Keep your teammates on their toes with this rapidly changing verbal challenge.
The Basics
One player (typically the emcee or an opposing team member) serves as the caller. Throughout the action, they periodically announce random numbers that determine how many words must feature in each speaking player’s dialogue.
Example
The scene is set on the balcony of a cruise ship cabin. Players A and B take the stage and stare out onto the moonlight night.
Caller: “Start with 5.”
Player A: (holding their beloved close) “This night has been perfection.”
Player B: “Happy first wedding anniversary, darling.”
Player A: “The first of many anniversaries…”
There is an offstage knock on their cabin door.
Caller: “2”
Player B: (scurrying off) “Room service…”
Player A: (delighted) “You didn’t…”
Player B: (opening the door) “I did.”
Player C: “Your champagne…”
Caller: “8…”
The Focus
Play fearlessly and endeavor to honor the calls even if that means not quite making it to the end of your intended sentence!
Traps and Tips
1.) The basics. For the players: just like the similar game, Sentences (see here), it’s more than fine to visibly keep track of your words on your fingers; in fact, that adds to the fun and lets the audience see that you’re not approximating the target number. And, as with the aforementioned game, be careful not to interrupt other players mid-sentence if they’ve not reached the assigned number, strive to alternate speakers so that one character doesn’t talk multiple times in a row, and avoid counting syllables rather than words. For the caller: it’s kind to start generously and patiently with numbers that will allow the foundations of the scene to clearly emerge and take hold. Look for helpful story moments to alter the target – such as the arrival of the waiter – rather than surprising the company with the timing of your early calls. The numbers alone are sufficiently challenging!
2.) The next level. For the players: work against the temptation of sounding like an emotionless robot. This dynamic can tend to strip the dialogue of any performance value, so really imbue every word with depth and subtext. Avoid talking just for the sake of talking or because it feels like it’s your turn. The scene can still contain silences, and stage business, and physical action. If you think of the scene as purely a verbal dynamic, then that is what it will become. For the caller: as the team (hopefully) finds their stride, strategically introduce some appropriate mischief (noting, as always, that your real intention should be to push the scene to greater heights rather than to scuttle or overwhelm it). Look for helpful contrasts in your calls: it’s less exciting or helpful to move from 4 to 5, for instance, than from 4 to 14 (or 40, although you’ll want to use those big numbers sparingly as they, by design, well usually halt the action).
3.) The nuances. For the players: look for, elevate (and then, perhaps, upend) patterns and routines. If one character keeps running out of words before they’ve said their piece, look for ways to lean into that choice. If you use an odd turn of phrase by necessity, consider weaving similar choices back into the mix. (Recently, a teammate found himself using “Dad Dad” to refer to his father to fill out a number and then kept that delightfully in play for the duration of the game.) Honor what accidentally happens in order to obey the “rules” and make it important in a “no mistakes in improv” kind of way. For the caller: look for, elevate (and then, perhaps, upend) patterns and routines. If your calls tend to land when the same character is about to speak, consider making this a sub game if it’s serving and everyone is having fun. If someone – possibly the waiter in the above scenic snippet – hasn’t spoken much, look for a chance to give them an opus of a monologue. If players have soared (or hilariously struggled) to land a particular call, there might be untapped joy if you surprisingly announce that same number again…
4.) The addendum. For players and caller alike, just avoid recycling old discoveries or games out of habit rather than attacking the stage and uncovering (together) new, organic possibilities (as is a standard wisdom, frankly, for all improv games, but doubly so for those that rely on a recurring handle or gimmick). If you return to this game a lot, it can be difficult not to dance a similar dance as before but always look for the new move born from the moment. The illustrations above are intended to inspire rather than provide a set playlist of bits. So, while I once stumbled into the choice of calling a fraction, inviting the characters to speak half a word each, I don’t look to relive this every time I’m in the caller’s chair.
In performance
It’s also possible for the caller to offer unique numbers for each onstage persona: “Player A – 4; Player B – 9.” Or, to the same end, change different players at different moments, so Player A stays in 4 while Player B is cued to individually change to 9 and the rest of the onstage company retains their own prior number. A little of this variant can serve, especially as the scene nears the finish line, but overly complicated calling (in an already challenging game) can tend to just bog down the actors and confuse the audience who takes delight in counting alongside the team (and, subsequently, want to clearly know what number everyone needs). This adjustment also moves Word Ball further into Sentences territory (linked above), which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but this alternative more clearly and elegantly puts word counts up against each other, so I don’t see the innate value in dragging this format into that related territory.
For the warm-up exercise that goes by the same name, go here.
Cheers, David Charles.
www.improvdr.com
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Photo Credit: Olivia Skvarenina
© 2025 David Charles/ImprovDr
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