Status Cards
1970s-present ยท UK / global
Also known as Card Status, High Card, Deck of Cards
Each player wears a playing card on their forehead without seeing it (two is low, King and Ace high); everyone treats everyone else by their visible card, then lines up by perceived status.
Known for
- Practical demonstration of Keith Johnstone's central claim from Impro: status is something you do to others, not something you possess.
- Players infer their own rank only from how the room behaves toward them, which exposes how fast status reads.
- The closing line-up (lowest to highest) reveals whether the group's treatment matched the actual cards.
- A standard onboarding exercise for status work before scene-based games like Status Swap and Master-Servant.
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