Repair Shop
Repair Shop is a scene game in which one performer plays a repair technician and a customer brings in an object with a problem that reveals something deeper about their life. The mundane setting grounds the comedy while the object's malfunction becomes a metaphor. The game rewards specificity in both the technical repair and the emotional subtext.
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A Simple, Practical, Powerful Method for Approaching Improvisation
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Experiential Learning Exercises to Train Employees
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Related Games
Complaints Department
Complaints Department is a scene game in which one performer staffs a customer service desk while others present increasingly unusual, impossible, or escalating grievances. The desk representative must take each complaint seriously, respond with bureaucratic procedure, and attempt to resolve or acknowledge each case, while the complaints become progressively more surreal.
Sinking Ship
Sinking Ship is a scene game in which performers improvise aboard a vessel that is gradually going down, forcing the characters to make decisions about what to save, whom to help, and how to behave under pressure. The ticking-clock premise provides built-in urgency. The game rewards character-driven comedy and the ability to find humor in high-stakes situations.
Disaster Movie
Disaster Movie is a scene game in which performers create a scene in the style of a Hollywood disaster film, complete with escalating catastrophe, heroic speeches, and stock character types. The genre's built-in heightening provides a strong comedic engine. The game rewards melodramatic commitment and ensemble coordination under imagined duress.
Dubbed Movie
Dubbed Movie is a scene game in which one set of performers provides the physical action while a separate group supplies all voices from offstage or from the side. The disconnect between bodies and voices generates comedy through mismatched timing, unexpected interpretations, and the challenge of physical performers having to commit fully to words they cannot predict. The game trains both physical storytelling and vocal responsiveness.
Crabtrees Conundrum
Crabtree's Conundrum is a scene game in which a character finds themselves in an escalating predicament that grows more absurd with each attempted solution. The game rewards the commitment to solving the problem within the scene's established rules, creating comedy through the gap between the character's sincere efforts and the compounding impossibility of their situation.
Continuing Emotions
Continuing Emotions is a scene game in which performers cycle through a series of emotional states at the direction of a caller. Each emotional shift must be justified within the scene's reality rather than simply displayed, with characters finding a reason to feel the new state given what has just happened. The game trains emotional range, commitment, and the ability to sustain scene logic through rapid change.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Repair Shop. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/repair-shop
The Improv Archive. "Repair Shop." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/repair-shop.
The Improv Archive. "Repair Shop." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/repair-shop. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.