FSView & Florida Flambeau
Another round: Drinking games can always liven up a party
May 23, 2001
When it comes to drinking games, almost everyone knows the old stand-bys like quarters and circle of death. When these classics get old after a while, there is an almost infinite variety of other games to turn to; a simple Internet search can lead to more drinking games than can be played in most lifetimes. It seems nearly everyone has a unique game they"ve played or a new twist on an old one that can really increase the fun level.
"They do make things more fun than just sitting around drinking," senior Ulrika Manson said.
The web-site <TheVirtualBar.com> is a massive database of drinking games, with games broken down into categories to make things easy. Here, one can find instructions for hundreds of games, such as the increasingly popular dice game called three-man. The rules for this games seem to vary widely from person to person, but they all involve assigning drinking instructions to the numbers on the dice.
"One time over spring break I played a game called Chuck-man, named after a guy named Chuck, with some guys from Michigan State," junior Kimberly Jeffers said. "I don"t really remember how it worked, but it was a lot of fun."
For those who like to get a good start on the day, there is Blue"s Clues: The Drinking Game. The rules are simple: drink every time the friendly, yet disturbing host Steve says blue or clue. Nickelodeon was never so much fun.
"That"s a little over the top, but it could be fun," freshman Mary Ward said.
This game and thousands more can be found at <BarMeister.com>, which offers countless games based on movies and shows, such as Pee-Wee"s Big Drinking Adventure, which involves drinking every time Pee-Wee laughs.
"Those kinds of games are a lot of fun," Ward said. "It"s great when you start tripping over the words."
For drinkers with creative tendencies, just about any pre-existing game can become a drinking game with just a little modification. Trivial Pursuit can become an excellent drinking game, improved by the huge increase in difficulty that develops as the game progresses. After a few rounds even the simplest questions become shockingly difficult. The rules for the drinking version are simple: if a question is answered correctly, the opponents drink according to the number on the die. When someone answers a question incorrectly he drinks up correspondingly.
"I"ve done that one before," Jeffers said. "Another good one is to try Uno, drink on the skips and reverses; and when it says draw, change that to drink."
Jenga is another popular drinking game conversion. The game is played normally except that each game piece has specific drinking instruction written on it. The wobbling wooden tower becomes top-heavy as the pieces are replaced on top, and penalties for knocking it over can be set to an appropriate level for the players.
Just about anything can become a drinking game with a little creativity. Any television show or movie, seemingly every non-drinking game in the world can become a new and exciting way to get drunk with some imagination. So next time everyone is coming over with some beer, get that old copy of Candyland out of the attic or just come up with something completely new.
"My favorites are when people just make up a bunch of crazy rules," Ward said. "It"s a lot more fun than some game you"ve played a thousand times."
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