Sportz Center
Sportz Center is a short-form game in which performers play sports broadcasters providing commentary on an event that is being acted out by other players. The commentators must describe, analyze, and provide color for the improvised action as it unfolds. The game rewards quick wit, strong voice-of-authority work, and the ability to heighten the mundane into the epic.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Acting Through Improv
Improv Through Theatresports
Lynda Belt; Rebecca Stockley
Business Improv
Experiential Learning Exercises to Train Employees
Val Gee
Group Improvisation
The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games
Peter Campbell Gwinn; Charna Halpern
The Playbook
Improv Games for Performers
William Hall
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
Pirate Robot Ninja
An Improv Fable
Billy Merritt; Will Hines
Related Games
Household Olympics
Household Olympics is a short-form game in which performers compete in improvised sporting events using ordinary household objects -- a spatula javelin, a sponge shot put, a toilet plunger hammer throw. A commentator narrates the action in the style of a sports broadcast, providing color commentary on technique, history, and drama. The juxtaposition of athletic gravitas with mundane domestic objects creates the game's comedy. The game rewards committed physicality and the commentator's verbal creativity and commitment to the sport's reality.
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.
TV News
TV News is a short-form game in which performers play television news anchors, correspondents, and reporters covering improvised breaking stories. Other players act out the reported events in real time. The game rewards confident anchor personas, quick-witted field reporting, and the comic contrast between journalistic seriousness and absurd content.
Newsreader
Newsreader is a short-form game in which one performer plays a television news anchor delivering headlines while other players act out the reported stories in real time behind or beside them. The anchor may be unaware of the physical comedy happening nearby, or may react to it. The game rewards deadpan delivery, strong physicality, and the comic contrast between formal reporting and chaotic action.
Famous Last Words
Famous Last Words is a short-form game in which performers deliver dramatic or comedic final statements in response to various scenarios provided by the audience or host. Each performer must produce a distinct, character-specific statement appropriate to the conditions of their fictional demise or farewell. The game rewards invention, quick character establishment, and the ability to find the specific, surprising last thing a particular person would say.
Three Headed Expert
Three Headed Expert is a short-form game in which three performers stand side by side and answer questions as a single expert, each speaking one word at a time to form coherent sentences. The audience suggests the expert's field of expertise. The game demands extreme listening and rewards the ability to follow collective sentence construction without steering.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Sportz Center. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/sportz-center
The Improv Archive. "Sportz Center." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/sportz-center.
The Improv Archive. "Sportz Center." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/sportz-center. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.