A taxonomy of the different categories of games that can emerge in improv scenes. While the UCB tradition doesn't publish a formal taxonomy with these exact labels, these categories are taught across UCB 201-301 levels and documented across multiple sources.
Behavioral games — A character exhibits a repeating behavioral tic. The pattern IS the behavior. Example: a character who apologizes for everything, including things clearly not their fault. The game is discovered when the behavior is noticed and framed as unusual, then heightened by applying it to increasingly extreme contexts.
Emotional games — A character's emotional state is inappropriate to the context, and that mismatch is the engine. Example: someone inappropriately calm during a crisis, or devastated by trivially minor things. The game is the gap between emotional register and situation.
Verbal games — A speech pattern, phrase, or linguistic quirk drives the scene. Example: a character who turns every statement into a question, or someone who uses corporate jargon for deeply personal situations ("Let's circle back on our feelings about Dad's funeral").
Physical games — The body generates the pattern. Example: a character whose gestures are wildly out of proportion to the conversation, or someone who physically shrinks every time they're contradicted. Distinguished from behavioral games by being primarily non-verbal.
Status games — The power dynamic IS the game. Who has authority, how it shifts, the transaction of status between characters. Example: a job interview where the candidate gradually assumes authority over the interviewer. Johnstone's entire status framework (Impro, Ch. 2) feeds this category.
Mapping games — Treating one reality through the lens of another. Example: a breakup played as a hostage negotiation; choosing a restaurant played as a presidential debate. The UCB Manual covers this as an advanced game technique. The humor lives in the gap between tenor (actual situation) and vehicle (imposed framework).
Scenic/environmental games — The space itself generates the pattern. Example: every room they enter is smaller; everything in the house is broken; the office has an inexplicable feature everyone treats as normal. The world rather than the characters produces the unusual thing.
How to use the taxonomy: Not as a checklist ("I need to play a status game today") but as a diagnostic lens. After a scene: what kind of game was that? Did we play it? Did we heighten within the category or drift? Hines: "Playing game is not the same as naming the game."