Top 20 Best Game Changer Episodes

#20: “A Sponsored Episode”

Brought to you by whimsy and good, old-fashioned salesmanship, this episode’s premise had the three panelists participating in some light market research. Challenges include identifying corporate logos and improvising sales pitches for some untraditional products. Grant O’Brien really made a case for stick-on nipples. Rekha Shankar actually had us wanting to buy those giant hamburger gloves. The piece de resistance may just be Mike Trapp being dared to take a bite out of an actual lemon covered in Parmesan. Host Sam Reich’s dancing around the set like a delighted imp feels like him in his truest form.

#19: The “Secret Samta” Episodes

Starting out as a post-COVID virtual episode, the show’s Christmas-themed episodes weaponize the otherwise wholesome game of White Elephant. The players must open mysterious gift boxes with various prizes and punishments inside. Players can lie about what’s in the box and steal gifts from each other. Some of these wrapped gifts are punishments. Mixed in are some genuinely incredible prizes like vacations and a month’s rent paid by the show. It’s the magic of giving season through the “Dropout” lens. The third and, to date, final edition brought the antics to the actual “Game Changer” set for the first time.

#18: “Beat the Buzzer”

Trivia is a lot harder when you can’t find the buzzer. Sam Reich opens this one with an epic prank, as each of the players’ buzzers stops working. To ring in with their answers, Rekha Shankar, Becca Scott, and Erika Ishii will have to search for buzzers that have been left all around the set. As the episode goes on, the buzzers get more and more ridiculous. One is hidden in a computer game, another is in a block of ice, and one is encased in glass with a robotic arm that the players can learn to maneuver. The chaos is glorious.

#17: “A Game Most Changed”

For a show that purports to change with every new episode, this was one of the more high-concept installments of “Game Changer.” Joey Bland, Ross Bryant, and Blaine Swen of the Improvised Shakespeare Company were essentially tasked with creating and performing an entire play on the set. Their challenge was to build an entire Shakespearean story out of suggestions from Sam Reich. Presented with categories of phrases and titles to work into the Shakespearean dialogue, they score points for each reference. It’s a tour de force of improv, pop culture references, and general tomfoolery.

#16: “Samalamadingdong”

There’s nothing like sweet, sweet revenge. In the Season 7 finale, host Sam Reich was tricked into his own episode of “Game Changer” with a fake Variety interview as bait. Previous contestants and “Dropout” regulars lead him through a hellish five-course meal of his own medicine, set within a foreboding castle. Reich smiles through the pain as he conquers wicked word puzzles and fantastical creatures played by his good friends and colleagues. He seems genuinely happy, humbled, and most of all, resentful to have the tables turned on him. It’s a celebration of the joy and the pure evil it takes to pull these games off.

#15: “Do I Hear $1?”

Money really is the root of all evil. Sam Reich exploits that adage for all its worth by having Ally Beardsley, Grant O’Brien, and Raphael Chestang participate in a truly demented auction. On offer are various dares and embarrassing punishments. If they win, they win the amount they bid in points and have to complete the dare in front of everyone. How low will they go when it comes to money? Raph has to like 25 of his ex’s Instagram pics. Grant drinks toilet water. In the end, though, the answer was mutual cooperation and opting out of an oppressive capitalist system.

#14: “As a Cucumber”

This one took a few minutes to figure out. Katie Marovitch, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Carolyn Page were racking up points. They just didn’t know why. They were just confused. Psychological torture is often confusing. Reich reveals, rather smugly, that the devices they’ve attached to them are measuring their heart rate. If they can keep their cool during some truly insane stunts and games, they will earn points. The host does his best to sabotage their peace of mind and entire sense of self. If this were any other show, it’d be cruel, but on “Game Changer,” it’s just hilarious.

#13: “Name a Number”

“How many?” It’s a simple question. Some might say it's a little too simple. Becca Scott, Izzy Roland, and Erika Ishii have to make wagers based on tasks like shelling nuts, evading a professional tag player, and sending risky texts to as many people as possible. At a certain point, Reich stops telling them what they’re bidding on. Even then, Becca, Izzy, and Erika are so game for these challenges, it’s actually quite scary. But in classic “Dropout” fashion, one of the wagers gets sincere and heartwarming, which is torturous and funny in its own way.

#12: “Rulette”

Digging into its classic game show inspirations, this Season 7 episode calls back to “The Price Is Right.” Oscar Montoya, Anna Garcia, and Jeremy Culhane must spin the big wheel and reveal cards that they must stick to themselves. They have to follow the rules on those stickers, or they risk losing points. But the stroke of genius is that the stickers compound. The hardest part is keeping straight all the rules you have to follow. It’s fun when they do well, even more fun when they fail. If you’re a stickler for rules and players praying for each other’s downfall, “Rulette” is for you.

#11: “One Year Later”

Season 7 opened with a bang that was an entire year in the making. The one-hour premiere actually gave its three contestants that long to complete all the challenges. They couldn’t have picked a better trio for this one. Vic Michaelis, Lou Wilson, and Jacob Wysocki are truly innovating on the form here. That they had so long to perform the challenges also meant that they could go above and beyond in terms of budget, scope, and sheer audacity. We get to see lemurs, horn sections, and giant squid costumes. Like any incredible “Game Changer” episode, it ends in a total mutiny against the system.

