Drinking Games

If you've never played a drinking game before be prepared to learn all the tricks, whether you're a pro or an amateur you'll be playing plenty of drinking games in your first few weeks of university. Sure, drinking games can end up with you a little more tipsy than you intended, but they're also a really good way to bond with new people and make pres a lot less awkward.

If you don't have a glass.. just use a bowl! Classy.

•  RING OF FIRE. A classic. Though, you will discover that there are a lot of different variations of rules for this game. If you do decide to play it at pres, make sure that everyone is on the same page and go through the rules before you begin. 

Here's how we play it: place a large glass on the table and surround that glass with a ring of playing cards. All the playing cards should be face down, like the photo above. The players sit in a circle around that glass with their own drinks and take in turns to take a card from the ring, they then show the circle the card and the circle acts in accordance to the number or picture on the card. 

- So, an ace is "waterfall", the person who pulled the card begins drinking their drink, the person to their left also drinks and this continues around the circle - drinking after the person so your right starts drinking. You can only stop drinking once the person to your right has stopped drinking - the person who pulled the card chooses when to stop and then this goes around the circle in a 'mexican wave' until you have all stopped.

- A two is "you", the person who pulled the card chooses someone to drink.

- A three is "me", the person who pulled the card must drink.

- A four is "whore" (unfortunate I know), all the girls have to drink.

- A five is "thumbmaster", the person who pulled the card has the chance to put their thumb on the table at any point in the game, everyone else must then follow and put their thumb on the table once they realise, the last person to realise must drink. They remain thumbmaster until someone else pulls a five.

- A six is "dicks" (again, unfortunate), all the guys have to drink.

- A seven is "heaven", similar to thumbmaster, you have the chance to raise your hand in the air at any point in the game, the last person to realise and raise theirs has to drink. You have this 'power' until someone else pulls a seven, when the power is passed to them.

- An eight is "mate". The card puller chooses someone to drink with them, that person must then drink any time that the card puller has to drink, throughout the duration of the game. If they forget they also have to drink.

- A nine is "rhyme", the card puller comes up with a word and everyone must think of a word that rhymes with that word, go round the circle and call out your word. If you take too long or repeat a word you must drink.

- A ten is "categories", this is similar to rhyme. The card puller comes up with a category and the people in the circle must come up with items within that category. Hesitation or wrong answers results in a drink.

- A jack is "make a rule", the card puller can make up any rule which must be followed throughout the rest of the game. E.g. no one is allowed to say the word 'drink'.

- A Queen is "question master", if anyone playing is asked a question by the question master and they respond, they must drink. You have this power until another queen is pulled.

- A King is "pour", you must pour a small amount of your drink into the glass in the centre of the circle. Whoever picks up the last King has to drink the entire glass in the middle, the dirty pint.

•  NEVER HAVE I EVER. This is another commonly played drinking game, and is really good for getting to know all of your flatmates and new friends. In this game you take it in turns around the circle to say "Never Have I Ever.." and then something which you haven't ever done. For example "Never Have I Ever failed my driving test", if someone has failed their driving test they have to take a drink from their cup.

We did find whilst playing this game that it took people a long time to come up with ideas of what they were going to say. As a solution to this we made a long list of things on someone's phone and that person called them all out and people drank accordingly. This meant that there weren't long gaps between people because they don't have to come up with an idea, which makes the game a little less awkward. You can find lists online or come up with one between yourselves.

We also mixed the game up a couple of times by making people not only drink if they had done the thing in question but also move one seat to their left, whether that meant sitting on someone's lap or not. Either a really good way to make sure everyone's friends, or maybe just awkward, but it was pretty hilarious.

• MOST LIKELY TO. This game is very similar to Never Have I Ever, but may work better with a smaller group. Someone asks 'most likely to...' and then counts down from five, when they get to zero you all point to the person you think is the most likely to do the thing in question. The person who has the most fingers pointing at them must take a sip of their drink, if there's a tie they both drink! Examples of questions include: 'most likely to set fire to the kitchen' or 'most likely to fail their degree'.

•  PARANOIA. This is another game that's good to play between new friends as it helps you to know one another better. I've seen a lot of different versions of this game played so it is up to your own preferences. The basic premise of the game is that someone whispers a question into another person's ear, that question must be answered by naming someone in that room. For example, "who do you think has the nicest hair?" or "who do you think will end up being a gold digger?". 

Here's where the variety kicks in, you can either answer that question by naming/pointing at the person in question or by whispering a question into the ear of the person you have chosen.

If you choose to name them/point them out then the questions move around the circle and at the end of the round you must do a shot in order to know what the question was. I think this version makes a little more sense, but the other version does allow for people to move around and get to know people better.

So there we have it, three drinking games to help break the ice at pres. A lot of you will know them already but it can't hurt to have a reminder of the rules! Make sure you drink responsibly and enjoy yourselves!

Also note that these games are really hard to explain over a blog post, in real life they're pretty simple and really good fun.

Do you have any drinking games which you always play? I'm always looking for new ones! xx