Improv Improv warm-up games
A warm-up is not a filler while the latecomers arrive. It decides what the group will be capable of for the next two hours: how loud they dare to be, how fast they say yes, whether they look at each other. These are the games we run first — most need no props, most work standing in a circle, and none of them requires anyone to be funny.
Big Booty
Everyone stands in a circle. A player gets designated as Big Booty. From him, each player gets a number, going clockwise from Big Booty (Player on his left is number 1) Before starting the game, everyone to call his number one by one, saying Number XX, one after another: - First player on the left of big booty says 'Number one' - The player on his left says 'Number two' And so on, and so on.. The objective of the game is to call each other, starting by saying your number, followed by the number of the person you are calling out Starting the game, everyone says in rhythm: "Big booty big booty big booty, oh yeah" Big booty starts and says his name and calls someone: Big booty - "Big Booty, Number 2" Player Number 2 - "Number 2, Number 7" Player Number 7 - "Number 7, Number 1" Player Number 1 - "Number 1, Big booty" (yes you can go back to Big booty) .. And so on and so on. But IF anyone screws it up, breaks the overall rhythm, everyone says "Oooooh shit", the player moves to the right of Big Booty, and becomes the last number of the group. Consequently, everyone who was on the left of the losing player now has a new number - (Always starting from 1 on the left of Big booty) When anyone has failed and moved to the last number, start again, 'Big booty big booty big booty, oh yeah'
Categories (Rubbing the goggle)
People stand in circle. A category is called out — breakfast cereals, French rivers, reasons to be late, colors, things you can say about you car but not your wife, etc. It can be anything Going around the circle on a steady beat, each player names one item that fits. Hesitate, repeat something already said, or break the rhythm, and the category resets to a new one: The circle reduces, everyone comes to the centre and says 'rubbing the google, rubbing the goggle, rubbing the goggle' (mime rubbing a globe with your hands) until anyone with a category idea says it, people go back in circle, and so on..
Crazy Eights
Everyone shakes out their right arm eight times counting aloud, then the left arm eight, right leg eight, left leg eight. Then four of each, then two, then one — the count speeding up as it shrinks — and it ends on a single shake and a group cheer. Ninety seconds, no thinking, whole body awake. It's the fastest way to move a group from sitting-and-tired to standing-and-ready, and the shared countdown and final shout knit everyone into one energy before the session proper begins.
Enemy & Defender
Each player silently picks two others: an "enemy" and a "defender", telling no one. On go, everyone moves at once, trying to keep their defender positioned between themselves and their enemy at all times. Since everyone's targets are secret and different, the room churns into constant, purposeful motion — then freeze and reveal the hidden web. Hidden pattern, visible chaos. It fills the space, raises the heart rate, and shakes off the outside day in a couple of minutes — while quietly training players to hold an intention while everything around them keeps changing.
Follow the Follower
Start in a circle mirroring one visible leader's slow movements. Then the leadership passes silently from person to person — no one announces it. Finally, nobody leads at all: everyone mirrors everyone, and the group moves as a single organism, changes rippling out with no source. It is the deepest group-mind builder there is. Players stop asking "whose turn is it" and start feeling the collective impulse — the same sense that lets an ensemble share focus and shift a scene together without a word.
Gibberish Circle
A player sends a short gibberish phrase — nonsense sounds, full of intention — around the circle. Each person repeats what they think they heard and transforms it a little as they pass it on, like a spoken game of telephone. Then split into pairs for short gibberish conversations, complete with emotion and meaning. Stripping away real words forces everything else to carry the scene: tone, face, body, rhythm. Players who hide behind clever dialogue discover how much they can express — and how much they can understand — with no vocabulary at all.
Group Counting (21)
The group counts to twenty-one, one number per person, in no fixed order and with no signals — no nods, no glances, no going round the circle. If two people say a number at the same time, the whole group starts again from one. Eyes down or closed makes it harder and purer. There is no trick, only attention. It trains a group to sense each other without looking — the shared awareness that lets a team edit a scene, start together, and end together. It's quiet, humbling, and unites a room fast.
Hot Spot
One player jumps into the centre and starts singing any song — made up or known — while the group backs them loudly. The instant they run dry, someone else tags in with a completely new song, and the first player melts back into the supporting circle. It never leaves a gap. It looks like a singing game but it's really a trust game. The lesson is to jump in before you're ready, and to sing loud so your teammate can escape. Nobody drowns because the group won't let them.
