Time Jump
Time Jump is a scene game in which a host calls out jumps forward or backward in time during a scene, forcing performers to show how their characters and situations change across years, decades, or centuries. The game rewards consistent character development and the ability to quickly physicalize the effects of time's passage.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
Acting Through Improv
Improv Through Theatresports
Lynda Belt; Rebecca Stockley
Improvisation
Use What You Know, Make Up What You Don't
Brad Newton
Group Improvisation
The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games
Peter Campbell Gwinn; Charna Halpern
Pirate Robot Ninja
An Improv Fable
Billy Merritt; Will Hines
Business Improv
Experiential Learning Exercises to Train Employees
Val Gee
Related Games
Fast Forward
Fast Forward is a scene game in which a caller can jump the scene forward in time, skipping past slow moments to the next point of dramatic interest. Performers must instantly establish the new time frame through changed behavior, dialogue, and physical context. The game trains temporal agility and the ability to communicate the passage of time.
Timeline
Timeline is a scene game in which performers play scenes from different moments across a character's or community's history, jumping forward and backward in time to reveal how past events connect to later ones. The game rewards strong narrative tracking and the ability to find surprising causal or thematic links between scenes separated by years or generations.
Through the Ages
Through the Ages is a scene game in which performers play the same characters at different stages of their lives, moving between childhood, adulthood, and old age in a single game. Each time period reveals a different facet of the relationship and character, while the performers must sustain recognizable through-lines of personality and connection across the jumps. The game rewards character consistency across age and the ability to find both comedy and pathos in the passage of time.
Genre Rollercoaster
Genre Rollercoaster is a scene game in which the performance style shifts rapidly between genres at the host's command. A scene might move from western to soap opera to sci-fi within minutes. The game demands instant genre recognition and the flexibility to transform a scene's entire aesthetic without losing its content.
Rewrite History
Rewrite History is a scene game in which performers improvise alternative versions of famous historical events, exploring what might have happened if key decisions had gone differently. The audience suggests the historical moment to reimagine. The game rewards knowledge of history, confident commitment to absurd premises, and the ability to find comedy in consequential moments.
Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors is a scene game in which the audience sees only the moments before characters enter and after they exit a room, never what happens inside. Players must convey dramatic events through their changed demeanor, dialogue, and physical state upon emerging. The game trains performers to communicate offstage action through behavior.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Time Jump. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/time-jump
The Improv Archive. "Time Jump." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/time-jump.
The Improv Archive. "Time Jump." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/time-jump. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.