Giants, Wizards and Gnomes

In this game, all your players are divided into two equal teams. Two lines should be drawn in the middle of the room creating a small buffer space between the two teams sides. Two lines should also be placed on wither side of the room marking the safe zones for each team. Each team secretly decide as a group whether to be Giants, Wizards or Gnomes. The teams meet at the buffer zone and on the count of three act out what they are. Giants put their hands up and growl, Wizards put their hands out and say magical sounding things, Gnomes make little horns with their pointer fingers and make gnome-like sounds. Giants beat gnomes, Gnomes beat Wizards and Wizards beat Giants. Whichever team is the winning team chases the other team as the loosing team races to get to their safe zone. If any of the loosing team is caught they must join the other side. Each team picks a new character and play continues.

Machine

One participant starts the game with a simple action and sound that they can repeat over and over. One at a time, the remaining participants add on to the first person with various parts of a machine all consisting of a sound and motion. The goal is to both be unique and work together as you operate your machine.

Groups

In this game the leader calls out a category such as favorite food, favorite color, shoe size, etc. The participants then walk around the room calling out their favorite color, favorite food, shoe size, or whatever fits in the chosen category and search for like minded people. When a player meets a person with the same answer as themselves they hook arms and continue searching for others like them till everyone has found their groups. This is a laid back way for large groups to find common denominators and get to know each other.

Refrigerator Dance

This game is targeted to the younger set, but is fun for anyone. One person plays music and stands facing away from everyone else while they dance like their favorite foods in a giant imaginary refrigerator. When that person stops the music and turns around everyone must freeze. Anyone who the leader catches moving pretends to eat that "food" (which eliminates that food from the game), shuts the fridge door and resumes the music.

Energy Ball

The participants stand in a circle and one person starts with the energy ball, an invisible energy force that can be transformed into anything. That person creates an object from the energy ball silently but clearly so that the other participants can tell what they are making. When that person finishes their creation, they may either smash it down and toss it to another person in the circle or pass the object as you would if it were real. The person who receives that object then creates a new object and play continues until everyone has had a turn. At the end everyone tries to guess what each person made.

Thirty-Ten-Thirty

In this game the leader gives the participants a scene to act out, usually one that involves some type of deadline such as getting ready to go to the movies or setting up for a party. The first time they are told that they have 30 minutes to complete the activity. The leader should only allow the scene to go for a couple minutes at most. The participants are then instructed to act out the scene again but as if they only have 10 minutes to complete the task. Again they should be stopped before the 10 minutes elapses. The participants then perform the scene a final time as if they only have 30 seconds.

Tagline

A certain number of actors are selected as the performers while every one else (or the audience) writes down various phrases on slips of paper. The slips are distributed among the performers and they begin improvising a scene. At various points throughout the scene, they must open their slips of paper and insert whatever is written on it as the next line of dialogue.

1,3,7

In this game there are three performers. One can only speak in seven word sentences, another may only speak in three word sentences and the final person may only speak one word at a time. They are given a scenario and begin improvising. Each person may speak whenever they like, but they must wait till one of the other two performers speak before speaking again themselves.

Ding (or Take That Back)

One at a time, participant begin improvising a monologue about anything they like. As they go along, the leader will ding a bell, or say "ding" or "beep" or make some previously specified noise at various points and the person who is improvising must got back and change their most recent statement. For example: " When I was little, I loved swimming and-" ding "I absolutely hated swimming . . . " and then they continue on with their story.

Morph

All the participants gather in a large circle. One person is selected to be the initiator. That person chooses a motion and a noise. The person to their right must then imitate that motion and noise as accurately as possible. This continues all the way around the circle until it returns to the initiator. The key is to imitate the person directly to your left. If they slightly change the motion or noise in any way, do your best to imitate the new change.

What Are You Doing?

The participants line up and the first person starts out by acting out an activity. The next person in line observes them for a moment and then asks, "what are you doing?" The person performing the action responds by stating they are doing any action other than what they are actually doing. The person who asked the question must then begin performing the new action while the first person leaves the stage. This continues until everyone has a chance to perform.

XWAYD?
Extreme What Are You Doing is a fun, but somewhat advanced variation on the game. In this version two letters of the alphabet are selected and responses may only consist of actions beginning with those letters, for example if the letters J and C were chosen, some actions might include Juicing Carrots, Jousting Cats or Jiggling Chameleons.