Kitty Wants a Corner
Players stand in spots around the space with one "kitty" in the middle. The kitty approaches someone and says "Kitty wants a corner" — that player replies "Ask my neighbour" and points them on — while, behind the kitty's back, everyone else is quietly swapping spots with each other. The kitty pounces on any spot left empty, and whoever's stranded becomes the new kitty. Pure playground energy, and sneakily useful: it trains peripheral awareness and silent group coordination. Players have to plan swaps with their eyes while keeping a straight face at the kitty — split attention, wrapped in fun.
Mind Melt
Two players count "1, 2, 3" and, on three, blurt a word at the same time — any two words, unrelated. Then they count again and each tries to say the word that sits "between" the two. Repeat, and the words drift together until, magically, both say the same one. Celebrate, and start fresh. It's the clearest drill there is for building a shared brain. Players learn to abandon their own clever idea and reach for the obvious common ground — which is exactly what makes two people agree on a scene.
Name Six
A ball or beanbag is passed around the circle while one player in the middle is given a category and must name six things in it — six vegetables, six film stars — before the ball completes its lap back to where it started. Beat the ball and you escape — get caught mid-list and you keep going or swap in. The ticking lap turns knowing into performing. It trains fast recall under real, visible pressure, and the whole circle roots for the person in the middle — so it builds group warmth as much as it builds quick thinking.
Pass the Clap
In a circle, you pass a single clap by clapping in unison with the person beside you — you both hit it at the exact same instant, then they turn to their other neighbour and pass it on. The clap travels around the ring, and the whole game is landing that shared beat together. Level 2: Players have the possibility to 'double the clap', instead of turning to the next improviser, player can clap again, and the direction changes.
Samurai
Players stand in a circle as sword-wielding warriors. One raises the sword overhead with a loud "HA!", then "strikes" toward another player with a second "HA!". That target raises their sword with a "HA!", and the two players on either side of them slash at their belly with a "HA!". The target then strikes someone new. Miss your cue, hesitate, or stay quiet, and you're out. It demands the three things beginners hold back: big voice, big body, and instant reaction. It's loud on purpose — it burns off nerves and gets a timid group committing fully within minutes.
Sound Ball
Throw an imaginary ball across the circle. As you throw, you make a sound — the catcher receives that exact sound with their body, then invents a new sound as they throw it on. The ball is never silent and never dropped. It does two jobs at once: it wakes up the voice and it trains real give-and-take. Catching the sound fully — matching its size and weight — is a listening exercise in disguise, and it primes the vocal freedom that scenes need.
Walk Stop Jump Clap
Players walk the space and obey four commands: walk, stop, jump, clap. Once the group has it, invert the meanings — now "walk" means stop and "stop" means walk, "jump" means clap and "clap" means jump. Add and swap pairs until brains are pleasantly scrambled. It's a focus reset and a listening drill in one. The forced re-mapping snaps players out of autopilot and into present-moment attention — the exact state a scene needs. It also fills the space and gets bodies moving without any pressure to perform.
Whoosh Bang Pow
An energy circle with three commands. "Whoosh" passes the energy to your neighbour. "Bang" blocks it and sends it back the other way. "Pow" throws it across the circle to anyone. The group keeps the energy alive and moving, reacting instantly to whatever comes at them. It's Zip Zap Zop with choices: now players have to decide, fast, and stay ready to receive from any direction. A superb wake-up that sharpens reaction and keeps everyone in the game.
Word Association Circle
Around the circle, each player instantly says the first word the previous word triggers. "Ocean" — "blue" — "sky" — "bird". No judging, no planning, no cleverness. Just the honest next thought, out loud, on the beat. It trains the single most important reflex in improv: saying the first thing without editing it. Players who learn to trust their instinct here stop censoring themselves in scenes — which is where all the freezing and over-thinking comes from.
Yes Let's!
Anyone shouts an idea — "Let's all paint a fence!" The whole group roars "YES, LET'S!" and does it, fully, together, until someone offers a new activity — "Let's all be seagulls!" — and everyone commits to that. No idea is refused, ever. It is the purest "yes, and" drill in existence, stripped down to its core: accept every offer, and throw your whole body behind it. Players feel, physically, how good it is to be agreed with — and carry that generosity straight into their scenes.
Zip Zap Zop
Stand in a circle. A player sends energy to someone with a sharp clap-and-point and "Zip". That person passes it on with "Zap", the next with "Zop", then back to "Zip" — always in that order. The energy flies around the ring, faster and faster. It's the first warm-up for a reason: it asks for nothing but eye contact, a clear gesture, and the nerve to commit out loud. Nobody has to be funny — they just have to be present and awake.