2003 AI Olympics IMPROV 101
Gather your wands and wits about you, it’s time for…
Improv 101:
The ability to think fast and creatively has saved many a wizard’s life and
is considered to be a cornerstone of the curriculum at Hogwarts.
How It Will Work:
The event will consist of three different improv
games (see details below). There should be a minimum of five people from each house
represented, though the games chosen allow for as many more participants as
show up to play. Please remember that the bottom line is to come and have fun.
Don’t worry about making a fool of yourself in front of your compatriots…
that’s the whole point! The games selected are relatively easy and I have given
you the rules ahead of time so you can familiarize yourself with them and
prepare yourself and your team… as much as anyone can "prepare" for improv.
NOTE: In the descriptions below I offer "tips" on how to make the
games more interesting. These are NOT requirements, but things that may help
you. Do not look at the examples given and think that I will expect you to come
up with brilliant, detailed ideas on the spot. Look at the tips, use them to
help you mentally prepare for the games, then toss them aside and enjoy
yourself.
How It Will Be Scored:
Points will be given based almost exclusively on participation. The scoring system for each game is included with the descriptions of the games below. Other ways to earn points are as follows:
House T-shirts: A bonus point will be given to each person who wears their team t-shirt. Why? One, to show your house pride, and two, because it makes it easier for the judge to figure out who’s on what team and award points accordingly.
Audience Participation: A good improv game requires a good audience. Therefore, one point will awarded to each person who comes to watch, but (for whatever reason) doesn’t want to play.
Ministries will be ranked by the number of total points accumulated by the end of all three games. The team with the most points, wins!
Questions? Comments? Feel free to email me or stop by my office.
Jessica Strong, strong@mit.edu, office 431 (yes, there are AI people on the 4th floor)
GAME 1:
Machine is usually used as a warm-up game. It’s purpose is to help loosen people up, get them used to doing silly things in front of a large group, and TO HAVE FUN!!!
How to Play: Each house is welcome to send as many representatives as they would like, with the minimum being five. The game begins with one person on stage who starts making one movement accompanied by one sound. They will then have to repeat this movement and sound throughout the rest of the game, as if they were a cog in a machine and their chosen movement and sound were their sole function in the machine.
Ex: Picture one person getting up and making a punching motion with their left arm, while repeating "Bleeeeeep…bleeeeeep… bleeeeep."
Once the movement and noise of the first person is established, a second person from their team gets up and adds their own movement and noise to the machine. This cycle repeats itself until all participating members of one team are up there. The idea is to make a machine out of humans (as opposed to making a human out of machines :o).
Scoring: One point will be awarded for each person who participates.
Tip: Use your whole body—lay down on the floor, kick your legs, squat, don’t just limit yourself to linear upper-body movements.
GAME TWO:
WIZARD’S DUEL (AKA: WHAT ARE YOU
DOING?)
This game is best explained in story form.
Let’s meet our competitors:
Christine "You’re in MY World Wide Web now, suckah" Alvarado
Height: 5’ 6"
House: Gryffindor
VERSUS:
Mike "Don’t Make Me Pull This Thing Over" Oltmans
Height: 6"
House: Hufflepuff
So, Christine stands up on one side of the stage and Mike stands up on the other. Christine sizes Mike up and pointedly asks, "Mike, what are you doing?"
Mike grins and says, "I’m having a snowball fight."
Mike is clearly NOT having a snowball fight, but because he said he was, Christine now has to pretend that SHE’S in the middle of a snowball fight. But, don’t you worry, Mike’s about to get his come-uppence-- now he has to ask, "Christine, what are you doing?"
Well, it should be obvious to the audience that Christine is making, throwing, and dodging snowballs, but she says "Trying to catch a fly with chopsticks while standing on one foot."
Mike narrows his eyes at Christine, but lifts one foot and begins diligently attempting to catch imaginary flies with his imaginary chopsticks. Just as he’s really getting into this, Christine again asks, "Mike, what are you doing?"
An inquisitive one, that Christine, thinks Mike. This will teach
her to ask nosy questions.
