language along the way.”
– Jalen Waltman, English Instructor
SKILLS FOR INTERACTING WITH NATIVE SPEAKERS (EMPOWER)
Learners acquire the same “soft skills” (making bold choices, listening intensively,
handing chaos and confusion with confidence and creativity) that improvisational actors
use on stage. These allow them to take the initiative to engage successfully with native
speakers.
“I watched Jon empower a large group of shy, college-age Japanese students who were
transferred from a legion of silent gigglers to a roaring group of speakers, emoting oneliners and spouting spontaneous dialogue in ‘cars,’ ‘on vacation,’ ‘on the moon,’ or
wherever Jon put them.” – Mike Rhodes, English Instructor
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
A Game Creation Algorithm
1) What are you trying to achieve?
Identify the objective of the lesson. Are you exercising vocabulary? Practicing a
grammatical form? Trying to get your students to ask questions or use descriptions?
Be as specific as possible.
2) Isolate the desired behavior with incentives and constraints
Build a tower, tell a story, make a television commercial . . . what would be a goal of
the exercise that would produce the desired behavior? Furthermore, what
constraints—that is, what rules or structures—can you put into place to isolate the
specific behavior as much as possible? Keep these questions in consideration when
designing the exercise.
3) Use what you know
If you examine the games at the end of this handout, you can start to see the
patterns and similarities. In fact, the various structures, rules, and incentives of a
exercise are modular, They can be taken apart and combined in different ways and
with different structures, rules, and incentives to create brand new exercises. The
more familiar you are with training exercises in general, the better you will get at
doing this!
4) Mentally work through the flow of the activity
Imagine the game being played. What problems are likely to come up and how will
you address them? How might the students find a way to achieve the goal of the
exercise without demonstrating the desired behaviors? How can I change the
constraints or incentives to avoid this? How can you “scaffold” students from simple
to complex games?
5) Try it out!...and iterate!
See how it works! You will often find that a newly minted exercise may not run
perfectly the first time. In rare cases, it is a complete flop and you have to scrap it.
But more often you can de-bug the exercise by tweaking the constraints and
incentives. If you can make it work, you will have created a wonderful new exercise
that will be in your repertoire forever. What’s more, it is something you trust
yourself to be able to deliver and something you can continue to refine.
Congratulations!
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
An Improvisation Glossary
Endowments – Emotions or personal characteristics that help define a character in a scene. For
example: “rich”, “Swedish”, “snobby”, “friendly”, or “90-years old”. A endowment is usually
expressed without stating it. So if your endowment is “sad”, you don’t say “I’m sad!” Instead you
show it with weeping and a distraught voice.
Suggestions – Arbitrary ideas for scenes solicited from audience members in improvisational
theaters, but from classmates in language classes. You could ask for a location (“a busy café”), a
movie style (“horror”), an object (“book”) or any other number of things. Always take the first
suggestion you get, and never let the players in the scene pick their own suggestion. Suggestions
serve to give students a starting point, as well as to show them they they can handle any
situation—even one that is completely random and often quite challenging.
Justification Games – Any game where a character is give some random input—language or
physical movement or an endowment—that they must justify in the context of the scene. They
may be given their next line of dialogue from the audience, and then must explain why that was a
sensible thing to say.
Head-to-Heads – Games where two players compete against each other. Often the players are
from two different teams, and other team members will replace them after the original two have
faced off.
Scene Games – Games where 2-4 players create a perform a scene on the spot. Typical scene
games last 3-5 minutes. Because an improvisational scene might take place anywhere with any
people, improv is performed without sets, costumes, or props. Instead, the players mime these
things. Good scenes have a “where” (an environment where the scene is taking place), a “who”
(strong interesting characters), and a “what” (a compelling story).
Goal-Directed Games – Games where there is a desired outcome or goal. Maybe guessing a
person’s endowment or saying a catch phrase that the audience has given (and that the player is
ignorant of).
“You’re next!” Games – Games where the players come up one at a time and try to perform a
feat of acting. For instance, perhaps they must recite a poem on the spot.
Freeze Games – Games where a single player performs a feat of acting, but any player can jump
in and try it.
Expert Games – Games where an “expert” is interviewed about a subject (usually a suggestion
by the audience).
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Tips for Teaching Improv
Do get your students to do these incredible things takes a great deal of skill, humor,
patience, and kindness on the instructor’s part. Here are a few ideas that will help make
your efforts successful!
