Project Ektelo

Part of a series on
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Acting Improv
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Amazing Sphinx · World's Worst
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Dating Game · Late to Work
Party Quirks · Press Conference
Chain Death Murder
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Auctioneer · Foreign Film Dubs
Sports Announcers · Subconscious
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1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 · New Choice
Perpetual Machine · Questions
Superheroes · What Are You Doing?
Player/Observer Games
Slideshow · Half-life
Other
Electric Shock · Project Ektelo

Mission Statement

The purpose of Project Ektelo (Ektelo meaning "perform" in Greek) is to create new and exciting Acting Improv games for future LAN sessions. Post your ideas below in rough format, then have others edit them to perfection. I hope to see your games at my next session!

Ideas for Games

Infomercial

One or more nonsensical items are chosen. Examples may include Sonic Screwdriver or Cement Shoes. The number of people playing should be 1 more then the number of items. 3 out of the 4 are given the items as infomercial topics. They must pretend they are in an infomercial and describe their product. When it is guessed, the guesser begins to advertise his or her item (if there are more guessers after them) to the next guesser. Gameplay continues until all items are guessed.

Max says, "This game is normally also played with callers. In this sense, it is similar to Party Quirks; however, unlike in Party Quirks, the actual infomercial people should be much more vague. With cement shoes, there should be little reference to the fact that they are shoes, or that they are cement. Only uses should be presented. The callers, then, can ask questions; these should make the item a lot more obvious."

Misunderstandings

This can be done in two ways, depending on the person. If it is a very perverted person, pick a phrase that sounds like it can ONLY be used for that one purpose and have the guesser try to figure out what it means normally. If it is a very conservative person, pick something sweet and innocent and make them guess the most perverted thought they can make up for it. Basically its a game of corruption and seeing what people simply cannot get.

Max says, "This sounds too much like Balderdash."

Props

Props game if someone wants to actually get props. (Box of props, you and your partner get one or two of the same one and you have to make up funny uses for it)

Max says, "AI is never done with official props; props are used at random by people who happen to be carrying things, like duct tape canes or hedgepi."

Hoe Down

This game requires a lot of skill, but when down well, it's amazing. 4 actors are given a topic to sing about. They must then go one at a time singing a verse about the aforementioned topic to the tune of a typical hoe down song. Only people like Jeff, Shea, Zeke and co. should attempt this.

Actually, this game would only require singing skill, which Zeke has none of. Shea, sadly, is a forevermore, and so is QB. It doesn't seem like a plausible game.

No, the real difficulty in this game is RHYMING improv--Jeff Sachs 17:43, 28 August 2006 (MST)

What are you doing?

This game requires a largish group of people. Everyone stands in a circle, with one person in the middle. The person in the middle starts acting out an action (e.g. brushing their hair, tying their shoes, etc.) Someone from the circle comes into the middle and asks the person who is already there what they are doing. The person responds by saying that they are doing an action completely different from what they are actually doing. The person can get disqualified if he/she:

• hesitates before responding
• says what he/she actually IS doing
• repeats something that was done earlier in the game

The second person then takes the place of the person who was in the middle in the beginning, then begns acting whatever the first person said the he/she was doing. If the first person did anything worthy of disqualification (listed above) he/she is out of the game. If he/she is not disqualified, he/she rejoins the circle. Game continues until there is only one person left.

I hope this all makes sense. If it doesn't, please tell me what you don't understand and I'll try to clarify.

Note: As of 08.2, this game has been played at Acting Improv, although not as an elimination game, but as more of a Park Bench-y type thing.

Lost in Translation

In my acting class at school, we played this game sort of like foreign film translator, except different: There are three people:

• One Foreign speaker
• One Moderator
• One Translator

The Moderator basically introduces the foreign speaker and chooses what he's going to say, for instance, "This is (random name) from (random place, usually made up) and he/she is going to tell us about (some random topic).

The moderator asks questions as does the audience, and the foreign speaker responds in gibberish, except with specific motions. When the translator translates, they have to add the movements into the translation. For instance, if someone asked what the mating habits of a moose are and the foreign speaker spun around and jumped up and down, the translator would have to incorporate that into their translation. "Moose dance like this when they want to attract the opposite gender."

It's a lot easier to explain in person and it's a lot of fun.

Song Titles

This game is directly from Who's Line is it Anyway?, and it requires a large amount of skill to play. It is similar to Questions Only, except that instead of speaking in questions, you must speak in song titles. An audience member will give a simple scene, i.e. two people meet at a party and begin flirting, and the conversation might go as follows:

Person 1: I am the Walrus! Person 2: Mrs. Robinson. Person 1: Blinded by the light! Person 2: Girl! Person 1: Walk This Way. Person 2: I'm Movin' On! Person 1: Where is the Love?

This goes on until one person can't think of anything to say, at which point they will return to the audience and choose the next person to take their place.

90 second alphabet

This is another one straight from "Whose Line is it Anyway?" In this game, 2 or 3 people must act out a scene. The audience calls out one letter, and each line must start with the following letter of the alphabet. For instance, if it started with 'E,' the scene would played out where the next line starts with 'F,' then 'G' and so on and so forth. The scene would end as the actors finish off with another 'E' line, or when they reach 90 seconds (as timed by stopwatch). This game might be played with a longer time limit, or in fact no time limit at all, in order to make it easier for the actors, and to make more people wish to play. Here is an excerpt from a professional playing: "Now, what are you going to do about my meal?" "Oh. Suddenly you want a free meal, is that what you're saying?" "Perhaps, that's what I'd like." "Que?"

Pecking Order

4 people, each is assigned a number 1-4.

The numbers correspond to their "status"

1 can order around everyone,

2 must obey a 1, but can order around a 3 or a 4,

3 can only order around a 4,

4 must follow everyone else's commands.

They are then given a scenario, and must settle it, blah, blah, blah.

It is possible for there to be two 1's, a 3 and a 4.

Trust me, it's a VERY funny game.

Atom Tableau

This theatre game is basically doing tableaus (frozen pose-for those who aren't in drama). Everyone can participate, and the basic gist is that there is one caller, and an infinite amount of Atoms (groups of people). For example, if the caller shouts 'Atom 5' then you must form groups of 5 and make a co-ordinated tableau. This continues until it gets boring.

However, there are some mutations, such as that when you form the tableaus you may not speak (so you have to mime gestures to your fellow group-mates to reach an agreement on what to do).

--Jeff Sachs 21:30, 22 February 2007 (MST)

What’s the question?

(A literal rip off of a section from mock the week, but it seemed like a good idea nonetheless)

The group agrees on an answer. It can be anything from a noun such as chicken wings to a number like 2000. Then people take turns going to the center of the circle and making a question that would fit the answer. More outrageous the better.

Example: The answer is 500 gallons what is the question?

Sample response: How much skl gets chugged at starcrash?