Now You See Me
Now You See Me is a performance game in which one or more players must make themselves invisible to the scene while remaining onstage. The visible performers interact with the audience and each other while the hidden players find opportunities to affect the scene without being acknowledged. The game rewards stealth, timing, and creative physical choices.
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Film Dub
Film Dub is a performance game in which performers provide improvised dialogue over a silent film, foreign language clip, or muted video playing on a screen. The performers must match their dialogue to the on-screen actors' mouth movements and physical actions. The game rewards quick verbal invention and the ability to justify visual information in real time.
Mousetraps
Mousetraps is a slapstick performance game in which the stage is covered with spring-loaded mousetraps and two blindfolded performers must navigate the space barefoot while playing a scene. The anticipation of stepped-on traps and the performers' genuine reactions drive the comedy. The game is a spectacle piece that rewards physical bravery and the ability to stay in scene under duress.
The Gerbil
The Gerbil is a scene game in which one performer plays a character whose behavior is secretly being controlled or influenced by another performer through hidden signals. The controlled player must justify their involuntary actions within the scene's logic. The game creates comedy through the visible struggle between intention and compulsion.
Commercial Capers
Commercial Capers is a performance game in which players create spontaneous advertisements for fictional products, combining exaggerated sales tactics with improvised scenarios. The game builds confidence in public presentation and rewards creative collaboration under time pressure. It works well as both a workshop exercise and an audience-facing performance piece.
Ted Talks
Ted Talks is a short-form game in which a performer delivers an improvised presentation in the style of a TED Talk on an audience-suggested topic. Other players may provide slides, demonstrations, or audience participation. The game rewards confident public speaking, the ability to sound authoritative on any subject, and the comedic gap between expertise and ignorance.
Invisibility
Invisibility is a space work exercise and game in which one performer becomes invisible to the other characters in the scene. The invisible performer interacts with the environment and the other players, who cannot see them but must respond to the physical consequences of the invisible character's actions. The exercise trains object permanence, spatial consistency, and the discipline of honoring what has been established in the scene's physical world. It builds the ensemble's ability to maintain a shared reality that includes elements they cannot directly perceive.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Now You See Me. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/now-you-see-me
The Improv Archive. "Now You See Me." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/now-you-see-me.
The Improv Archive. "Now You See Me." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/now-you-see-me. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.