1. Unconditional positive regard
It is hard to release the tremendous creative energy of improv if students don’t feel
like they are in an environment where they will be safe from feeling ridiculous. To
this end, the instructor must never be critical of creative decisions made by the
students unless they are truly inappropriate (profanity, sexism, etc.).
2. Failure is okay
Not only should failures not be criticized. They should be praised for their courage
and effort. The students should ideally feel free to fall flat on their faces.
3. First into the breach
Students aren’t going to feel comfortable acting silly or making strong character
choices if the instructor is doesn’t. You must strive to be the silliest, loudest, most
ridiculous person in the room.
4. Small Steps
Improv games range from very simple warm-up exercises to full-blown games that
are physically and mentally strenuous. To arrive at the latter, you must take your
students slowly through the former. By taking small steps, your students will feel
increasingly confident and empowered – and you will be amazed at their improv
abilities!
5. Explain and demonstrate clearly
When describing and activity, it’s best to SHOW students how to do it (when
possible). This will help to make the instructions absolutely clear.
6. Fix mistakes immediately.
If the rules of the game are not understood well—and you let it slide—everybody is
doing to make the same mistake. Jump in there and explain when things go astray.
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Sample Improvisational Games
There are just a twenty of the hundreds and hundreds of improvisational theater games out there.
You can google many many more! All of these games have been used with great effect in
language classrooms, but the real challenge (and the real fun) is taking them apart, putting them
back together, and creating new games to answer your needs. Have a go at it, and have fun!
Game: Everybody Go!
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Skills addressed: Letting down your guard, commitment, acceptance,
listening, support
How to play it: Everyone stands in a circle. The first player shouts "Everybody go . . . " and then
creates a silly noise, walk, gesture, movement, etc. The other players in the circle shout "YES!"
and then do the same silly noise, gesture, etc. with as much energy as they can. Then the next
person takes her turn shouting “Everybody go . . . ” until everyone in the circle has had a chance.
Variations: Instead of a making a silly noise, have everyone in the circle step forward and shout
out their name and an interesting fact about themselves ("My name is Sachiko and I love pizza!")
Game: Hitchhiker
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Moderate
Skills Addressed: Listening, commitment, support, acceptance
How to play it: Four chairs are set up on the stage as if they were the front and back seat of a
car. Four players sit down in them. The driver starts driving and the people in the car chat about
whatever they want. The first player in line walks to the front of the car and puts out her thumb.
The driver stops the car to pick up the hitchhiker. The hitchhiker gets into the back seat, forcing
one person in the back to move over, the other to move to the "shotgun" position up front, and
the person who was the shotgun to slide over and become the driver. The driver exits the car.
The driver justifies his exit in any way he wants ("I forgot to feed the fish!").
The hitchhiker will bring into the car some characteristic (she is sleepy or snobby or forgetful).
The other players must listen to her carefully. When they think they have determined her
characteristic, they must take on the characteristic themselves (everyone in the car becomes
sleepy or snobby or forgetful).
The second player in line now hitchhikes. Again, the car stops to pick him up, everyone shifts
around, the driver leaves justifying her exit, and the hitchhiker brings in a new characteristic that
everyone must emulate. The entire class should go through the car (being hitchhiker, eventually
driver, and then leaving) until you have the original four people in the car.
Note: With beginners, you may have to teach this game in stages. Start with just the hitchhiking,
then add the elements. Build the game. If there is a “mistake”, fix it right away. If someone
comes in without a clear endowment, stop the game, take them aside and come up with a good
endowment for them and a way to show it.
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Game: Slide Show
Players: 4-6
Degree of Difficulty:
Skills addressed:
How to play it: Get a suggestion for a slide presentation. One that works pretty well is "Where
would you like to go on a vacation that you have never been too before?" Let's suppose someone
says "Mexico."
Divide the players into two teams, the "describers" and the "picture people." The describers sit in
chairs one side of the "stage" and tell the audience about that they have just returned from a
wonderful trip to Mexico and would like to show some of the pictures they took while they were
there. As they announce each picture ("Let's look at our first picture . . . ") the "picture people"
pose in anyway they feel might be challenging for the describers and freeze in those positions.
For instance, one might be bending over while the other is looking up at the sky. The describers
must do their best to justify the poses by explaining them to the audience ("Oh! This was the
day someone dropped a tamale on us from an airplane. Jane here is trying to get the number of
the plane while I'm seeing if the tamale is still edible.")
