The finale of this series on Games (which has taken far longer than the 5 days I had intended) is about the finest category of game known to man, the humble drinking game.
Now, those who know me are probably aware of my appreciation for the artform. What better way to share my knowledge of games to drink by than a post on some of the finer examples on Solitude.
Notes: For the purposes of these games “a drink” is defined in a unit which suits your tipple of choice. Generally, the preferred unit is the finger; the amount of drink that placing your finger around your glass would mark. This has the bonus of generally compensating for body mass since larger people tend to have larger fingers.
You will also require a deck of cards, with jokers, handy.
First game is the warm-up game, Odds And Evens. Sit in a circle and when it is your turn take a card from the deck which has been placed in the centre. If it is odd (this includes jacks and kings), you take a drink. If it is even (this includes queens), you don’t. Simple. Understand that this is a warm-up game. It’s not particularly interesting, but should be played at break neck speed. If it takes more than 2 minutes to go through all 52 cards, you’re playing it wrong.
Then there is the slightly more complicated main event: Fuck You. Again, sit in circle with the shuffled deck in the middle, taking cards in turn. This time each card represents a different action which must be performed:
Fairly simple. Now those 3 cards we said we’d come back to: the 4, 7 and 8. If you draw any of those cards, take it and hide it immediately. You can keep them and play them when appropriate until all the cards in the deck are depleted (at which point all cards are returned).
If you have a 7, you may use it to go to the toilet at any point. This is the only way you are allowed to go. If you have a 4 and are nominated to take some drinks, you can play it and half the number you have to take. If you have an 8 and are nominated to take some drinks, you can play it and say “Fuck You”. The person who nominated you must now drink double what you would have had to otherwise.
The effects of the 4 and 8 can be chained for interesting effect. In fact, I’ve seen all four 8’s chained together. Not pretty.
And that is “Fuck You”.
Finally, there is the Family Guy Drinking Game. Put on an episode of the classic TV show and drink any time any of the following events occur:
Twenty minutes of drinking, two minutes of plot. The most hardcore drinking game that doesn’t involve bleach or anti-personnel mines.
That is all.
Posted: February 22nd, 2005
#Permalink: Games, Part 6: Drinking Games, By Gary Fleming
Pah!The Doctor Who Drinking GameThe drinking game of a true man. It works better if you are a Doctor Who fan.You can tell this by reading the game rules: if the bit that says ‘take a drink whenever the Master shrinks someone, hypnotizes someone, uses a cheesy anagram for a false name, or says “I am the Master and you will obey me!”‘ doesn’t make you at least laugh somewhere inside your head, you won’t get the game at all.
# Posted by Stuart Langridge, on February 23rd, 2005 at 12:49 am
(”simple textile rules” don’t include carriage returns separating paragraphs, huh? That’ll teach me to preview.)
# Posted by Stuart Langridge, on February 23rd, 2005 at 12:50 am
I like the Doctor Who drinking game, and games based on series with long running traditions and cliches in general. Babylon 5, Stargate, American Gothic, etc. They can all be drunk to. Hell, drinking by Oasis albums is also fun (any time there is a cheap lyric, obvious chord progression, the word “shine”, etc).
I prefer the Family Guy game to all of these because the ruleset is so small yet the drinking is insanely fast.
(As for textile, the rules are double newlines to indicate paragraphs. I’ll make this more obvious in the rules when I get home.)
# Posted by Gary Fleming, on February 23rd, 2005 at 11:16 am
I’ve had issues with the finger rule in the past… it doesn’t translate well when people are drinking different drinks.
I once played drinking top trumps (with Ships of the World’s Navies.. sounds boring but once you introduce rules relating to things such as whenever the USS Missouri (Featured in Under Siege with Steven Seagal) appears you all have to do Seagal impresssions it gets fun) and I was drinking wine while someone else was on lager. Not quite equivalent. Not hard to work out a conversion ratio though.
I think the good ol’ Centurion deserves a mention. 100 minutes, 100 shots of beer. Sounds easy but a surprising amount of people fail. First time I did it two people vommed afterwards. Shocking.
# Posted by Neil, on February 23rd, 2005 at 11:24 am
You are, of course, quite correct, Neil. Fingers only work when people are drinking the same thing. I suggest vodka and mixer as the perfect finger-based drinking.
There were of course a large number of drinking games missed out (only 3 made it in, after all, and I know a shitload of them.) I do like the Centurion, but rarely play because of beer/cider being near essential.
# Posted by Gary Fleming, on February 23rd, 2005 at 1:32 pm
While not entirely a drinking game, I will always remember fondly the shenanigans of a drunken game of spoons in my back garden. Rugby tackles where a gazeebo is present do not a good combination make.
I’ve always had a soft spot for drinking word games. After a significant amount of booze, those whose speech is impared are destined for a date with the toilet.
# Posted by Gavin, on February 23rd, 2005 at 5:02 pm
Spoons is a classic, absent from the post only because it is so difficult to explain to people in words. Given a description of the game, people flounder; you really have to see it to get it. Who can forget that game of Garden Spoons who was present? Never have people fought so vehemently over eating utensils.
Word based drinking games are good, but they tend to favour those with a really strong grasp of pop culture (games like the Move Game) or those who have played them often. Leads to those less familiar falling apart and the hardcore elements being left sober, no longer subject to chance (or a rigged deck, as is so often the case.)
# Posted by Gary Fleming, on February 23rd, 2005 at 9:17 pm