Ding!

Ding! — also known as 'Should've Said' or 'New Choice' — is a fast, playful game that celebrates spontaneity and the freedom to change your mind. Two or three players run a regular scene while a director or host stands off to the side with a bell (or just shouts 'Ding!'). Every time the director dings, the last player who spoke has to instantly replace their most recent line with something completely different. The scene then picks up from that new line. The director can ding several times on the same line, sending the player cycling through alternative after alternative. Audiences love watching performers scramble for ever-wilder takes on one moment, and the game lives out a core improv truth: there's always another choice, often a better one. Played well, Ding! shows that the unexpected pick is frequently the most honest and satisfying.

• Pick 2-3 improvisers for the scene, plus a director with a bell.
• Grab an audience suggestion for the scene's location or relationship.
• The performers start the scene like normal.
• At any moment, the director rings the bell (or calls 'Ding!').
• The last player to speak has to instantly swap their most recent line for something new.
• The scene carries on from that new line as if it had always been there.
• The director can ding several times on the same line to pull out a handful of alternatives.
• The scene keeps going until the director calls it or it finds a natural ending.

• Stage space. A bell, a buzzer, or just the host's voice. And an audience suggestion.

• Ding! with Audience: The audience dings by shouting 'Ding!' — the performers must stay alert to random audience interjections.
• Double Ding: Two dings in quick succession mean BOTH players must change their last lines before the scene continues.
• Ding Backwards: The ding means the player must replace not just their line but the entire previous exchange — and both players re-do the moment.
• The director can vary the frequency: sparse dings for subtle alternatives, rapid dings for increasingly absurd comedy.