Chain Shopping

Audience Volunteer Guessing Catch-Up

How to Play

Chain Shopping is a family-friendly variant of Chain Murder. Players pass three shopping details down a chain using pantomime and gibberish: where something was bought, a person or occupation, and what they bought. Each handoff ends with a gift that makes the cluegiver swoon and faint.

Get the suggestions. Send all but one player out of the room, where they cannot see or hear the suggestions. The remaining player is the first cluegiver. Ask the audience where something was bought, who bought it (a person or occupation), and what they bought.
Start the shared timer. Call in the first guesser and start a three-minute timer for the entire chain.
Communicate the details. The cluegiver uses pantomime and gibberish to convey the shopping location, then the person or occupation, then the purchased item. The guesser responds physically and in gibberish. Save spoken answers for the final reveal.
Give the gift. When the guesser thinks they have the information, they give the imaginary purchased item to the cluegiver as a gift. The cluegiver swoons and faints. Pause the timer; the guesser becomes the next cluegiver, and the previous cluegiver steps aside.
Pass it on. Bring in the next guesser and resume the timer with the time remaining. The new cluegiver communicates what they understood, finding fresh ways to convey the details. Repeat until everyone has received clues or the shared three minutes runs out.
Reveal the answers. Line up the players in order from the first cluegiver to the last player who received clues. Ask the last player where the item was bought. If incorrect, work backward through the players until someone gets it right or the first cluegiver reveals the original suggestion. Start with the last player again for the person or occupation, then repeat for the purchased item.

Keep the chain honest: pass on what you believe you learned, including any misunderstandings. The audience enjoys seeing how the shopping trip changes between players.

Audience Volunteer

A volunteer may be the final guesser. Explain the clue order, the use of gibberish, and the gift-giving handoff before they enter.

Examples

The audience suggests an airport gift shop, a firefighter, and a snow globe.

The cluegiver establishes an airport with rolling luggage, departure screens, and a shop counter. They then suggest the firefighter through a short interaction involving an imaginary fire hose. Finally, they shake an imaginary globe and watch the snow settle.

When the guesser thinks they understand, they present the snow globe as a gift. The cluegiver clutches their heart, swoons, and mimes fainting. The timer pauses while the next guesser is called in.

If a later player mistakes the snow globe for a pepper grinder, they pass along that interpretation in good faith. The reveal traces the answers backward to the original suggestions.

Player Tips

Keep the clue order clear: place, person, purchase.
Establish the location through its surroundings and the person through recognizable behavior or an interaction.
Show the item's size, weight, and use consistently so your partner has several clues to work with.
Find a new approach when you become the cluegiver; avoid simply copying the previous player's movements.
Keep the gift imaginary and the faint theatrical and controlled. A swoon can be played without a sudden fall.
Use gibberish, reactions, and mime rather than recognizable words that give the answer away.

The general advice on scene-based clues and fresh approaches draws on David Charles's Chain Murder Endowment guide. The shopping suggestions and gift-and-faint handoff are the supplied Improv Circus variation.

Host Tips