You win 100% of the fights you don't have. Verbal improvisation and short-term memory can be extremely important in de-escalation. An untrained person under the influence of adrenaline can find it difficult to respond verbally to, well, some idiot.
So, imagine you're in a restaurant and some rando comes up to your table and starts yelling about "Why are you looking at my girl?" This is not something a stable person does, so the standard responses you might think of ("I wasn't," "Who are you again?," "Please go away,") are unlikely to work. Having the verbal and mental agility to make something up to defuse the situation is critical. ("I'm so sorry, is that your girlfriend? She looks exactly like a girl I knew in high school who died our senior year and it was freaking me out.") It's even better if the person mentions her name and you can use it ("And it's SO weird, because her name was Cindy, too"). So the ability to improvise and remember details are critical to the pre-contact phase of self-defense, where hopefully the situation can be handled without the need of violence. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's a huge win.
I have a few drills in my toolbox I like to teach to help people develop that, but I'll use these as well, just to give people different ways into thinking about improv in this context. I'm teaching a 4 week LGBTQIA+ self-defense class in March, so I'll try them out with that group and see if they resonate. I'll try to remember to let you know afterward!
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That's really cool! First of all, de-escalation is super important, and secondly, I love the idea of using improv to help the mind get flexible for this kind of rapid stress response. Training it for purpose strikes me as important because I know for myself that just knowing a concept in improv doesn't mean I can use it on stage in the flow of things - only if I practice it in context first. And my awareness when practicing gets pretty myopic - I lose touch with some of the other good habits and flexibility when focusing on a new technique.
I hope the class goes well and I am eager to hear how it goes! Also I'm really touched that this is worth your consideration and I hope it's useful for people :) If any questions arise about how to facilitate these games, I'm happy to try to clarify or problem-solve.