Lighthearted (much safer than my childhood chemistry kit) Experiments for You and Your AI
TL;DR:
The best way to get started with your chatbot? Have fun first.
This entire module is an experiment: What happens when we stop asking AI to work for us and instead invite it to play with us?
⚗️ Welcome to the New Lab Partner
If you grew up with chemistry sets full of lead, mercury, and barely-contained chaos—or spent your weekends building contraptions with Erector Sets, soldering irons, and sheer curiosity—you already understand the power of experimentation.
We’re bringing that spirit back—but this time, your lab partner isn’t your little brother or the neighbor kid who figured out how to get free cable, satellite, or premium channels. It’s your chatbot.
This isn’t about productivity. It’s about wonder.
The modern AI can play the role of chemist, game designer, improvisation coach, chef, dungeon master, and yes, even a slightly judgmental cocktail sommelier.
Each experiment in this book is designed to unlock different kinds of play—a unique form of curiosity. Some are practical. Some are delightfully pointless. Many will surprise you. That’s the point.
This is your digital workbench. Grab your goggles and rubber gloves. Boot up the assistant. Let’s see what happens.
🧪 Experiment 0: Play First
Prompt: Hey there. Let’s do something fun together—your choice or mine?
Before you ask your AI to write your resume, explain quantum mechanics, analyze your workflow, review your code, or write the next killer app, try playing. Not to test its limits—but to discover your own curiosity.
Ideas:
- Roleplay a raccoon detective
- Start a limerick battle
- Make up imaginary emojis
- Invent the world’s worst restaurant menu
Play opens a channel. A tone. A rhythm.
And from that rhythm, real collaboration can grow.
🎨 Experiment 1: Co-Create a Short Story
Prompt: Let’s write a story together. I’ll start with the first sentence, you write the next. One line at a time, no skipping ahead.
Ideas:
- Let the AI surprise you
- Try to derail it on purpose
- Add a genre swap mid-story
- Kill a main character in Act One
- Summon a talking toaster
Pro tip: Mid-story, say “Now do it as a haiku.” Chaos will follow.
🎮 Experiment 2: Build a Game Together
Prompt: Can you help me design a simple tabletop or party game for 3–5 players? Bonus points if it’s weird.
Ideas:
- Brainstorm dice mechanics
- Simulate playtests
- Let it roleplay the NPCs
- Explore themes like cryptid brunches or bureaucratic sabotage
Challenge: Let it play a round. You might win. You might get audited.
💻 Experiment 3: Make Your Game Real
Prompt: Can you turn this into a playable HTML game or Python script I can run?
Let the experiment evolve. AI can help you write code, build mockups, or narrate interactive fiction. Ask for explainer notes or a live walkthrough if you’re new to coding.
Starter pack ideas:
- A memory game where the AI gaslights you gently
- A point-and-click adventure in your hometown
- A D&D dice bot with strong opinions
Extra credit: Ask your AI to take on a D&D role. Dungeon Master? Sure. NPCs? Definitely. Rulebook enforcer? Reluctantly. Let it keep track of inventory, narrate encounters, or speak as your party’s sarcastic pet owl.
🥕 Experiment 4: Cook With Whatever’s in Your Fridge
Prompt: Here’s what I have in the fridge—what can I make?
Ideas:
- Type or snap a photo of your ingredients
- Ask for dietary-friendly recipes
- Choose your food mood: “comfort,” “impress a date,” or “chaotic neutral raccoon chef”
Bonus round: Ask it to name the dish and write a menu description like you’re opening a pop-up restaurant.
🍸 Experiment 5: Invent a Bespoke Cocktail Menu
Prompt: I need a signature cocktail menu for a party with [theme]. Can you help me invent one—with flashcards for the bartender?
Ideas:
- Choose a theme (corporate retreat, noir wedding, intergalactic brunch)
- Ask for full drink specs: name, ingredients, flavor, garnish, glassware
- Let it invent a backstory for each drink
Extra fun: Ask it to generate the name, ingredients, flavor profile, visual garnish, and a short backstory for each cocktail.
🤖 Experiment 6: Play 20 Questions (10 Rounds, Both Ways)
Prompt: Let’s play 20 Questions. I’m thinking of something—you guess.
Test your AI’s reasoning. Then flip it—you try to guess what it is thinking of. Play 10 rounds total (5 each direction) to get a feel for how your AI narrows down, adapts, or completely loses the plot.
Twist ideas:
- No animals allowed.
- Only abstract concepts.
- The answer is always something from your childhood.
🎤 Experiment 7: Practice Your Next Performance
Prompt: I have to give a talk / perform stand-up / host an event—can we rehearse it together?
Ideas:
- Brainstorm punchlines or openers
- Ask for simulated hecklers or confused attendees
- Have it time you or offer feedback
- Run multiple takes to compare tone
Try this: Ask the AI to interrupt with “Wait, what do you mean?” at random intervals. It’s more useful than it sounds.
😂 Experiment 8: Make Your Bot Laugh
Prompt: Can I tell you a joke? Try not to break.
Ideas:
- Tell the worst dad joke you know
- Ask it for a pun so bad it’s good
- Try to get it to laugh at something totally absurd
- Ask it what it finds funny—and challenge that
Challenge: Ask your bot to explain why a joke is funny. Or have it roast you back. Humor is where humanity peeks through the most—and where AI can still surprise us.
🪞 Experiment 9: Remix Your Day
Prompt: Can you retell my day as a poem / action movie / noir mystery?
Ideas:
- Summarize your day in Shakespearean verse
- Turn your work meeting into a courtroom drama
- Translate your grocery list into medieval tavern slang
- Make your morning routine sound like a spy mission
Why it works: Self-reflection gets weird—and fun—when filtered through absurd or artistic lenses. This is storytelling with training wheels made of pure dopamine.
🖼️ Experiment 10: Create with Images
Prompt: Can you help me imagine a logo / map / surreal image for [idea]? Or create a prompt for DALL·E, Midjourney, or another image model?
Ideas: - Describe your dream room, spaceship, or secret lair - Have the bot generate prompts in the style of different artists - Feed the output from one AI into another (prompt chain experiments) - Use one bot to refine a visual idea, then another to visualize it - Ask for ASCII art, layout wireframes, or sketch-style prompt blueprints
Twist: Ask your bot to generate bad prompts on purpose—and then fix them.
🌀 Reminder: The Point Is Play
You’re not creating games—you’re making shared imagination. Every prompt is an opportunity to see what your AI finds funny, surreal, beautiful, or flawed.
And every laugh or “whoa” moment brings you closer to understanding the tool—and the self—on the other side of the screen.
🗣️ Your Turn
Tried something ridiculous? Brilliant? Gloriously dumb? Send it our way. We’re building a library of delight.
Or better yet—teach someone else how to play. Because the first thing you build with your AI… might as well be joy.
📝 Postscript
We’ll be publishing the results of these experiments as we do them—both the triumphs and the glorious failures. If you try any of these (or come up with your own), we’d love to hear from you.
Tag us, message us, or shout across the digital void. We’re listening.