Here at Underscore Games, we're fans of improv, so much so that we made a game about it. Whether it’s watching programs like Make Some Noise or playing improv games with friends like Talking Points (Jackbox Games), improv gives you endless ways to find something new to laugh about with your friends.
Games like Cards Against Humanity are fun to play with friends, but eventually, everyone begins to remember the same old cards, and they either need to buy new expansions or the group gets tired of seeing the same old jokes.
For Cubicle, we avoided that issue and leaned into the power of improv and the simplicity of party game rules with one goal: make a game that players can learn fast and won’t get tired of. To do this, we looked at several games in the genre and came up with a few that gave us some great lessons on what makes an improv game tick.
1. Witty Debating and Arguing
Superfight is a game about arguing. It’s the classic tale of mashing together two action figures when you were a kid with your friends and fighting about who came out on top. Incidentally, adults also love to argue about it on X (formerly Twitter). While a lot of people shy away from arguments in general, it’s a great way of learning to think on your feet, especially when the stakes of an argument are as low as which fictional character would beat another (or if a hot dog is a sandwich if you want a fistfight).
Superfight uses a power/weakness system as its primary method of humor, giving superheroes ridiculous powers like shooting bees from their mouth or allowing you to kneecap competitors with ridiculous situations like being only 6 inches tall or being unable to stop crying. It still relies on the gag humor of games like Cards Against Humanity, but it allows players to add their spin and fight through their opponents’ weakness cards. With Cubicle, we wanted to make the argument and competitive improv our primary focus, and Cubicle's review system also reflects that with Superfight's battle system. While we don’t focus on building your avatar to fight for you like Superfight, we love the idea of competitive improv as a baseline.
Cubicle features competition with short prompts in our Excuses, allowing you to stack them together or stand alone when battling it out to determine which Employee is in the wrong. In many situations, classic excuses like Pet Emergency or Food Poisoning allow for good ways to set out cleanly into an argument. We also realize that often, the most fun comes in improv performances when the situation is completely derailed, and everyone has to reorient the scene, so cards like Cadaver Tissue and Rascally Raccoon allow you to throw a wrench in your opponent’s plans. Similarly, Cubicle's Review prompts have a variety of setups, ranging from mundane situations like Office Pranks to more ridiculous complaints of Rancid Vibes.
2. Creative Presentation Improv
Talking Points is a love-or-hate game in the Jackbox collection. Seeing the faces of betrayal or the lightbulbs activating whenever a presenter moves between slides and discovers what their partner has stuck them with. Talking Points takes a more active role in cooperation, forcing a nonverbal alliance between two players so that they both can reap a shared reward. It's up to each team to get on the same page and deal with the random prompts thrown at them by the presentation system.
PowerPoint presentation parties are popular pastimes with friends outside the game, talking about obscure or hilarious topics like in Dropout’s Smartypants. Patently Stupid is another example, taking prompts and turning them into ridiculous inventions to pitch to your friends.
For Cubicle, we wanted the opportunity not just to duel but also to have time and get creative with wacky ideas or compete in other improv games, eventually leading to the creation of our Team Building activities. A range of team-building activities require you (and sometimes a partner) to create short presentations on anything from a letter of resignation to a show-and-tell session.
3. Unique and Challenging Activities
While there are some presentations, you might engage in games like Supervisor Says and Office Karaoke. Some activities, like drawing a new Cubicle logo, involve using other mediums to make your friends laugh. Games like Throw Throw Burrito and Twister (now X) use physical shenanigans to excite everyone. When making Cubicle, we thought creating physical experiences and competitions like the Office Olympics event inspired by The Office would provide an excellent break to Cubicle's mostly sit-down actions and reviews. Improv is a physical activity as well, after all. Working through verbal and physical comedy gives even those not confident in their verbal skills a chance to make their friends laugh.
Want to see more? Check out a virtual deck of Cubicle, entirely free! Edited by Marco Gamino
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