Note: Make sure the frozen people stay frozen! Encourage them to interact (grab each other,
gesture or look at each other). Encourage the justifiers to come up with a story that explains the
picture as a whole, not a separate story for each person in the picture.
Variations: You can get a more challenging suggestion. Instead of a vacation, you might have the
"describers" be "experts" giving a lecture on some topic, such as ballet.
Game: Story
Players: 4-7
Degree of Difficulty: More difficult
Skills addressed: Listening, creating language
How to play it: Get a suggestion for the title of a story that has never been written. All of the
players except one line up facing the class. The final player, the "director", sits or kneels in front
of the other players. The director points to one of the players who instantly starts telling a story
based on the made-up title. The player continues until the director takes her hand away and
points at another player who must continue the story exactly where the first player left off. The
director continues pointing to this or that person to continue the story.
Note: Have them avoid using the first person. This can make the story unwieldy and difficult to
follow.
Variations: Get endowments for each player before the story begins. For instance, you might get
an emotion for every player, so one player must always be "sad" where another must always be
"excited."
Another variation is to have the director instruct the player who is currently speaking to "color" a
particular element of the story (give more detail), or to "advance" (continue to with the plot). For
example, suppose the player is narrating thus: "Jimmy was walking to school one day when he
noticed a dog following him." The director says: "Color 'dog'." The player continues, "The dog
was white with brown spots and looked very tired. The dog had a bell around its neck." Director:
"Advance." Player: "Jimmy ran to try and get away from the dog, but the dog followed him all
the way to school."
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Game: Forward Reverse
Players: 3-5
Degree of Difficulty: More Difficult
Skills addressed: Listening, memorization
How to play it: Get any suggestion (an occupation you wouldn’t want, a place you like to go,
something you have in a junk drawer at home). All of the players but one can create a scene
based on the suggestion. The other player is the “caller” and acts as a remote control for that
scene that can send it into “forward” or “reverse” mode by simply shouting “Forward!” or
“Reverse!” When in “reverse” mode, the actions and lines of the scene occur in reverse order
(the words of the sentences are not inverted however!)
For example, suppose the suggestion is “Bait Store.” A scene might go like this:
Player One (enters): I would like to by some hooks please.
Player Two (pulls a box from under the counter): Here we are.
Player One: Beautiful!
Player Two: What kind of fish are you trying to catch?
Caller: Reverse!
Player Two: What kind of fish are you trying to catch?
Player One: Beautiful!
Player Two (puts the box back under the counter): Here we are.
Player One (exits walking backwards): I would like to by some hooks please.
Caller: Forward!
Player One (enters): I would like to by some hooks please.
Player Two (pulls a box from under the counter): Here we are.
Caller: Reverse!
Player Two (puts the box back under the counter): Here we are.
Player One (exits walking backwards): I would like to by some hooks please.
Note: Encourage them to accompany each line with an action and then to do that action in
reverse. It makes for a much more interesting and fun scene, and makes the lines easier to
remember.
Game: Cocktail Party
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Skills addressed: Commitment, Listening
How to play it: Get a list of emotions and characteristics from the class and discuss what they all
mean. A good way to get this list is to start by asking for emotions (angry, sad, happy). Then ask
for characteristics by asking them to describe what their best friend is like (nice, generous,
understanding), and then what their brothers or sisters are like (mean, smart, funny, nosy, shy).
Ask everyone in the class to take on an emotion or characteristic. Then the entire class mingles
freely in the room, meeting as many people as they can and trying to figure out other students’
characteristics while also maintaining their own.
Variation: Have everyone take on the same emotion when they mingle, and then change it every
20-30 seconds. A short blast on a whistle is a good way to get everyone’s attention and shout
out the next emotion. (“Jealous! You’re all jealous now! Begin!”)
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Game: Two-Line Scene
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Skills addressed: Listening, filling in the blanks
How to play it: Have the class form two lines on either side of the room. One line is the
“initiators” line, the other the “receivers” line. The first person in each line comes out on stage.
The initiator says one line and the receiver says one line. The scene is then over. The objective is
to create the “who, what, and where” of the scene as quickly as possible. For instance:
Initiator: “Would you like to see a menu, ma’am?”
Receiver: “No, I’m waiting for my sister to arrive.”
