Murder Endowment
Murder Endowment is a short-form guessing game in which one player must determine the method, location, and motive of a fictional murder based on clues provided by the other performers. The endowed players act out increasingly obvious hints while maintaining the reality of their scene. The game generates comedy from the guesser's struggle to decode the clues.
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Crime Endowments
Crime Endowments is a short-form guessing game in which one player must determine a secret crime, weapon, and location through clues embedded in the other players' behavior. The endowed players know the secret combination and weave references to the crime, weapon, and location into natural-seeming conversation and action, while the guesser asks questions and observes their behavior to deduce the combination.
Double Endowment
Double Endowment is a short-form guessing game in which two performers are each secretly endowed with a character trait by the audience, and both must simultaneously figure out their own trait from the clues the other performer is giving. Each performer knows the other's secret trait but not their own, and must embed clues for the other player while interpreting the clues being embedded for them. The result is a mutual guessing dynamic that rewards listening and responsive improvisation.
Secrets Endowment
Secrets Endowment is a short-form game in which performers are given secret information about their characters that the other performers do not know, creating dramatic irony as each player navigates a scene while hiding or gradually revealing their secret.
Occupation Endowment
Occupation Endowment is a short-form guessing game in which one performer is endowed with a specific occupation by the audience, and a second performer must discover what the occupation is through scene interaction. The endowing performer communicates the occupation through behavior, physicality, and contextual clues without ever naming it directly.
Famous Person Endowment
Famous Person Endowment is a guessing game in which one performer is secretly assigned a celebrity identity and must deduce who they are through interactions with scene partners who know the answer. The endowed performer does not know their identity and must read their scene partners' reactions, offers, and endowments to figure out who they are playing. The game rewards lateral thinking, careful observation, and the ability to accept endowments and build on them without the security of knowing the full picture.
Superhero Endowment
Superhero Endowment is a guessing game in which one performer must figure out their secretly assigned superhero power through the behavior of their scene partners. The other performers know the power and play scenes that make it relevant without naming it directly.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Murder Endowment. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/murder-endowment
The Improv Archive. "Murder Endowment." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/murder-endowment.
The Improv Archive. "Murder Endowment." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/murder-endowment. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.