Dropout’s 10 best Game Changer episodes ranked

Ahead of the new season, let’s take a look at the best episodes of Game Changer. With 71 episodes so far, picking 10 favorites is a challenging endeavor, requiring extensive rewatching and copious amounts of laughter (poor me). I landed on a mix of episodes that embodied various aspects of what makes Game Changer so fun: its chaos, sincerity, comedy, and overall great game design.

The only way to begin is by beginning. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

10

Whodunnit

Season 1, episode 4

With how big and adventurous later seasons have become, it’s easy to overlook the first batch of six episodes. But early Game Changers offered up the greats “Lie Detector” and “Make Some Noise.” Episode 4 “Whodunnit” is a very fun murder mystery with a flurry of gut-busting jokes. (It’s clear why Rekha Shankar eventually got her own show — she’s hilarious.) Shankar and Grant O’Brien make for a comedic pair of detectives, and the twist ending lands well.

9

Like My Coffee

Season 4, episode 2

Maybe I’m still a middle schooler at heart, but I love a good innuendo. “Like My Coffee” finds Grant O’Brien, Jess Ross, and former Um, Actually host Mike Trapp competing in an innuendo competition, showing an unexpected side to the latter two. (We all know how O’Brien is a bit promiscuous.) It’s a classic setup for rapid-fire improv, and that setup resonated so well that the game was brought back as a game samer in season 5.

8

Second Place

Season 6, episode 1

So many great Game Changer episodes are defined by how Reich makes Dimension 20’s Brennan Lee Mulligan break (like season 2’s “Yes or No,” a tough omission from the ranking). Mulligan isn’t the only contestant in “Second Place” — where whoever is the most “mid” gets awarded points — but the friction between his ultra-competitive worldview and Reich’s devious scheming is a highlight of the episode.

7

Don’t Cry

Season 4, episode 7

There’s no obvious game design or setup for improv in “Don’t Cry,” but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the series’ best. Like the later Jacob Wysocki-centric episode, “Don’t Cry” is meant to uplift the spirits of Dropout cast member Jess Ross. Her wedding had been postponed and Ross had recently been on bed rest for six months after surgery. The episode starts with silly challenges, like trying not to cry while cutting onions, and eventually morphs into a celebration of Ross, culminating in a fake wedding ceremony for her and her fiancé performed by Bob the Drag Queen. I dare you to watch and not cry.

6

One Year Later

Season 7, episode 1

“One Year Later” shows the creativity of Dropout’s cast knows no limits. Picking up a year after the events of “Sam Says 3” (more on that in a moment), “One Year Later” shows what Vic Michaelis, Lou Wilson, and Wysocki had been up to in the interim. Reich gave them 15 assignments to complete, and they did so in creative, hilarious, and sometimes extremely sincere ways, like how Wysocki donated almost $3,000 (his winnings from one of the assignments) to Rainbow Services, a nonprofit aiding survivors of domestic violence. Because as much as Game Changer is about finding new ways to screw with Mulligan, it’s just as much about choosing kindness.

5

Noise Boys

Season 4, episode 3

It almost feels cheating choosing an episode featuring Mulligan, Zac Oyama, and Josh Ruben, but how could I not? The Noise Boys first appeared together in season 1’s “Make Some Noise,” which was so successful it spawned multiple game samers and the spin-off show Make Some Noise. Choosing the best episode of the Noise Boys’ appearances is harder than at first blush, but ultimately I find season 4’s “Noise Boys” to be the best of the bunch, if only for the above all-time joke from Oyama, a comedy sniper. The man’s timing is impeccable.

4

Rulette

Season 7, episode 7

Season 7 is filled to the brim with great episodes, like the aforementioned “One Year Later” and “Samalamadingdong,” which featured a role reversal for Mulligan and Reich. But “Rulette” stands out as the best of the bunch. It is Game Changer chaos distilled into its purest form, with players forced to obey the rules stuck to their velcro suits, like speaking in a sing-song voice or being extra polite (a challenge for chaos gremlin and Saturday Night Live newcomer Jeremy Culhane). The ending, which finds Culhane taking over as host from Reich, is a seminal example of how you never know where this show will go. “Rulette” is so great that it’s not surprising why Reich and co. chose to bring it back as a game samer for season 8.

3

Sam Says 3

Season 6, episode 3

Like “Make Some Noise” and “Rulette,” “Sam Says” is too good a concept not to return to. “A game for babies,” as Reich puts it, “Sam Says” involves contestants suffering through the classic game of Simon Says. Of course, nothing’s ever easy on Game Changer, and the players have to deal with Reich’s increasingly chaotic prompts and tactics to trip them up, like bringing out a puppet version of himself to deliver the prompts. “Sam Says 3” takes the crown as the best of the trio because of the way Reich deviously tricks Michaelis, Wilson, and Wysocki into thinking the game is done, letting them enjoy a party bus, and then bringing them back to set to deduct points for all the rules they broke while partying. Reich, you devil, you.

2

Escape the Greenroom

Season 5, episode 9

“Escape the Greenroom” is the episode that introduced me to Game Changer and, now having seen dozens more, it still stands as one of the series’ best. Reich, never to be trusted, traps Mulligan, Siobhan Thompson, and Wilson in the show’s greenroom. He’s turned it into an escape room, and the trio must use their wits, communication skills, and impulses for destruction to figure out how to get out. Watching them solve the room’s puzzles is a delight, as is watching them vent their frustrations over Reich and his schemes.

1

Bingo

Season 6, episode 5

Bingo’s simple, right? A game for children and retirees. Game Changer, as it’s wont to do, takes that simple premise and gives it multiple twists. Players Raph Chestang, Katie Marovitch, and Mulligan have to perform comedic prompts to earn draws of bingo balls. But they’re not really the stars of the episode: behind the scenes, a separate trio of players have bingo cards tailored to how the contestants behave, like if Mulligan will make a Dungeons & Dragons reference or say “gang.” But that’s not all! There’s a third trio with their own set of behavior bingo cards, and the episode deftly balances all three.

“Bingo” is madness, glorious madness. The layers of behavior bingo bring about Game Changer’s best mindfuck, absolutely breaking Mulligan’s brain at the end. (At this point, you almost want to feel bad for the guy.)It’s the series at its strongest, mixing chaos, great game design, and clever twists together. No wonder bingo is included in the Game Changer board game.