Line games are a genre of improv exercise that involve players quickly creating punchlines to short jokes. It epitomizes the ‘one-liner’ you often see in media.
Simple game = quick fun.
There are tons of formats for line games. One favorite is: Back in my day…
Goal
Work on quick-thinking to rationalize your punchline
What
One player will pick a word for the group to begin.
You can also use a random word generator.
Anyone can begin by saying: “Back in my day, we didn’t have [word], instead we [punchline].
Note: Players can go in any order! Be courteous of others.
Take turns making punchlines until you have exhausted the word. Then you can pick a new ‘subject’ word and play again.
Stop whenever you want! Improv games tend to have flexible rules.
Example
Let’s say our word is: apartment buildings.
“Back in my day, we didn’t have apartment buildings, instead we built small huts out of sticks.”
The above is a pretty one-to-one replacement for apartments. You can also go wild with creative replacements:
“Back in my day, we didn’t have apartment buildings — we only had sprawling estates. It was a lot more space but cleaning the entire mansion was horrid.”
Appropriate for
✅ Casual settings — you want people laughing and comfortable together
🕰 Time to play
5-15 minutes
👨👩👦 Group size
Best for: 2 to 8 people
Try playing this game at the office, with a few work-related subjects — Back in my day, we didn’t have Zoom. In fact, we didn’t have any meetings and life was perfect!
Joyous Friday to you and yours,
Tyler