After each scene, ask the other players standing in line: 1) Who are they? 2) Where are they? 3)
What’s going on?
In this scene, for example, the answers could be, “a waiter and a customer who has a sister, a
restaurant, and the lady is waiting for her sister to arrive before she orders.”
Challenge the players to create all three in a scene of two lines. They can provide more
information with action (miming the driving of a car or washing dishes). After the scene, the
initiator goes to the end of the receivers’ line, and the receiver goes to the end of the initiators’
line. Play continues until everyone has cycled through both lines.
Note: Encourage the participants to use their bodies to communicate as well. Who, what, and
where can be expressed with mime as well as with words. An old man rowing a boat doesn’t
need to be explained with words!
Game: Red Ball
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Skills addressed: Listening
How to play it: Everybody stands in a circle. A designated player pretends to toss a ball to
another person in the circle, saying “Red Ball!” The person who “catches” the pretend ball
responds, “Thank you Red Ball!” This person then tosses it to someone else in the circle saying,
“Red Ball!” The person catching it responds, “Thank you Red Ball!” And the pretend ball
continues to be tossed from one person to another as quickly as possible. The designated player
who started the game can now add a “Blue Ball” and then a “Yellow Ball.”
Variation: Have the designated player add objects other than balls. Perhaps they toss in a couch,
a pencil, and a bowl of soup. Encourage them to really use their bodies and show that they are
carefully handling and tossing the hot bowl of soup.
Game: No Exit
Players: 2-3
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Skills addressed: Communicating, Creativity
How to play it: The players start a scene based on a suggestion. For instance, they are in
McDonald’s and one player is an employee and the other a customer. They spend the first part of
the scene establishing who they are, where they are, and what is going on. On a signal from the
teacher (30-40 seconds into the scene), both players will try and exit the scene. The first one to
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
exit “wins” the game. To exit the scene, a player must come up with a justification for leaving.
However upon hearing the justification, the second player can “block” the exit of the first. So our
dialogue at McDonald’s might run like this:
Employee: I’m sorry we are out of cheese. I will have to go to the back room to get some.
Customer: That’s okay. I just remembered I am allergic to cheese. I left my wallet in the car. I’ll
be right back.
Employee: Don’t bother. All meals are free today. We are celebrating our ten year anniversary.
Customer: I’m going to run to the bathroom.
Employee: It’s closed for renovation.
Note: Prevent players from rushing out of the scene as soon as they have given a justification.
The justification has to be audible, specific (not just “Gotta go!”), and they must walk to the exit,
not charge.
Game: Quirky Party
Players: 4
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Skills addressed: Commitment, Expression
How to play it: One of the players is sent out of the room where she can hear the suggestions.
Each of the remaining players is given a character endowment of some sort. For instance, maybe
one player is assigned “happy”, another “angry”, and another “hungry”. The player who left the
room is then brought back. This player is the host of a party that the others are attending. They
chat, sip drinks, eat snacks, etc. The host, by interacting with the other players, must try to
figure out what their character endowments are. (The players are not allowed to say these.) The
host will know if they are correct because the player will immediately leave the scene making an
excuse for leaving the party:
Angry Person: These chips are stale!
Host: I’m sorry. You seem very upset.
Angry Person: You sound like my boss. He’s a jerk!
Host: Wow. You’re very angry tonight.
Angry Person: I just remembered I need to go feed my cat. (Exits)
Variation: You can use anything as a character endowment. It could be something easy like an
emotion or characteristic, but it could be something quite complex like a famous person (say,
Beyoncé) or a someone afraid of the color green.
Note: Encourage the players to help each other. So if one player is known to be angry, the other
players might intentionally try to set him off. If one player is Beyoncé, then the other players
might ask for his autograph and ask to have their picture taken with her. Have them use their
bodies and voices to express their endownment.
Game: What Are You Doing?
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Skills addressed: Listening, Commitment
How to play it: The class forms two lines on either side of a playing area (a sort of stage). One
person from each “team” comes out to compete against each other. One player begins by
miming some activity, such as combing their hair. The other player asks, “What are you doing?”
The first player can respond with anything except “Combing my hair.” Perhaps they say, “Flying a
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
kite.” At which point, the other player must pretend to fly a kite. The first player then responds
with anything except “Flying a kite.” Thus:
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Etc.
A: (combs hair)
B: What are you doing?
A: Flying a kite!
B: (begins flying a kite)
A: What are you doing?
