Dry Cleaning Bag of Death
Dry Cleaning Bag of Death is a short-form challenge game in which performers draw slips of paper from a bag, each bearing an increasingly absurd or difficult performance task. Failure to complete the challenge results in theatrical elimination from the round. The randomness of the draw, combined with escalating difficulty, creates suspense and audience investment as the pool of players narrows.
Structure
Setup
Before the show, the host or stage manager prepares a bag of slips, each listing a distinct challenge. Challenges range from accessible tasks ("perform the scene in slow motion") to highly demanding ones ("perform the entire scene in one breath"). Players stand onstage.
Progression
The host draws a challenge from the bag and announces it. All remaining players must perform a short scene or sequence fulfilling that challenge. Players who cannot sustain the challenge or who break its rules are eliminated with theatrical ceremony -- a dramatic death, a slow exit, or an audience-assisted send-off.
The bag grows leaner as the game continues. Remaining slips are increasingly difficult because easier ones have already been drawn. Scenes are typically short, as the focus is on the challenge itself rather than sustained narrative.
Conclusion
The game ends when only one player remains, or when the bag is exhausted. The final survivor is celebrated as the winner.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Dry Cleaning Bag of Death trains commitment under constraint, rapid creative adaptation, and physical comedic precision. The elimination structure creates genuine stakes that raise the energy in both performers and audience.
How to Explain It
"You're going to pull tasks out of the bag and you have to do them -- no matter what. The audience decides if you sold it. If you didn't, you're gone."
Scaffolding
In rehearsal, the bag can be weighted toward accessible challenges to build the ensemble's confidence with constraint-based play before introducing harder tasks.
Common Pitfalls
The game loses momentum when scenes run long before a challenge is properly attempted. Coaches should remind performers that the game is about the challenge, not the scene. Performers who stop playing and start explaining their difficulty have already lost the round.
How to Perform It
Audience Intro
"Each of these performers will be drawing a challenge from the bag -- and if they can't meet it, they're out. The bag gets meaner as we go."
Cast Size
Minimum 4. Ideal 5 to 8. The pool needs to be large enough that elimination has stakes and the game has sufficient length.
Staging
Players stand in a loose line or cluster upstage. The bag is prominently displayed. Eliminations should be performed with physical comedy and theatrical commitment -- the more dramatic the exit, the better the game lands.
Wrap-Up Logic
The game ends naturally when one player survives all challenges. If time is short, the host can pull a dramatically difficult final challenge to force a rapid conclusion.
Worth Reading
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How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Dry Cleaning Bag of Death. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/dry-cleaning-bag-of-death
The Improv Archive. "Dry Cleaning Bag of Death." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/dry-cleaning-bag-of-death.
The Improv Archive. "Dry Cleaning Bag of Death." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/dry-cleaning-bag-of-death. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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