Monday, May 23, 2011

The Evolution of the Drinking Game


I remember when I first started drinking many of the games we card games. We would sit around our dorm rooms and play Asshole, Kings, F the dealer, Golf, a bunch of other ones I don’t remember. The only thing I remember about Asshole is that there is a President, Vice President, other various cabinet members, beer bitch and the Asshole. I know the beer bitch gets the beer and the asshole does what everyone else tells them to do, oh and the President eventually gets to make a rule if he is president long enough. I know Kings has a waterfall and a cup that the loser has to drink. The cup is full of whatever various drinks ended up being poured in it during the game.

At some point in college we started playing beer pong and flip cup. I’m thinking everyone got tired of card games and holding solo cups so they created ways to use those cups to advance their drinking. Both of these games are fun and involve teams which add to the excitement. At this point I think everyone should know what these games involve. Beer Pong does vary from house to house but the premise is the same. Sink the ball in the cup. At one point one of my friends created a game called bong pong. This had no competitive purpose but was another creative way to drink. Basically you have at least 2 people. One holds a beer bong full of beer. The other shoots a ping pong ball into the beer bong. If the shooter makes it the person holding it drinks. Once the person shoots they now have to hold the beer bong.

Oh and don’t forget QUARTERS!

Since college I have learned 3 new variations of these games. Apparently drinking games have a shelf life and need to be revamped to stay exciting. I personally think it’s a great thing. The new inventive ways to play these games add a challenge and makes it important to put a good team together.

The first game I learned at my brother’s college graduation from West Virginia University. I asked someone at the house what the name of the game was because I thought it was so much fun. He had no answer so I eventually started calling it the Beer triathlon. It involves the skills of flip cup, quarters, and beer pong. It is best played with teams of 4 but can be played with two if you really want to drink a lot. The first contestant starts by bouncing a ping pong ball into a cup and then drinking the beer from the cup once they have made it. This is the “Quarters” step. Yes I know it’s not a quarter but you get the idea. Then you drink the next cup and flip it until it lands on its top. Once the first two steps are completed the player shoots at a cup sitting at the other end of the table. Once the first person on the team completes all three stations the next person starts. This continues until all members of the team finish. The first team to finish wins. It really takes a team effort to pull this off. It gets interesting as the alcohol sets in because people are running all over chasing ping pong balls to help the shooter.

Yesterday I was at the bar after my kickball game where I learned two more games. All I know is I can’t wait until the next time I get to play.

The first game is called Black Out. I was a little scared based on the name. This game includes the skills of flip cup and beer pong. The teams line up opposite each other on a beer pong table. A rack of 6 cup beer pong is set up on each end of the table. Each team member then fills up their own cup for the flip cup game. The teams start the flip cup game when the last person flips their cup successfully they take a shot at the beer pong rack. If the shot is made then the person at the end of the other line drinks it. Then the team rotates and starts the flip cup segment again. This continues until one team has eliminated all of the beer pong cups from their opponent’s side of the table. Now if at any time a person misses the shot the team must complete a round of flip cup before the person can shoot again. This continues every time the shooter misses a shot. So either you have a team that can shoot really well in beer pong and the game ends relatively quickly or you don’t and you end up drinking a lot of beer. Either way you get to feel good because there are no real losers in drinking games. This game is best played with 4 or more people on a team but again can be played with as few as 2 people.

The last game is called Nemesis. It is a beer pong game with at least 3 people and 15 cups. The difference with this game is each person on your team has a nemesis on the other team. The other big difference is one side doesn’t shoot at a time. Each Nemesis pairing shares a ball. You drink whenever your nemesis makes a cup and only when your Nemesis makes a cup. You also can only shoot the ball that your nemesis and you share. There are two re-racks in the game at 10 and 6 cups. In this game you only drink if you are partnered up with a Nemesis that can make cups. The winning team makes all of the cups on their opponent's side of the table first. Noe redemptions.

Now I know there are other games out there that I have not listed her and to be honest you can turn anything into a drinking game. I have a drinking games app on my phone which has a subsection that gives you rules for movies and TV shows. It has been exciting to watch where drinking games have gone since I started playing them and it’s even more exciting to see where they will go. I just need to keep my skills sharp so when my future children come home from college their old man can still hold his own.

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