B: Tasting soup my mother made.
A: (tasting soup) Mmm! This is delicious!
B: What are you doing?
A: Building a house.
A player “wins” the match-up when the other player makes a mistake. This includes 1) hesitating
for too long, 2) doing the activity that they are actually saying, or 3) repeating an activity that
has already been done. The winning player earns a point for their team and the next two players
come up to compete.
Variation: You can give the players a theme to base all of their activities on. For instance, you
could give them “Zoo”; and then all of the activities must be based on the topic of zoo. (“Feeding
the lions.” “Running from an escaped gorilla.” “Cleaning the bear’s cage.” Etc.)
Note: Make sure the players are exhibiting good “stage picture”. That is, they are never turning
their backs—or even their sides—to the audience. Their faces should always be clearly visible to
the audience.
Game: Paper Slips
Players: 2-3
Degree of Difficulty: Challenging
Skills addressed: Creativity, commitment
How to play it: Give everyone in the classroom a slip of paper and have them write some random
sentence on it. (Examples: “You have my umbrella.” “My mother has a pet shark.” “Do you have
a different color?”) Have them fold up their slips and toss them onto the playing area. The
players then start a scene based on a suggestion. (Maybe they are at home cooking dinner.) At
any point during the scene, a player can pick up a slip of paper and read it. The players must
then incorporate the random sentence into the context of the scene. For example:
Player A: I need to chop these vegetables. Could you please boil some water?
Player B: (reading a slip of paper) My mother has a pet shark.
Player A: Oh, that sounds delicious! It will go so well with these peppers. Do you think she would
let us use it?
Player B: I don’t know. She really loves that shark!
Player A: (reading a slip of paper) You have my umbrella.
Player B: Good thing! We can use it to carry the shark in.
Etc.
Note: Encourage the players to full incorporate the random element in the scene before reaching
for another slip of paper. Encourage them to let that element affect the entire scene, and not just
be quickly justified and forgotten. For instance, in the above scene the players should actually
mime the carrying in of a shark with an umbrella and the difficulty of that task. Maybe it is a live
shark and they are trying to deal with it. Maybe one of them gets bit!
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Game: Freeze Tag
Players: Everybody
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Skills addressed: Creativity, commitment, support
How to play it: Have the class divide into two lines on either side of the room with a “stage area”
in the middle. Have two players come out onto the stage area and then pose them. Bend them
into some odd configuration (perhaps Player A is pointing to the sky and Player B is holding
something heavy in her hands). When the instructor says “Go!” the players must justify their
positions in the context of a scene. That is, they must make it clear who they are, what their
relationship is, where they are, and what’s going on. For instance:
Player B: Great! There goes our flight!
Player A: Well you just had to go back into the house for your lucky brick!
Or…
Player A: Good job catching that first meteorite. Here comes another one!
Player B: Can I at least wear oven mitts?
They can move. In fact, you should encourage them to move and change into some other
position. Maybe in the first scene, Player B is setting the brick down on the ground and Player B
is getting out her cell phone to call the travel agent.
If the instructor judges that the scene was successful (funny, interesting, made sense), then they
can ring a bell. If the scene makes no sense whatsoever, you can indicate with a buzzer noise or
a goose call. Either way, all the students then shout “Freeze!” The two players freeze on stage in
their final positions. Two more players, one from each team, examine their positions, tap their
frozen teammates (indicating that they can now unfreeze and leave the scene), and then take
over their positions. They then start an entirely different scene based on the new positions and
play continues this way.
Note: Really encourage them not to just stand there or stay in the positions, but to move into
other interesting positions so the next pair have something different and interesting to work with.
Variations: You can play this in a circle with the two players in the middle. After the scene has
been judged, anyone from the circle can jump in, tap out a frozen player and take her place.
You can have the group do the judging—voting by either saying “Ding! Ding! Ding!” (good
scene!) or making the game show buzzer noise (not good!).
Game: Hesitation
Players: 2-3 players
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Skills addressed: Accepting offers, creating a narrative
How to play it: Two players start a scene based on a suggestion from the class (a third player
can enter when he feels an entrance is needed). At any point in the scene, a player can hesitate
before saying a noun or a verb. The hesitation should be very obvious. At this point, anyone in
the class (not in the scene) can shout out whatever nonsensical thing they want to. The player
must use the first word he hears and incorporate it into the context of the scene. For example:
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Player A: Hello darling! I just got back from the grocery store and they had a sale
on…um…um…um…
Audience Member: Elephants!