#10: “Second Place”

As you might have guessed from the title, “Second Place” was unique in that the aim of the game wasn’t to come in first, but in second. Succeed enough to be better than one, but not enough to be better than the other in order to earn points. This was quite a hilariously maddening episode as Brennan, Oscar, and Ally all desperately tried to do the bare minimum. The best part of the show, though, was the dance challenge where each contestant had to create a dance. Brennan’s complete sabotage against Oscar was wonderfully savage. Dance is a sin!!

#9: “Deja Vu”

For this kind of episode, Sam was right to bring on brainiacs like Siobhan, Mike, and Ify as it had us scratching our heads for a minute. “Deja Vu” saw our contestants trapped in a time loop as the episode reset after a certain point several times. However, Sam and the crew devised it in a way to where every problem had slight alterations made to trip everyone up. Before you knew it, you could quote the entire episode just from the first watch. It was clever in its execution, and despite the repetition, this was an episode we’d gladly watch on repeat. Just wait until the video is over before you start reciting the “Wenis” song.

#8: “Don’t Cry”

Now, this was a really interesting episode as it was not a normal show for “Game Changer”. (Then, again, what is a normal episode of “Game Changer”?) On the surface, it’s a simple premise: Rekha, Jess, and Luke must simply not cry. It isn’t until midway through that it starts feeling like an episode unfairly picking on Jess until her fiance shows up. Turns out Jess and her significant other were unable to have their wedding during the COVID-19 pandemic. With this episode being made as the world slowly shifted out of the pandemic, Sam and the crew arranged a mock wedding with everyone reading heartwarming letters to Jess. It was honestly one of the sweetest gestures we have ever seen on television.

#7: The Survivor Saga

One thing you’d learn from recent seasons of “Game Changer” is that the crew really loves game shows of all kinds. There was a “Newlyweds Game” episode, a “Deal Or no Deal” episode, and yes, an entire TWO episodes based on “Survivor”. Of course, all of this was done without an island and excruciating survival and physical challenges. This was where “Game Changer” contestants got to really flex their improv comedy muscles, and everyone was at the top of their game consistently. As expected, alliances were formed, and alliances betraying those alliances were formed. It was alliance-ception! If you’re a “Survivor” fan, you’ll definitely enjoy this spin on the show.

#6: The “Sam Says” Episodes

“Sam Says” is exactly what the title of the episode implies - do what Sam says for you to do. It’s the same concept across three separate episodes, but each with different permutations of contestants. From Sam’s choice of words to the entertaining prompts contestants are given, there is almost no time to breathe between the laughs. Sharing workplace gossip, de-escalating a random fight, Honestly, it makes “Simon Says” seem a lot more fun to play than some of us probably did in school. But if you want to know which “Sam Says” goes completely off the rails, it’s the third one.

#5: “Noise Boys”

We have to give a special shoutout to “Make Some Noise” for helping kickstart the show, “Make Some Noise” (perhaps a list for another day). But of the more performance-based improv episodes, “Noise Boys” puts us in an uncontrollable fit of laughter ever viewing. Brennan, Zac, and Josh are all given some ridiculous prompts to act out from becoming a wereturkey to a simple conversation between two Scotsmen. But the best bits from this episode were the video call with awful Wifi and the convict completely destroying his lawyer’s closing remarks. If you haven’t already, you NEED to watch this one!

#4: “Bingo”

On the surface, this does look like a simple game of “Bingo” with trivia questions. Get the question right, get a ball drawn, first to get a bingo wins. But knowing Sam, there is something more sinister at play here. Unbeknownst to Raph, Katie, and Brennan, another trio of contestants are watching each competitor for their own game of bingo. …And unbeknownst to them, a third set of contestants is watching their move in their own game of bingo! What’s even more incredible is how the other two sets of contestants are manipulating the entire game for the sake of their own bingo boards. Ladies and gentlemen, Sam Reich and his team have assembled the most convoluted and brilliantly designed games of Bingo ever.

#3: “The Official Cast Recording”

Do you like musicals? Because that is what this episode was all about! “The Official Cast Recording” caught all of us off guard as Sam almost immediately dives into a theatrical narration. Per Sam’s instructions, Zeke, Zach, and Jess must now put on an impromptu musical called “Mountport”. And honestly, this was the most impressive performance we’ve seen on “Game Changer”! The way each contestant sings along with pianist Scott Passarella’s music is astounding, especially when Sam starts giving them phrases to use during their numbers. To this day, we’re still listening to “Ticket to Nowhere”.

#2: “Escape the Greenroom”

If you didn’t think Sam couldn’t be any more sadistic than he already is, well, you haven’t seen this episode. Sam has locked Siobhan, Brennan, and Lou inside of the greenroom. What transpires is total annihilation in an effort to escape and stop a timed explosive from going off before the hour is up. The anger is real as the cast verbally assaults Sam whenever the host makes a comment. Creative in setup, perfect in execution, “Escape the Greenroom” will forever be known as “Game Changer’s” best episode from Season Five…and it came super close to being the best ever. But which one stole number one?

#1: “Yes Or No”

This truly is the best episode of “Game Changer” to have ever aired, and it’s going to be hard for any episode to top it. The gimmick for “Yes Or No” was simple: contestants responded to Sam’s question with either a “yes” or a “no”. If only they knew what exactly Sam was having them answer. Surprisingly, Zac manages to guess it midway into the game, and not long after Ally figures it out, we get an insanely hilarious rant from Brennan Lee Mulligan. The whole episode was a means to make sure Brennan could never win. A game show dedicated to antagonizing a single contestant to the boiling point? Pure genius.

Are you hype for “Game Changer’s” eighth season? Tell us in the comments.