25 Best Drinking Games That’ll Get The Party Started

Posted by , Updated on March 22, 2024

A party without an exciting drinking game lacks completeness, don’t you agree? While Beer Pong and Flip Cup are usually the go-to choices, we’ve explored some less familiar games that might pique your interest. Suitable for both a cozy night in or a lively bar night, these entertaining drinking games guarantee to ease the atmosphere. Remember to drink with caution and savor these 25 drinking games that are sure to get the party mood in full swing.

25

Four Kings

Guys playing drinking game

Four Kings is played with as many players as you have but it comes down to four main players. Deal one card from a standard deck to each person around the circle. Whoever gets the first King card picks an available liquor, the second picks the mixer, the third buys/makes the drink, and the fourth drinks it. It could easily happen you get more than one King (depending on how many people are playing), so choose wisely!

24

The Politician's Speech

Obama and McCain at press conference

With election season fast approaching, the Politician’s Speech is the perfect game to play while educating yourself on politics. Watch a political debate between candidates and pre-set rules you’ll have to follow when something happens. For instance, between Barack Obama and John McCain, you could have to take a drink every time Obama says change or a candidate interrupts the other and waterfall if (and until McCain finishes) talking about his war experience.

23

Sloshed Santa

Santa Claus

Best played around the holidays (but you can play modified versions throughout the year), TV Santa is played by placing a Santa hat on the top corner of a television. Every time an actor appears to be wearing the hat, take a drink. It’s that easy.

22

Cheers to the Captain

Groups of friends cheersing a drink

A bit more complicated of a drinking game but loads of fun, Cheers to the Captain is played with friends and drinks. The goal is to count to 21 – at which point everybody takes a drink and says “Cheers to the Captain!”. Whenever this happens, whoever said 21 makes up a new rule attached to a number. For example, you can switch numbers or have someone high-five another player instead of saying the number. The only set rules from the beginning are that 7 and 11 are switched, so the people around the circle would say: Person 5: Five. Person 6: Six. Person 7: Eleven. Person 8: Eight. etc.

21

Electricity Card Game

Card game

In Electricity Card Game, a player draws a card and flips it over in front of them. If the card is the same number or suit as the card on top of another player’s pile, they complete a circuit. The card owners drink their face value (or, for a less hardcore version, two seconds worth).

20

Battleshots

Battleshots

A play on the childhood favourite game of Battleship, Battleshots is similarly played and guaranteed to sink you. Draw up a board on cardboard or with chalk and make little ships with places for shot glasses. Your ships should be in three sizes: two, three, and four shots. From there, players take turns firing imaginary torpedoes(D2!) to sink their adversary’s ships AKA make them take a shot.

19

Sink the Battleship

Beer pitcher

Similar in name but different from #20, Sink the Battleship is a drinking game where players put a pitcher of beer in the middle and float a cup/glass in the middle of the pitcher. Each person pours some of their beer in the glass, trying not to be the one who sinks the glass. (It’s a bit like Jenga.) The sinker of the glass drinks. It’s also called Sink the Biz at Indiana University.

18

Flip Cup

Flip Cup

A staple of drinking games everywhere, Flip Cup is played by lining up a group of people into two teams along two sides of a table. The first players have to down their cup and then put their cup on the table with part of the bottom jutting out and attempt to flip it upside down. The next player starts drinking then tries to flip their cup when the one before them successfully flips theirs. Add a variation by making players slide down a slip and slide first.

17

Thumper

Group playing drinking game

The perfect game just before heading out (because it’s so fast-paced) is Thumper. Every player picks a gesture (e.g. moose antlers, fishy face, playing a trumpet) and shows it to the group. Then the game begins: someone starts off by giving their sign and another random player’s sign; that player has to give their own sign and another player’s sign. The game goes on until somebody hesitates or doesn’t give back a sign at which point they must take a drink.

16

Land Mines

Group of people at a table

To play Land Mines, players surround a table and have two shot glasses next to them. Each person must (one at a time) spin a quarter on the table then take both shots then pick up the quarter with the same hand before it stops spinning. When a beer is finished, it gets set on the table and becomes a land mine. If a player’s quarter hits the land mine, they have to finish their shots and start again. If someone gets stuck and can’t complete a turn, they can buy out by downing half a beer. Land Mines is over when the table has so many beer cans it becomes unplayable AKA nuclear fallout.

15

Drinking Chess

Drinking chess

Who said chess is no fun? If you have enough cups, Drinking Chess can be a reality. Put the cups in the position of chess pieces and fill them with some of your drink. If your opponent takes out one of your pieces, you must drink its contents.

14

Russian Beer Roulette

Beer bottles on wall

Coming in as the messiest game on our list, Russian Beer Roulette consists of wildly shaking a can of beer. The cans are shuffled so no one knows which one is the shaken can. Everyone picks a beer and, well, finds out who’s going to get sprayed.