Player A: on Elephants. So I bought two.
Player B: That’s great honey! We can keep them in bedroom closet. We’ll need to feed them
however. I believe elephants eat…um…um…um
Audience Member: Pizza!
Player B: They eat pizza. Can you clear out all of our clothes? I’ll call and order six hundred
pizzas right now.
Note: They will want to hesitate a LOT. Try to have them work hard on fully incorporating the
absurd elements introduced already before calling for more. Encourage the audience to really
challenge them.
Game: Arms Expert
Players: 3-4
Degree of Difficulty: Difficult
Skills addressed: Commitment, support, accepting offers
How to play it: One player becomes the arms of another player. He stands behind him and
threads his arms underneath the other players arms (this other player just puts his arms behind
the first players back). You now have a player whose arms do not actually belong to him but to
the player behind him.
A third player gets a suggestion from the class for a subject that the “arms expert” is an expert
in. Perhaps he is an expert poker player. This third player then takes questions about poker from
the audience and asks the expert.
The person working the expert’s arms does not necessarily try to answer the question, but uses
his hands to mime and gesture in a fairly random way. The expert then must answer the
question and justify the movements that his hands are making. For example:
Interviewer: What is a good way to get better at poker?
(The arms mime a giant ball.)
Arms Expert: Well, one good way to get started is to get a giant ball and play poker against the
ball. They way your opponent isn’t too sharp.
(The arms throw the ball.)
Arms Expert: When you are good enough, you can throw the ball at someone and then say,
“Hey! Sorry about that. Do you want to play poker?”
Note: This is a tricky game. The gestures of the arms must be slow and specific to give enough
information and time for the expert to justify. Encourage the person working the arms to do this.
Variation: Have an arms party. Have everyone in the room pair up with someone who will be
their arms, and then have everyone wander about the room meeting people and chatting,
shaking hands, high gives, etc. using their borrowed arms. After a few minutes, have the pairs
switch roles.
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Game: Pick-a-Play
Players: 3-4
Degree of Difficulty: Medium Difficult
Skills addressed: Commitment, listening
How to play it: Three players (or two) in the scene will have some reading material. A text from
the class is fine for this purpose, but the script for a play also works very well. These players can
only read lines from their texts. They are not allowed to invent their own dialogue (though they
can use their bodies to contribute to the story). The fourth player (the “justifier”) has no script
and can say anything they want to. The players are given a suggestion for a scene (say a
bowling alley). They create their bowling alley scene with the fourth player justifying all of the
random dialogue from the other three. For instance:
Justifier: Great to be here at bowling alley! Did everyone bring their own ball?
Player A: (reading a text) The lemonade is delicious!
Justifier: It surely is! Let’s order a pitcher for the whole group. Here Tony, try out my new ball.
(Tony takes the ball.)
Player B: (reading a text) The dog wants to go for a walk.
Justifier: Yesiree! (Pointing to the ball) Just walk that little doggy right down the lane!
Note: The justifier should always act as if what was said was exactly what she expected that
person to say. So she shouldn’t handle a particularly unexpected line by saying, “You’re crazy!” or
“That made no sense!” or “Are you drunk?”
The justifier is ultimately responsible for creating the narrative of the scene and should work to
make it as logical and interesting as it can be.
Encourage the non-justifying members to help out the justifier with their bodies. (Maybe at this
point, Player B responds by rolling his ball down the lane.)
Variation: Often he justifier will take a high status in this scene (play the boss or the Dad)
because it gives her more power and control in the scene. Try having the justifier intentionally
take on a low status role and try to lead the scene from behind.
Game: Questions
Players: Two
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Skills addressed: Creativity
How to play it: Two players start a scene using a suggestion from the audience. (Let’s say “Ice
Skating Rink”.) There are only two rules: 1) every line must be a question, and 2) lines cannot be
repeated. So it might go something like this:
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
A: Do you know how to do a spin?
B: Do you want me to show you?
A: Do you have time?
B: What time is it right now?
A: Did you lose your watch again?
B: Do you mind if I go to the car and see if I left it in there?
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Players can “lose” the game by 1) repeating a question that has already been asked, or 2) using
a statement instead of a question. The players should be trying to trick each other into answering
with a statement.