"Chasing squirrels in the park, but… I keep tripping over my own feet," he replies.
Sooooo, that’s the way he wants it, muses Christine as she begins chasing her imaginary furry foes, only to trip over her own feet seconds later.
At Mike’s next rather snide-sounding, "What are you doing?," Christine responds with a crushing, "Wresting a crocodile… with my eyes closed."
Mike makes a quick mental note to "accidentally" delete all of Christine’s files next time she leaves the office without logging herself out, then sets about wrestling a crocodile, eyes wide shut.
Christine, quite out of breath from chasing squirrels and tripping, again asks Mike what he’s doing, but… Mike can’t come up with an answer before the judge (a rather fair and decent girl named Jessica Strong) hits the buzzer, indicating that 5 or more seconds have passed since Christine made her last inquiry.
Mike slinks off the stage, defeated, but with a mind bent on revenge. Meanwhile, Christine readies herself to do battle with the next person in line… the dreaded Mark A. Foltz. I think we all know how this one ends, so we’ll stop here.
Scoring: One point will be awarded to each person that participates. And one point is given for each round won.
Ex: In the above scenario, Christine would have earned two points for Gryffindor (one for participating, one for outlasting Mike) and Mike would have received one point for the Hufflepuff (for participating).
Tips:
- Think "Action": You can’t WATCH someone think… well, you can, but there’s not necessarily a lot of action involved and, really, you’re letting your opponent off easy if they just have to pretend to think. Further more, watching someone just "trying to find an address" is fine, but it doesn’t give the other person much to work with. Watching someone "trying to find the correct address of a building while JUMPING ROPE," is better.
- Think "How can I make this more specific or complicated?": Watching someone "solve a really difficult math problem," is good, but what if it was for an oral exam? And what if the chalk kept slipping out of their hand? Or if a hive of bees were released into the room?
- Think "Beginning to End": In the above example, instead of just starting out acting like your writing out a long complicated formula while a whole bunch of bees swirl around you, start with writing the formula and noticing one bee… then two… the sixty… BUT you HAVE to try and finish this problem and make a good impression on those giving the exam.
GAME THREE:
HITCHHIKER
How to Play: The game begins with three people in a car represented by four chairs. Looking at the diagram below, the diver is in the first chair and the passengers are in seats two and three. They are driving along, until they see a hitchhiker on the side of the road (in this case, the stage). They stop to pick up the hitchhiker, but… here’s the catch… the hitchhiker has some sort of character trait or theme. It’s up to the hitchhiker to act out their chosen quirk and it’s up to the rest of the people in the car to figure out what it is and join in.
Ex: The hitchhiker could be a member of the Italian Mafia or a 1960’s flower child. These are two rather fun, but tame choices. The quirk can be something like their right arm is possessed and they have to keep it from attacking themselves and the rest of the people in the car. Or they can hop into the car and start attempting to catch flies with their tongues and making ribbit sounds indicating that they are a frog. It’s up to the hitchhiker to be as creative as they want to be.
Once everyone in the car has caught on and joined in, then it’s time to pick up a new hitchhiker. When they do, everyone in the car rotates their position according to the diagram below and the person playing the driver rotates out.
1-Driver, 2-Passenger, 3-Passenger, 4- Hitchhiker
NOTE: Entering hitchhikers need to enter with a unique trait or theme… which naturally begs the question, "What if someone else already used my idea?" Well… tough. Come up with a new one. You are being given the rules in advance, so it would probably be to your advantage to think up several before you come in on Saturday if you are worried that you won’t be able to think of something on the spot.
NOTE 2: okay if the people in the car slightly misinterpret what the hitchhiker is doing as long as what they’re doing is reasonably related. I.E. They may pretend to be a cow and the other people in the car, instead of also acting like cows, they act like other barnyard animals.
Scoring: One point will be awarded to each person each time they are in the car. This means people can go more than once, but they need to wait until everyone who wants to participate has had the chance to go up.
2003 AI Olympics IMPROV 101 Commissioner: Jessica Strong <strong@mit.edu>