Planning a party with some good mates? Are you hanging with some witty fellows?
Bring out these improv party games to spice up some conversation, ruin friendships, or maybe find out what’s really inside those dark minds of yours. Some of these games require lying, story-telling, top-notch marketing skills for the dumbest inventions since the Sham-Wow, or even self-inflicted torture post-death.
You’re guaranteed a good, howling time! Find the best improv, acting, and comedy games below.
🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Improv Board Games
In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.
Fiasco
Players: 2–6
Playing Time: 15 Minutes
When I used to spill my tea, my grandma would shout that I created a “fiasco in the house”, but did you know that Fiasco is actually an Italian legend? He oversees the six suits of royalty, power, and wealth.
Try your luck playing a trick or two on him by building your suited cards of roses, horses, ancient carriages, and more. The more cards you have in your chosen suit, the higher your reward. Of course, with any trickster, comes a twist — playing high cards can risk a penalty from your opponents; sometimes it pays to play low.
Gloom
Players: 2–4
Playing Time: 60 Minutes
“And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.”
Micheal Andrews said it best, and it just so happens to be the point of Gloom. Your main objective in this card game is to suffer the most unbearable happenings until you die mangled and in pieces.
Play cards on your own character such as rabid flesh-eating mice attack, immeasurable debt, midget attack, and more! Try to lower your own self-worth and stay alive as long as possible all the while being sadistically tortured by life itself.
Bless your opponents with happy occurrences such as marriages and promotions to make them feel better about themselves; which in turn, makes them lose.
Aye, Dark Overlord
Players: 4–7
Playing Time: 30-60 Minutes
Another day at the evil office commences and your boss Rigor Mortis is not happy with you. You failed to complete His Evilnesses’ dark mission and now you must have a good reason for this failure.
Were you overpowered? No no, It was your opponents, surely!
Stand in front of the Dark Overlord and plead your case. “My companions dropped the weapons, sir!” “They were watching reruns of Friends!” You must out-lie and out-blame your co-conspirators to survive Rigor’s wrath.
Snake Oil
Players: 3–10
Playing Time: 20-30 Minutes
The Old Wild West was a place of shootouts, big dresses, and of course — the wackiest products. Every player will get to pitch their ideas to customers and try to sell out of their newest two-word inventions.
Players are given 6 cards to mix and match bizarre creations, have 30 seconds to sell to the consumer, and then the round continues onward. Will this be the start of your new e-commerce store specializing in Antelope Leotards?
Ex Libris
Players: 4-8
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
It’s your chance to make Charles Dickens proud! Test your writing capabilities by blending modern-day lingo to Old English literary classics.
A reader will choose a line from a novel, read it out loud, and then all players will channel their inner Jane Austen to compose a first/last line fitting the sentence. If your poetic writing is voted to be the real line of the passage, you score points!
As a reader, if nobody chooses the original line, you score! “To be or not to be, that is the burrito!”
Funemployed
Players: 3-20
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Times are hard, and everyone wants a job. Everyone receives cards with their job qualifications to which they must apply like crazy to land their dream position.
Reality meets fantasy as you can apply to be an astronaut, carpenter, or some outlandish positions such as panda speaker or dragon. It’s your job to convince everyone else that you are the most qualified person for the role, so market yourself like crazy and out-bid your opponents with crazy stories of past job experiences.
I am most qualified to be Han Solo because I work better alone.
Once Upon A Time
Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
“Once upon a time, there lived a princess…”
“…WHO WAS PART CRAB!”
“No, no, as I was saying, she was a beautiful princess because she—”
“HAD HEMORRHOIDS!”
“Because she had magical hair…”
In this story-telling game, one player operates as a story-master while all other players are trying to derail the narrative. Play out your set of cards and end with your happily ever after to secure a win, but it won’t be easy. Everyone wants to be the new storyteller, so you’ll have your fair share of interruptions.
Codenames
Players: 2-8
Playing Time: 15 Minutes
There are spies amongst us, clues to be revealed, and code words to prompt action responses. Play in teams to unravel where your agents are in the field by giving your crew verbal clues on placements.
Codenames begins with a 25-card grid all with different words. As a team leader, you know what color the cards are and where your victories and defeats lie. Enemy agents are littered in the grid and if revealed, can throw a wrench in your secret force.
Prompt your team accordingly to find all cards in your color to be the ultimate spy force and infiltrate the table.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Players: 3-10
Playing Time: 10 Minutes
Is that a full moon? The werewolves have come out to play and one is in your village.
Using deduction, lies, and schemes, villagers must out the hairy beast before it attacks your fellow villagers. Each player is given a character role: the feisty werewolf, an all-knowing seer, playful troublemaker, etc.
Since your character comes fresh with individual abilities, you will have to work together to find who is howling at the moon and who is trying to save your people. One Night Ultimate Werewolf plays out quickly, depending on the number of villagers to feast on, so you are promised laughs and new tactics.
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Rory’s Story Cubes
Players: 1-12
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
This game is multi-functional and can be applied as an improv game, writing challenge, talking prompts, and more!
Rory’s Story Cubes come equipped with nine different 6-sided dice images to trigger conversation in 54 total ways. Play it individually and make a story with all dice or use them as a medley where every player picks up a portion of the dialogue.
Introduce challenges like speed, humor, imagination, or themes to complicate the improvisation further. Some dice depict aliens, and some fish, so who knows what topics you will have to make up along the way?
Wrap-Up
We hope you enjoyed our list of the best improv board games! Get your act together and try some of these out! Have you played any of the games on this list? Drop a comment below! We’d love to hear from you.
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Lurking deep in the dungeon is an intermediate board gamer, testing her luck in Clank! When Jess isn’t writing about board games, she’s probably at a gaming cafe learning the ropes of a new game or savagely harvesting wheat in Catan. Her favorite types of games are deck-building, strategy table toppers, or social deduction thrillers like Werewolf. If you don’t see her after dark, you know why.