So, you’re a in a grownup party but people aren’t having fun? Are conversations awkward because people barely know each other? Or do you have a bunch of beer loving friends and looking to keep them entertained? Well, drinking games come to your rescue to break the ice and liven up the room. Here’s some of the popular drinking games you guys should try playing:
1. Beer pong
Beer pong is basically considered as a rite of passage in most college students. Many varieties of beer pong have emerged and different groups of friends develop their own slightly different rules. But the game goes like this:
You need a ping pong ball and a ping pong table (but any wide table can do if there is none). You also need 12 glasses of beer – the 16-ounce red cups are perfect. Arrange them on either side of the table in the form of triangles, as if setting up bowling pins or billiard balls at the start of a pool game. Divide yourselves into two groups, each sitting opposite the other, with the beer cups in front of them. Now, take turns in throwing the ping pong ball into the glasses of the opposite team. If the ball lands inside a glass, the opposing team must drink the beer. The team that clears all the beer cups of the opposing side first is the winner.
2. King’s Cup
Also called California Kings, Ring of Fire or Circle of Death, the King’s Cup is also popular drinking game among college students all over the world.
To play King’s Cup, players must sit in a circle around a table, each with a drink at hand. An empty glass or cup is placed at the center of the table with a deck of cards (jokers removed) spread-out, face-down around the cup. To start the game, a first player draws a card. Each different card is equivalent to rules players have to do. However, rules are not absolute – a group can set their own rules for each of the cards. Example:
- Everyone must drink until the player who drew the card stops drinking.
- All female players must drink.
- All players must point to the sky; the last person to do so must drink.
- Queen: A wild card: Groups are encouraged to create unique rule for the Queen.
- King: The player who draws the first, second and third King pour half of their drink to the center cup and comes with a rule that must be obeyed for the rest of the game. Anyone who violates it drinks. The player who draws the final King must chug the contents of the center cup.
- The game ends when the final King has been drawn, or when all cards have been flipped, depending on your group.
3. Power Hour
Power Hour isn’t technically a game – it’s all about drinking. The objective is to take a shot of beer every minute for an entire “Power Hour.” You need a Power Hour mix, which is music that is typically an hour or two hours long and contains many songs in 1-minute increments. When the song changes, every player needs to drink. For an hour of this game, a person would drink approximately six beers. People can add ground rules if they want. Everyone is encouraged to dance to the songs in between shots. This is a pretty good warm up to a party with people anticipating a highlighted event.
4. Quarters
If you don’t have enough space to play, you can set up a game of Quarters. It’s an easy game that needs only a glass, a quarter and of course, liquor. A cup or glass (can be empty or filled with alcohol) is placed in the middle of a table. Each player take turns in placing the quarters on the edge of the table and attempting to flip the quarter into the glass. Once a player succeeds, he or she makes another player drink and take another turn. The player can also implement rules, which when violated by another player, they have to drink. The rules are in place unless another player successfully lands the quarter in the glass and creates another rule.
Quarters is best played in a small group of players, around 3 to 6 people. The worse you are at the game, the more drinking you’ll likely be doing.
5. Edward 40 Hands
The person who came up with the name “Edward 40 Hands” probably got it from “Edward Scissorhands,” thinking, “But what if his hands were booze?” This is probably the most extreme drinking game that pushes you to drink a lot, unless you don’t really need your hands for anything.
To start, two 40-ounce beers must be taped to each of the players’ hands. Their hands won’t be free until their beers are empty. Whether players must drink both bottles before removing the tape, or whether they can free one hand at a time, it’s up to your group. A punishment, like pouring the beer all over to themselves, will be given to players who can’t finish.
Some groups play it with a timer set for a few hours. When the timer goes off, the player/s who still has a beer in their hands has to pour it over themselves of take a dare. It’s basically a choice between chugging the beer or wetting yourself.
6. Flip Cup
A classic drinking game, Flip Cup is a relay race game played with red party cups. Two teams with an equal number of players stand on opposite sides of a table, with each player having a plastic cup with a set amount of beer or liquor. The first two opposing players drink, and when finished, they would place their empty cup, face up on the edge of the table. Using a quick motion, they must flip their cup over so that it lands face down on the table without touching the sides of the cup. When a player successfully flips his cup, the next player takes his or her turn. The first person who successfully flip all their cups is the winner.