13

Ring of Fire

Kings Cup

Ring of Fire (sometimes called Kings) is played with a deck of cards and your own drink. An extra drink or bottle is placed in the middle of the group and cards are scattered around it in a circle, face side down. Players go around the circle picking up a card and they or the group have to follow the corresponding rule. The rules are: 2: You – pick someone to drink 3: Me – take a drink yourself; 4: Floor – the last player to put their hand on the floor drinks; 5: Guys – all men take a drink; 6: Chicks – all women take a drink; 7: Heaven – the last player to put their hand towards the sky drinks; 8: Mate – pick someone who, for the rest of the game, has to take a drink every time you do; 9: Rhyme – Everyone must give a word that rhymes with yours. e.g. drink, think, pink; 10: Social – everyone drinks; Jack: Categories – the player who draws picks a random category to which everyone must give an example (e.g. Car brands: Honda, Ferrari, Ford, etc.) or else they drink; Queen: Question Master – the person who draws the card is allowed to ask anyone playing a question until the next queen is drawn and, if the other person responds with anything but a question, that person must drink; King: Waterfall – the person who drew the card starts waterfalling and everyone after does the same with people stopping only when the person before them does; Ace: Make up a rule that everyone has to follow for the remainder of the game. After drawing a card, players place it on top of the middle drink. Whoever places their card on top and causes the others to fall must drink the middle one

12

Power Hour

Beer and wine on ice

A Power Hour is a great game to play if you want to relax a bit and have time before going out. Set up a music, YouTube, or any other playlist (or find any of the thousands already made) which have 60 clips of only 60 seconds. When each clip ends, take a sip. Sixty sips may not seem like a lot, but you tell us if you still think that after playing.

11

Slap Cup

Red solo cups

The only game that gets close to Russian Beer Roulette on the beer-everywhere factor, Slap Cup is a fast-paced game with cups and ping pong balls. Players gather around a table of cups part-way filled with beer and a full centre cup. Everybody also gets an empty cup in front of them and two players get ping pong balls. Two random players start with the balls and the game moves counterclockwise from there. When two players next to each other are shooting, if the player to the left bounces the ball into their cup first, they slap the player to the right’s cup off the table. The right player then has to grab a cup from the centre and finish it before shooting again. When a player makes a cup, they pass it to the next available player on their right. If a player makes it on the first shot, they can pass it to whomever they want. The last player shooting has to down the full centre beer.

10

Wizard Staff

Wizard staff drinking game

Best played when you’ll be drinking the whole day, Wizard Staff is played by taping together finished beer cans into the shape of a staff. Any wizard-wannabee has to take a shot after every five levels and staffs are measured at the end of the event. Whoever has the longest staff is declared the Wisest Wizard. If two or more people have the same size staffs, they must battle with the staffs. Whomever’s staff remains intact is the winner.

9

Master of the Thumb

Drinking during Prohibition

A drinking game add-on, Master of the Thumb is played alongside any of these other games. One person is picked to be the Master and, whenever they (as unknown to the others as possible) put their thumb on the table, everyone else has to do the same. The last one to do it drinks and becomes the new Master of the Thumb.

8

Blank Hands

Edward 40 hands driking game

Whether it’s Edward 40 Hands, Edward Cider Hands, or Amy Winehands, players have a bottle taped to each hand and cannot have the tape removed – for anything – until they finish both bottles. Slow drinkers and those with small bladders may want to steer clear of this one.

7

3 Man

Dice on table

The drinking game 3 Man is played with two die. A player becomes the 3 man by rolling a combo of 3 and drinks every time it’s rolled. If a player rolls 7, the player to their left drinks; if 11, to their right; if 9, everybody drinks; if 3, the 3 man drinks; if doubles, give away that many drinks; and, if snake eyes, make a rule that anyone who breaks it has to drink. When the 3 man next rolls a 3, they must give the dubious honour to someone else.

6

Rule Suggestions

German naval officers drinking

With so many games allowing you to add rules, here are some suggestions: Leprechaun: Whenever you take a drink, you have to remove the little leprechaun sitting on the rim of your glass and return him when you finish; in number games, replace a number with a clap or pure silence; Swear-free: If anyone swears, they drink.

5

Make your own!

Drinking game rules

The multitude of popular TV shows means the potential for heaps of drinking games. Agree on a set of rules before (e.g. drink when Homer from the Simpsons says “D’oh!” or when someone on The Big Bang Theory says “bazinga”) and let the fun begin.

4

Never Have I Ever

Asians at table eating and drinking

Never Have I Ever is a good drinking game to play later in the night or when you need to break the ice. Everyone holds up three (or more, for smaller groups) fingers. Players take turns going around the group with each person saying “Never have I ever…” + something they have never done. If you’ve done it, put a finger down. Who ever puts all their fingers down first loses (or wins, depending on your perspective). There is also a version without the fingers where you play until people are bored of it.

3

Beer Pong

Beer Pong

A list about drinking games wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Beer Pong. The basic idea is to line up an amount of cups (generally anywhere from 6 to 21) in a pyramid shape. Players on each side of a long table try to throw a ping pong ball into their opponents’ drink cups. If they do, the opponent has to drink the beer in that cup. The game is over when a team has made all of their opponents’ cups.

2

Beer Pong Extras

Beer Pong World Series

Though it’s a relatively classic drinking game, Beer Pong can be spiced up a bit. Try out these extra rules: rapid fire, where you shoot as soon as you get your ball back; adding a flip cup component; and, making cups worth more (e.g. two cups for every one made) for doing things like bouncing or throwing the ball around the back.

1

Hash House Harriers

Lima Hash House Harriers crossing bridge

Nothing to do with the hash some people smoke, the Hash House Harriers run in cities around the world – from New York to Saigon to Louisville. The group gathers to run a trail led by the “hare”, the organiser for that week, marked out in chalk or flour. It turns into a treasure or scavenger hunt through city and wilderness with false trails and fun puzzles. Successful (everyone will be successful) hashers find the treasure: beer! Much hilarity then ensues.