It probably goes without saying that The Healthy Drinker does not promote binge drinking and only advocates responsible drinking, so let’s just think of this as more of an objective cultural review … if that culture was populated solely by binge drinkers.
Binge drinking is a vaguely unsavory term, but there’s no other way to describe games of skill and chance wherein the losers (and sometimes the winners) are asked to suck down large quantities of alcohol. In the simplest terms, it is what it is.
So, without further ado and in no particular order, let’s take a closer look at the fine art of competitive drunkenness.
1. Flip Cup
A relatively new game, considering drinking games have been around as long as drinks, flip cup is best described as an attempt to flip an empty cup up, over and onto its mouth before your opponent.
Often team-based, opponents square off and race to flip a certain amount of cups only after they’ve consumed the alcohol inside. Whoever finishes first wins.
2. Beer Pong
Beer pong is played with opponents facing each other over a table. Each opponent (or team) arranges a configuration of cups filled with alcohol in front of them in the shape of a triangle with the apex pointed away from them. They then take turns throwing ping pong balls at one another’s cups.
There are several variations, but in the most popular if a ball lands in a full cup the alcohol must be consumed. Once consumed, if the empty cup is knocked over it is removed, but if a ball goes in again, the shooters must drink from one of their cups. Whoever eliminates their opponents’ cups first wins.
3. Asshole (aka Presidents and Assholes)
Asshole is a card game with several different variations. The idea is to get rid of all of one’s cards by playing higher cards than the preceding player. Some variations have wild cards, community drinking cards and pass cards. Whoever lays down all of their cards first is declared president and can basically tell anyone to do anything, although this is usually boiled down to forcing others to drink.
Follow-on positions to president (vice president, secretary, etc.) are declared as people continue to go out and the last person holding cards is the Asshole. These positions carry over into subsequent games and the A**hole suffers the most because they have to do what everyone else says – namely drink.
4. Who Am I?
This party favorite came into fashion as a drinking game thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. In the game, opponents write a famous person’s name (fictional or nonfictional) on a card that is then passed to the right. Players then stick the cards they receive to their heads.
Once a player is chosen to start, she asks questions about the person on her card that can be answered in a yes/no fashion. If she uses the hints to guess the name on her card correctly, everyone else drinks. If she chooses poorly, she finishes her glass alone.
5. Quarters
This one is simple – players attempt to bounce a quarter off of a table and into a vessel of alcohol. The opponent drinks if the shooter makes the shot. The glass is refilled and (usually) the shooter starts the new round.
The vessel can be anything and the alcohol can be anything. High rollers will use a shot glass and liquor. Endurance players will use the same shot glass and cheap beer. It’s hard to say whether there are winners or losers, although the least coordinated in the group is likely to become even more so.
*We are aware of the millions of variations on these drinking games, so if you have any suggestions or variations of your own, let us know in the comments.
Legal Stuff: We should remind everyone that our blog entries are for your information only and are not intended as medical advice. If you’re going to drink, do it legally and responsibly; don’t be stupid =).
