The Pineapple
The Pineapple is an applied exercise in which a randomly named object becomes the shared focal point for a group brainstorm, with participants using the object as a springboard for generating connections, analogies, and ideas across any domain. The exercise trains lateral thinking and the habit of finding unexpected value in arbitrary starting points.
Structure
The Object
The facilitator introduces an ordinary object, often a pineapple or another familiar item with distinctive characteristics. Participants study the object physically if it is present, or name its properties from memory.
The Properties
The group generates a list of the object's properties: its texture, structure, growth process, cultural associations, color, smell, and any other quality. The list is built quickly without evaluation.
The Transfers
Participants take each property and ask: where else does this quality exist? What problem could be solved using this principle? What does this remind you of in a completely different context?
The Ideas
The connections and associations generated in the transfer step become raw material for new ideas, solutions, or directions. Participants note which transfers produced the most unexpected or promising material.
How to Teach It
Objectives
The Pineapple demonstrates that lateral thinking is a trainable skill built on the habit of systematic analogy. The arbitrary starting object removes the pressure to begin with a relevant idea, freeing participants to follow association without self-censorship.
Facilitation Notes
Do not explain the purpose of the exercise before running it. Let participants experience the process and discover the usefulness of the analogies themselves. The reveal that arbitrary objects produce useful ideas is more effective as a discovery than as a premise.
Common Pitfalls
Participants sometimes resist the exercise when they cannot immediately see relevance. Acknowledge the resistance and continue. The connections typically emerge in the transfer step rather than the properties step.
In Applied Settings
Innovation and Design Thinking
The Pineapple is used in creative problem-solving workshops to introduce random input techniques. The exercise demonstrates that forced association produces ideas that structured brainstorming misses.
Product Development
Teams use the object's properties as a lens for examining a product or process, discovering design principles, user experience analogies, or structural improvements by way of the unexpected comparison.
Creative Warm-Ups
Facilitators use the exercise to prime lateral thinking before any divergent ideation session, establishing the associative, non-evaluative mental mode that generative work requires.
Skills Developed
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Related Exercises
Out of the Box
Out of the Box is a partnered exercise in which one person leads another around the room, pointing to objects, and the other must immediately name each object as anything other than what it actually is. A chair becomes a volcano, a lamp becomes a saxophone. The exercise breaks habitual thinking patterns and trains participants to override the labeling instinct, building the rapid creative association that underlies strong improvisation and innovative thinking.
New Object Name and Application
New Object Name and Application is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants are given an ordinary everyday object, assign it a completely new name, and then pitch a convincing use case for it under its new identity. The exercise trains spontaneous creative reframing, confident presentation under uncertainty, and the ability to find value in unexpected contexts.
Creative Inspiration
Creative Inspiration is a category of applied improvisation exercises that use unexpected prompts, arbitrary constraints, and non-linear starting points to spark creative thinking and generate innovative approaches to familiar problems. The exercises work by disrupting habitual thinking patterns: participants are forced to make associations and connections they would not reach through direct analytical approaches. They are used in innovation, ideation, and creative problem-solving programs.
Alternate Uses Test (AUT)
Take an everyday object and list as many different uses for it beyond its intended purpose as possible in two minutes. A daily creativity training exercise from divergent thinking research.
Silo-Busting Exercise
Silo-Busting Exercise is an applied improvisation exercise in which a team facing a real challenge invites people from a completely separate department to join their brainstorming session. The outside participants bring fresh perspectives, unfamiliar frameworks, and no institutional assumptions, breaking the echo-chamber dynamic that limits innovation within isolated teams.
Associatioin Chain
Association Chain is a circle exercise in which each player says a word inspired by the previous player's word, building a rapid chain of free associations. The exercise trains spontaneous, uncensored responses and reveals the connective leaps that drive improvised scene work. Speed is essential to prevent intellectual filtering.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from The Pineapple.
The Applied Improvisation Mindset (Dudeck & McClure)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). The Pineapple. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-pineapple
The Improv Archive. "The Pineapple." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-pineapple.
The Improv Archive. "The Pineapple." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-pineapple. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.