If you’re throwing a house party, then drinking games are a great way for everyone to have fun. And while you many already be familiar with some of these, especially the first one, we hope that there are a few new games here that catch your attention. Here are five of the best options:
1. Beer Pong
Beer pong is a classic that has just enough of a physical element to make it competitive and exciting, without being too strenuous. To set up the game, you need a beer pong table with a pyramid of red plastic cups on each side in a 4-3-2-1 alignment, with the pyramids being largest at the ends of the tables. Use a couple beers to fill all the cups.
Teams of two players then take turns throwing ping pong balls at the opposite cups, with every made shot requiring the other team to drink the beer in that cup.
2. King’s Cup
All you need to play king’s cup are your drinks and a deck of cards. Players form a circle and then go clockwise or counter-clockwise, with each player drawing one card. The card then determines what happens next, with cards having the following instructions:
- Aces are waterfalls, which means every player starts drinking at the same time, and you can only stop when the player to your immediate left has stopped.
- Two is for you, so the player who picked the card chooses another player to drink.
- Three is for me, so the player who picked the card drinks.
- Four is give two and take two, so the player who chose it drinks twice and chooses another player to drink twice.
- Five is a rule, so the player who chose it sets a rule for the game, such as not putting hands on the table. Breaking the rule results in a drink.
- Six is thumbs on the table, and the last player to do so drinks.
- Seven is raise your hand to heaven, and the last player to do so drinks.
- Eight is mate, where the player who picked the card picks a mate, who then must drink every time that player drinks.
- Nine is rhyme, where you go around the circle rhyming a word. The first person who can’t make a rhyme drinks.
- Ten is categories, where you go around the table naming items that fall into a category. The first person who can’t drinks.
- Jack means all the men drink.
- Queen means all the female players drink
- The first three times a King is drawn, that player pours some of their drink in the king’s cup. The person who draws the fourth king must drink it all.
3. Flip Cup
Two teams compete in this game where red plastic cups are lined up on opposite sides of the table, with one cup in front of each player. One at a time, each player on a time drinks their entire drink and then flips the cup in front of them over so it lands on its top. The team that finishes first wins.
4. Never Have I Ever
This simple game is a great way to learn more about each other. Players take turns saying “Never have I ever” and following with something they have never done. Anyone who has done so then takes a drink. For example, you could say “Never have I ever shoplifted” or “Never have I ever gone skydiving.” Of course, the more scandalous, the better when it comes to this game.
5. Straight Face
The only objective for this game is keeping a straight face, which can be difficult after a few drinks. Anytime that a player breaks into a smile or a laugh, they must take a drink. Typically, players either try to make each other laugh by talking to each other or writing funny sentences on small pieces of paper and then having another player read them aloud.
Image credit:Guian Bolisay, Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0 license)