Note: The questions should move the scene along. Avoid vague, rhetorical questions that do no
do so. (For instance, answering the question “Do you know how to spin?” with “Do you?” or “Do
you like spinning?” or “Why do you want to know?”)
Encourage the players to use their bodies to communicate the story as well (lacing up the skates,
slipping on the ice).
Variation: Like other games we have described, this can be done as a head-to-head competition
with the two players representing opposing teams and points being awarded for a victory (after
which, two more players come up and compete.)
Game: Replay
Players: 2-3
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Skills addressed: Creativity, commitment
How to play it: The players create a one-minute scene based on a suggestion (say Starbucks).
There should be a lot of action, but the scene doesn’t need to be particular interesting. It should
be just a flat scene. For example:
Player A: Welcome to Starbucks. Can I get something started for you?
Player B: Could I get a seven-pump venti hot chocolate with whipped cream?
Player A: All right. And what’s your name?
Player B: David.
(Player A writes it on a cup.)
Etc.
The players are then given three different endowments to replay the scene in. Endowments could
be an emotion, a movie style, a book style, a musical style, etc. Let’s say your endowments are
1) in a hurry, 2) crime drama, and 3) romance. The respective scenes might start like this:
(In a hurry)
Player A: Welcome to Starbucks. State your order within the next two seconds and step aside for
the next customer.
Player B: Seven-pump venti HC whip. And step on it!
Player A: Name?
Player B: No cup. Just dump it directly into my mouth.
(Crime Drama)
Player A: Welcome to Starbucks, detective. We found this on the body.
Player B: (tastes it) Hot chocolate. The victim was lactose intolerant and couldn’t stand it.
Whoever did this knew him well.
(Romance)
Player A: Oh Isabel! My only love!
Player B: Johnny! Why, oh why are you working in this dreadful place?
Player A: Your father won’t let me ask for your hand until I can afford the ring! I figure I’m about
80,000 cappuccinos away from heaven!
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Note: The story should follow the same basic story arc as the original flat scene. If the third
person makes an entrance in the flat scene, she should do so in all of the scenes in a manner
befitting the endowment.
Game: Salesman
Players: Three
Degree of Difficulty: Difficult
Skills addressed: Creativity, commitment
How to play it: Get two suggestions from the audience: 1) a product or service, and 2) a group of
people. The three players then take turns trying to sell the product or service to that group of
people in a sales pitch. They have one minute to do so. Whoever does the best job is awarded a
point for her team. For example, if the suggestions were “Fire Insurance” and “Boy Scouts”, the
player might pitch thus:
“There is nothing like sitting around the campfire with your other scouts enjoying some smores.
But suppose the occasional splatter of molten marshmallow starts a conflagration? No one wants
a merit badge in arson. Are special fire insurance for boy scouts will protect you from pesky law
suits!” Etc.
Game: Trial of the Century
Players: 3
Degree of Difficulty: Difficult
Skills addressed: Listening, creativity, accepting offers
How to play it: Two players are assigned the roles of prosecutor and one the role of criminal. The
criminal is sent out of the room briefly so she cannot hear the crime she is being accused of. The
class suggests a three-part crime that isn’t really a crime. Maybe “drinking lemonade from a shoe
in Hawaii.”
The criminal is then brought into the room and interrogated in 30-to-60 second alternating
intervals by the two prosecutors. (The instructor lets them know when they must switch off.) The
prosecutors are trying to get the criminal to confess this specific crime through a process of
asking leading questions. For instance:
Prosecutor 1: So where did you plan on spending your next vacation?
Criminal: Mexico.
Prosecutor 1: That’s right. But they wouldn’t let you leave the states with your criminal record,
would they? So you had to go somewhere tropical that was located in the US.
Criminal: Hawaii.
(Instructor rings a bell to indicate this is one of the elements)
Prosecutor 1: Correct! You were in Hawaii, and it was pretty hot wasn’t it!
Criminal: Yes. Very hot.
Prosecutor 1: So you were…?
Criminal: Thirsty.
Prosecutor 1: Right!
Etc.
When all the elements are in place, the prosecutor yells: “Confess your crime!” and the criminal
attempts to put all of the elements together in a confession.
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson
Note: Encourage these students to take on different characters. Maybe one prosecutors is gruff
and very accusatory while another is very kind and a bit nerdy.
Variation: You can have three prosecutors, or you could have one prosecutor and one defense
attorney.
© 2015 Jon Wilkerson