Exit Stage Laugh
A Jar-of-Jokes for emergency comedy!
Oh no! You're a comedian who forgot all their jokes before a big show.
In a last second attempt to save face and pull the show and your nerves together, you grab your handy Jar-of-Jokes. Let's hope you can make them laugh.
Ashley Temple-Harris
ashley.templeharris@spartans.ut.edu
Contents: 110 cards, 1 microphone, 1 timer, 1 jar container, 1 rule manual.
ashley.templeharris@spartans.ut.edu
Contents: 110 cards, 1 microphone, 1 timer, 1 jar container, 1 rule manual.
Exit Stage Laugh is inspired by the comedic social interactions between people. Earn tips by making your audience laugh at your jokes created using the prompts on the cards. Whichever comedian collects the most money wins!
This card game was inspired by a game titled "Death Charades" where a player draws a prompt card including several silly or strange ways someone could die. The player must reenact that card until someone can guess the prompt.
My twist was instead of charades, you have to draw a prompt card and create a comedic sketch or joke in attempt to make other players laugh within 5 minutes. If at least one member from the audience laughs, the comedian earns the dollar amount listed on the back of the card. If the comedian fails to make someone laugh, each member from the audience earns $3 in tips.
The packaging is a tall clear acrylic jar with a removeable lid. This was to provide players with the feeling of holding a tip jar that also doubles as a storage device the comedian held his "emergency jokes" within. The label created is made of paper & was placed on the interior wrapping around the entire inside. All game components fit within the jar.
The rule pamphlet for Exit Stage Laugh. There are two versions to play the game. Heckling is mentioned as well in the case a player does heckle the comedian on their turn and players wish to know the rules regarding this action.
The illustration design includes simple shapes with no shadows or depth; silhouettes. Objects in the designs on some items include, a jester, chair, microphone, and hanging lamp. On the backside of the cards, the tip side, includes a more detailed image of the jester to be the face of the currency and the suits of playing cards in the background. The frontside of the cards, the prompt side, simply includes a thick purple boarder with two silhouettes of microphones framing the prompt.
This is the initial mood board for the game before creative design work began.
The mood board above shows that the idea for Exit Stage Laugh was to be a game where players must be social with one another and that the game is more typographic based and verbally engaging rather than strategy-based. The inspiration was also to include money in the game, in the form of tips that comedians may earn after a gig. The typeface was to be scratchy and handwritten. And the jester was an icon that felt needed for the game since the jester is historically known to entertain or make others laugh.
