Improv Games: Exercises for Acting Classes, Groups and Rehearsals

Where improv games come from

Viola Spolin and the first theater games

Spolin was born in Chicago in 1906 and trained with Neva Boyd, a pioneer in using play for social work. From 1939 to 1941 she supervised drama for the WPA Recreational Project in Chicago, working with children and recent immigrants. There she built games that worked across very different backgrounds. In 1959 her son, Paul Sills, co-founded The Second City, and she ran its workshops. Her 1963 book, Improvisation for the Theater, collected more than 200 exercises, and her official biography calls her the creator of theater games.

Keith Johnstone, status and “yes, and”

Johnstone was born in England in 1933 and worked as a director and teacher at London’s Royal Court Theatre. In Impro (1979), he argues that status is something you do, not a rank you hold. He calls anything an actor does an offer. A block, on the other hand, is anything that stops the action or wipes out a partner’s idea. The book also describes “yes, and” as an accept-and-offer game. In 1977 he co-founded the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada, where Theatresports took shape. He died in 2023, and his official site lists the formats he created.

Augusto Boal’s games for actors and non-actors

Boal was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1931 and created the Theatre of the Oppressed. In it, anyone can use the stage to examine and change their own reality. Brazil’s military dictatorship jailed him in 1971, and his exile began in Argentina. His exercises fill Games for Actors and Non-Actors, and Colombian Hypnosis, one of the games below, comes from that book.

Warm-up improv games

Start here, in a circle, so nobody has to perform alone.

1. Zip Zap Zop

8 to 20 players, 5 to 10 minutes. It wakes up the group’s attention and energy.

1. Stand in a circle.
2. One player claps, points at someone and says “zip.”
3. That person points at someone else and says “zap,” and the next one says “zop.”
4. Keep the sequence going, a little faster every round.

If someone says the wrong word, the group cheers and keeps going, with no eliminations. Variation. Add “boing,” which bounces the energy back to the sender.

2. Count to Twenty

6 to 15 players, 5 minutes. It trains group listening and calms the room.

Looking at the floor, the group counts from one to twenty out loud. Each number comes from a single person, with no set order or signals. If two people speak at once, everyone starts over at one. At first, expect plenty of collisions, and that’s fine. Variation. Try it with eyes closed.

Listening and acceptance games

Here the focus shifts to your partner. The best-known game in this family, the mirror, already appears in Spolin’s book, and our guide to physical acting walks you through it.

3. Yes, And

Pairs or groups of four, 10 minutes. It shows the difference between shutting down an idea and building on it.

Give the group a mission, such as planning a surprise party for the chemistry teacher. In the first round, every line starts with “yes, but…”, and within two minutes the plan is dead. Then they replay it with “yes, and…”, accepting each idea and adding a detail. This time the party ends with a mariachi band, a pony and the teacher arriving by hot-air balloon. Variation. With kids, play “Yes, Let’s!” instead. Someone suggests an action, like swimming in pudding, and the whole group shouts “Yes, let’s!” and does it.

4. Colombian Hypnosis

Pairs, 10 minutes. It trains total attention on your partner.

One player holds a palm a few inches from their partner’s face. The partner, now “hypnotized,” keeps that same distance at all times. The hand rises, sinks and drifts away slowly, while the face follows with the whole body. Switch after three minutes, then ask how it felt to lead and to follow. Variation. One leader guides two partners, one per hand, a version Boal describes in his book.

Improv games for storytelling

5. One-Word Story

4 to 12 players, 10 minutes. It teaches you to give up control of the story.

In a circle, the group tells a story one word per person. Start with a simple title, such as “The Dog Who Wanted to Be a Firefighter.” Johnstone describes this game in Impro with one instruction: play it as fast as you can. That way, nobody has time to plan. Variation. In the same book, groups also write letters one word at a time.

6. Fortunately, Unfortunately

4 to 15 players, 10 minutes. It practices the plot twist, the engine of every story.

Someone opens with a situation, for example “Marcus won a trip to Japan.” The next person adds a line that starts with “unfortunately” (“Unfortunately, the plane left without him”). Then the next one starts with “fortunately,” and so on until the story ends. Variation. Two players narrate while two others act it out in silence.

Improv games for scenes and characters

This is where someone finally steps in front of the group. With a new class, send people up in pairs or threes, and give everyone a turn.

7. Where, Who, What

5 to 15 players, 15 minutes. It builds a whole scene without words, starting from a place.

One player enters and silently does something that shows where they are, like stacking fruit in a crate. When someone thinks they know the place, they join as another character with their own activity. Afterward, everyone says where they thought they were. The game comes from Spolin’s Where, Who and What exercises, and it trains character and setting, two of the elements of drama. Variation. Allow talking, but nobody can name the place.

8. Freeze (Freeze Tag)

6 to 20 players, 15 to 20 minutes. It makes players justify the unexpected and start scenes from the body.

