In this add-on improvisation game, party goers acquire the emotional state of the most recent guest to enter the party. Game Type: Improvisation Age Range: 10+ Number of Participants: 5-15 Materials: None, or, possibly, a deck of EMOTION CARDS Explanation: The host of a party and the guests acquire the emotional state of whoever enters the party. How to Play: 
  1. One person volunteers/is chosen as the host. The host begins with a neutral emotion.
  2. The first guest knocks or rings the bell (saying “knock-knock” or “ding-dong”), and enters in highly charged emotional state.
  3. As soon as the host picks up on the emotion, she “catches” it, and interacts with the guest.
  4. The next guest enters with a different emotion, and the host and guest “catch” it.
  5. Things get more chaotic as more guests enter, as each new guest causes a different emotion to permeate the party.
  6. Once the first guest has entered, the participants can interact with different people until they notice a change in the emotion, and then they must adapt that emotion.
  7. The participants should not watch the new guests for the emotional state, rather, they should let the emotion “travel” to them as it will.
Variation: Have two guests enter at the same time with different emotions. Tips: 
  • Emotions that work well with this exercise include: excitement, fear, anger, jealousy, joy, sadness.
  • If you haven’t done so previously, this might be a good time to discuss with the participants how to express negative emotions such as anger without violence: what verbal and physical things show anger (in performance) without hurting anyone in reality?
  • The participants will be really energized after this game, so plan accordingly to make use of it.
  • It’s useful to have a deck of emotion cards to use for this game; it removes the pressure of thinking of one and prevents repeats.