Tableau

Participants are divided into equal groups and the leader calls out a category such as Disney movies. Each group secretly selects an item from the category, such as Beauty and the Beast, and then must create a still picture, or tableau if you will, representing their selection. It can be one scene, multiple scenes by different individuals, iconic characters or anything creative that the group thinks will make their selection clear to everyone else. The groups present their tableaus one by one while all the other groups try to guess what they represent. Other category ideas include states, cities, sports teams and forms of entertainment.

Line Up

In this game a certain criteria is stated and the participants must line up in the correct order. Some ideas include by birth date, by height or by shoe size. A fun variation is to have everyone perform the task completely silently.

Mask Game

In this game a mask or some type of object that can be used to cover the players faces needs to be used. Each player takes a turn putting on the mask. The leader assigns them a character or emotion and they must express it as effectively as possible without the benefit of the audience being able to see their facial expressions. This game helps students explore how different parts of their body would express certain emotions or characters apart from their face.

Pillars

Two people are selected to be the pillars and are instructed to sit on either side of the stage. Two actors then begin improving a scene and at various points throughout tap their "pillar". Whenever one of the pillars is tapped they must say whatever word they are thinking of and the actor who tapped them must use that word in the sentence at the point they tapped their pillar. The pillars basically provide fill-in-the-blanks for the actors whenever a pillar is tapped.

Freeze

In this game two individuals begin acting out a scene, any scene, while the other actors watch. Whenever inspiration strikes, one of the observers says "freeze!" The two actors freeze in whatever position they were in and the person who said freeze taps one of the frozen actors. The tapped actor leaves and the new actor assumes the exact position of the person who was tapped. The new actor then initiates an entirely new scene from their frozen position.

Hard to Say

The purpose of this exercise is to explore how to say lines that are usually more difficult to deliver authentically or that aren't familiar to a person's daily existence. The leader chooses a situation, such as a guy or girl confessing their love to their secret crush or a doctor informing a family that their child died in the operating room. The participants then walk around the room and choose inanimate objects to interact with as they play out the scenario until the leader changes the line or scene in which they are existing.

Dickerson Duo

One person at a time is given two different characters and a scenario for the characters to exist in, such as a boy who is asking his grandfather for a Popsicle. The one actor then performs the scene as both characters creating clear differences between each person.

Hollywood Director

One participant is the director while one or more of the other participants are the actors auditioning for a role. The director asks each person "auditioning" to perform a particular scenario such as burning your Thanksgiving turkey. The director may then alter the scene slightly and have the actor perform it again, ie: burning your thanksgiving turkey while talking to your mother-in-law on the phone. The purpose of the game is to allow students the chance to express their creativity as both a leader and follower.

One Line, Three Ways

Each participant either chooses or is given a simple line of dialogue which they then perform three different ways. One example might be "Is this my coffee?" performed first in surprise, and then in disgust and then suspiciously.

Face Off

All the participants stand in a circle and turn their backs towards the center. The leader calls out a scenario (ie. Finding your lost dog) and on the count of three everyone faces towards the center of the circle in a pose representing the reaction they would experience. Everyone takes a few moments while frozen to look at the other reactions around the circle and when prompted by the leader returns to a neutral stance and turns their back to the circle again.

H&R Block

The Participants in this game take turns getting up and silently acting out a possible career choice. The may range from the obvious (a doctor) to the obscure (the man who measures and records pitching speeds at MLB games).

Screeming Viking

The goal of the game is not be in the middle at the end of the game. The person in the middle points at a person seated in the circle and then screams, “Screaming Viking! (or one of the other formations described below). One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!” While the person is counting, the person who was selected and the people directly to the left and right must form a “Screaming Viking” formation, described below.

If any of the three people (the person selected and the people to the left and right of that person) do not correctly respond in time (before the count to 10 is up) then whoever messes up must go into the middle. The appropriate response can be one of the following:

1. Screaming Viking: each person to the left and right of the selected person must make a rowing motion outwardly to the sides, while the person in the middle must place his or her fingers to the sides of his/her head with index finger pointed upwards, like horns. All three people must scream loudly.

2. Smurfs: the 3 of them interlock arms and sing the smurf song, “La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.”

3. Chia Pet: the three of them must act as a growing chia pet with hands lifting upwards. The 3 of them must shoud, “Ch-ch-ch-chia…”

4. Jello: the person in the center wobbles like jello, while each person to the side holds their arms out, forming a bowl.

5. Elephant: the person in the center uses their arm as a trunk and makes the sound of an elephant while the people on either side create elephant ears with their arms.

6. Angles: the people on either side of the person in the middle stand with their backs to the center person and they all hold their hands in prayer and sing angelically.

