Mind Meld

Have the group stand in a circle. Explain that the game is played by the whole group, but that any one move is played two players at a time. This can be acheived either by moving clockwise around the circle in pairs or having two active players in the center of the circle who are determined by the players themselves tagging in.

The game starts by having two active players think of a word. Once they have their word they should raise their hand. When both active players hands are raised thee group counts to three with thew two players simulatneously announcing their words on three.

Obviously the two words will not be the same. Whatever they are the next two players will attempt to say the same word buy asking themselves what the firsat rtwo words have in common. The same process is followed with the two players raising their hands when they know their word and announcing them once the whole group has counted to three.

Most likely the words will once again not be the same and the process will repeat. The most recent two words should be what the next round plays off of. So if your first two words were "Orange" and "Pear" and your second two words were "Fruit" and "Food" it wouldn't make sense for someone in the third round to say "Blue" or "Colors".

You can play the game with single words or phrases. If you are working exclusively with improv comedy students in an advanced setting, you can play the game with comedic premises (or bits). However once a word or phrase or comedic premise has been said it cannot bne repeated.

If your pairs are in the center of the circle then the same people may go multiple times in a row, their participation only ending when someone on the outside of the circle tags themselves in and the current player out. Both players can be tagged at at once, or just one player or neither.

If going around the circle in pairs you can choose to go to two brand new players every round or to have one player remain the same so that each player plays trwice in a row.

As you play remind players that the gopal is not to shgowcase indivual creativity but instead to acvcurately anticipate someone else's move. It is helpful for players to ask themselves what category contains the two words just spoken or what concepoot or idea connects them. For example, a good guess off of "Hamburger" and "Book" might be "Menu," while "College Bookstore Restaurant" demon srtrates great creativity while also being almost certainly not what the other person will say.

Mind Meld can be a frustrating exercise if you play it too long without succeeding. Be cognizant of this when running the exercise. Remind people as you play that goal is to work their collaborative muscles by asking themselves how their teammates are thinking of the challenge at hand, instead of winning the exercise.

The game ends when two players say the same word or very close to the same word or the instructor feels the exercise has gone on too long. Because the game is frustrating when you play it too long, err on the side of claiming success when two words are similar.