1. Two players start a scene with lots of movement.
2. Someone watching yells “Freeze!” and both players stop in place.
3. That person taps one of them out, takes their exact position and starts a new scene.
4. The new scene grows out of the pose, so two raised arms can become a touchdown or a holdup.

Variation. Only the leader calls freeze and picks who steps in, so everyone gets a turn.

9. Questions Only

4 to 12 players, 10 to 15 minutes. It demands quick reflexes and real listening.

The group forms two lines, and the first player in each acts out a scene using only questions. Anyone who hesitates, makes a statement or repeats a question is out, and the next person in that line jumps in. You may know it from Whose Line Is It Anyway? Tom Stoppard also put it on stage in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where the two leads keep score like a tennis match. Variation. Add a place and a relationship, such as a mother and son at an airport.

10. The Expert

2 or 3 players, 5 minutes. It trains commitment to an idea, however absurd.

One player hosts a radio show and interviews another, the world’s leading expert on a topic the audience picks, like naps. The expert answers everything with total confidence and made-up facts, never hesitating or laughing. Variation. In Helping Hands, a second player stands behind the expert and slips their arms under the expert’s arms to gesture for them. The expert then has to justify every move.

11. Alphabet

2 players, 5 minutes. It mixes listening with mental agility.

The audience gives a letter and a location. The first line starts with that letter, and each line after it starts with the next one in the alphabet. In a hospital, starting from M, one player says “My whole body hurts, doctor,” and the other answers “Nurse, get this man a lollipop.” Sooner or later you hit Q, X and Z, which trip up everyone. Variation. Run the alphabet backward.

Status games

Johnstone noticed that in every exchange, someone goes up and someone goes down, even slightly. Holding eye contact and keeping your head still while you talk usually read as high status. Breaking eye contact and glancing back, fidgeting or opening with a short, nervous “er” lower it instead.

12. Status Cards

6 to 20 players, 15 minutes. It makes status visible and teaches you to read it in others.

Each player draws a card from a deck and holds it to their forehead, face out, without looking at it. Aces are low, while kings are high. Everyone mingles at a party and treats each person according to their card, so a king gets the best seat and a two eats alone. At the end, players line up by the number they think they have, and only then do they look.

Variation. Move on to master and servant scenes, which get a whole section in Johnstone’s Impro. The servant keeps the master on top at all times, then lowers the master’s status behind their back.

How to lead a class with improv games

Think of the class as a staircase. Circle games, where nobody stands out, sit at the bottom. At the top are games that leave one person alone in front of the group. A 90-minute class with a new group could run like this: Zip Zap Zop, Count to Twenty, Yes, And, One-Word Story, Freeze and Status Cards. If a script comes next, add a few minutes of vocal warm-ups first. Finally, close with a quick circle where each person shares what happened.

Explain each game in under a minute, then demo it with a volunteer. While people play, coach with short phrases, like “look at your partner” or “slow down,” without stopping the game. Spolin called this side coaching, and she meant it as a nudge, never an order.

You set the tone. Celebrate mistakes, ban mockery from day one and let anyone who doesn’t want to go up say “pass.” For students who freeze up, our guide to stage fright has practical tools. Also, ask before any game with physical contact, and give notes on the scene, never on the person.

Improv games for kids and for adults

With kids, keep explanations short and add movement. Freeze without eliminations and Yes, Let’s work especially well. In elimination games, players who are out can become judges instead of sitting around. Improv games for adults with no experience need more time in the circle before anyone performs alone. Once the group plays freely, the next step is a script, and these short plays make a good first one.

Common mistakes

The most common one is blocking. Someone says “Mom, I’m home,” and the other answers “I’m not your mom.” The scene collapses, because that line erased what the partner built. Accepting doesn’t mean your character has to agree, though. You can be a furious mother, but a mother.

Another is trying to be funny. Players who go for the joke break the scene to show off, so the group laughs once and then stops believing them. Laughs come on their own when the situation is specific and both players listen. The third is planning your line while your partner talks, which shows because your answer comes from a different conversation. As the leader, watch out for over-explaining and always picking the same volunteers.

Frequently asked questions

What are improv games?

They’re short exercises with simple rules and a clear goal, used to train actors and bring groups together. Viola Spolin turned them into a system in the mid-20th century.

What are the best improv games for beginners?

Circle games like Zip Zap Zop or Count to Twenty, because nobody has to perform alone. After that, One-Word Story is a gentle first step toward scene work.

Which improv games work for kids?

Games with movement and short rules. Spolin also wrote a handbook for teachers, Theater Games for the Classroom (1986). If a child wants to go beyond class, read our parent’s guide to getting your child into acting.

How many improv games should you play in one class?

Five to seven in a 90-minute class, warm-ups included. Playing one game until it clicks beats rushing through ten.

What’s the difference between theater games and improv?

The game is the tool, and improv is one of the things it trains. Many games end in an improvised scene, but improv is also a performance genre with its own shows, such as Theatresports. If you’re weighing formal training, our guide on whether you need acting school lays out the pros and cons.

Reviewed in October 2026.