You can make up other appropriate responses — the sillier the better! The more enthusiastic and wacky you are, the more entertaining the game.

Honey, If You Love Me, Won't You Please, Please Smile

All the players stand in a circle and one by one approach any other player in the circle. They say the phrase "Honey, if you love me, won't you please, please smile?!" Their goal is to get the person they are talking to to laugh or smile. If they accomplish the goal, the person who smiled is out. If about 30 seconds go by and it is clear the person isn't cracking, the person who did the begging returns to their place in the circle and it is the next person's turn. The person begging may use any tactic they desire to illicit a response from their target, but they MAY NOT touch the person AT ALL!

Ninja

In this game, players stand in a circle. Play starts with all the participants bowing towards the center of the circle as if they were ninjas and then assuming a ninja pose. Starting with the youngest and then going around the circle to the left, each player has one move to try and slap another players hand. The player being attacked may move their hand in defense. If the attacking ninja misses the hand they were trying to hit or hits any other part of the body, they must remain in whatever position they end up in until their next turn or until someone tries to attack their hand. Once a player's hand is hit, they are out and the remaining players bow and begin a new game. This continues till only two ninjas are left. They battle it out and whoever survives wins. The faster you are and the more ninja sounds you make the better!

Egg to Superhero

This game is like a large scale rock, paper, scissors tournament. Every participant starts out as an egg with their hands above their head peeping like a chick. When they encounter a fellow egg they play rock, paper, scissors. The winner gets upgraded to a chicken and begins flapping their wings and clucking around the room while the looser remains an egg. The same scenario plays out when two chickens meet, except the winner now become a dinosaur. When two dinosaurs battle it out with rock, paper, scissors, the winner becomes a robot. When two robots battle the winner becomes a superhero and when two superheroes battle the winner moves out of the playing field. The winners are the first superhero out and the remaining players stuck in each level of the game when everything is done.

1 to 30

The leader chooses an emotion before the game begins and shares it with the group. The participants then stand in a circle and one by one count to 30. the numbers 1 to 30 represent the level of the selected emotion. The person who starts with 1 should show the very lowest end of the emotion while the person who says 30 should express the absolute extreme of the emotion.

Props

An object or prop is chosen. Members from the group take turns approaching the prop and interacting with it as anything but what it really is.

Walk Around the Room

Players walk around the room either as different characters as directed by their leader (ie. the leader instructs everyone to walk around like old men) or in different environments (ie. the leader instructs everyone to walk around as if the room were filled with jello). The purpose of the game is to explore your imagination in a group setting.

Walk In a Circle:
This is a slight variation on the game where the leader stands in the middle while the participants circle around him or her. This provides a bit more structure and allows the leader to better observe what is going on. The leader may choose to be even more specific in their instructions by offering such motive for movement as: a teacher who has to do a lesson on mice but is deathly afraid of them and is trying to figure what to do as she walks to her classroom.

Is There a Ghost Behind Me?

The facilitator chooses one or more participants to be ghosts (depending on the amount of participants and how quickly the game needs to go) while all the remaining players spread out around the room and close their eyes. The ghost, or ghosts, quietly creep around the room and try to stand behind the players with their eyes closed without being detected. Once they have chosen a "victim" they must stand within arms reach of them, the facilitator counts to five with their fingers so no one can hear and the ghosts tap their "victims" on the shoulder. That person is dead and must sit down. If a player with their eyes closed suspects that a ghost is standing behind them, they may ask "Is there a ghost behind me?" The facilitator informs them if there is or not and if they are right the ghost sits down and they become the new ghost. If they are wrong they sit down and are out. The game continues till only one person is left.

Cross the Room

Players divide between two opposite sides of the room evenly, or at least almost. The teacher/leader begins every statement with "Cross the room if . . ." and then fills in the blank with anything that may be true about the participants. Examples may include "your favorite color is blue", "you are an only child" or "you have been to Florida". Game continues for as long as the leader desires. An additional twist that can be added is that not only must players cross the room if a statement applies to them, but they must cross in the style specified by the leader, such as, "Cross the room like a robot if your favorite food is spinach".

Zip, Zap, Zop

This is a Saltworks classic. In this game, the players stand in a circle. One person begins by saying "Zip!" and performing a shooting gesture towards another player in the circle with their hand while establishing eye contact with them. The person who recieved the zip then performs the same action to a new player but says "Zap!". That player again repeats the action but says "Zop!" This continues until a person takes to long, is unclear in their passing of the zip, zap or zop, or says the wrong word. That person is either eliminated or the entire group cries "Moo!" and play begins again.