Here Are 22 of the Best Drinking Games to Play With Your Friends in 2021
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Drinking and games are fun on their own, but mixing the two together is a great way to elevate a party, or nowadays, a small get-together. But as much as we love a good game of beer pong, at some point or another, you’re going to need a few more of the best drinking games in your rotation to spice things up a bit. After all, variety is the spice of life.
Drinking games come in a multitude of variations, such as drinking card games, drinking board games and in more recent times given the weight of the world, drinking games for two. You can even turn games that don’t even call for drinking into some of the most fun drinking games in the world. Connect 4? Take a shot when you lose. Chutes and Ladders? Take a shot whenever you have to go down the slide. Truth or Dare? I dare you to take a shot.
Drinking games even have their pertinence in television. Like, have you ever taken the time to play a movie drinking game? Hear us out: Google your favorite movie, followed by the word “drinking game” and there’s sure to be one. Even for like, Finding Nemo. We promise.
With that in mind, you can genuinely turn just about anything into a drinking game if you’re creative enough. If you need any ideas to start, we’ve rounded up 22 of the best drinking games for you to break out during your next party whether it’s big or small. We’ve given you the rules and regulations of each game, so all you’ll need to do is stock up on the supplies needed to get your game on — but we’ve also included places where you can do that too. So whether you’re slugging back the best summer beers or taking shots with the best cheap vodka, it’s time to get your game face on.
1. Beer Pong
The thing about classics is that they’re classic for a reason. Beer Pong is one of the simplest drinking games to understand, but one of the most difficult to master. The setup, if you’re not familiar, is simple: Each side sets up six cups in a pyramid-style shape before teams of two take turns tossing ping pong balls into each of the cups. The first team to clear the opposing team’s cups wins the game. Is it one of the best drinking games of all time? Potentially, my friend, it might be.
Your individual friend group may have their own rules and regulations, but the most common is to have beer in each of the cups that you have to drink when a ball lands in each respective cup. Ensure you’re more than set on ping pong balls to use with this 50-pack set from MAPOL.
Buy: MAPOL 50-Count Ping Pong Balls $12.92
2. Drunk Jenga
On its own, Jenga is a fun and exciting game, but incorporating an element of drinking certainly takes the experience up a notch or two. By writing different instructions on each of the blocks (like “give two sips” or “take two sips”) each block pulled from the tower can offer up a prompt to further the drinking experience. And, if someone causes the tower to fall, they’ll have to finish off their drink completely. Let your imagination run wild as you provide the literal building blocks for one delightfully entertaining drinking game to play with friends.
3. Do or Drink Game
Oh, so you haven’t heard of the newest, most exciting drinking card game Do or Drink? Let us enlighten you. The drinking game for two is honestly quite easy and we’re sure you and your favorite drinking buddy will get a kick out of it. Start by separating the black and white cards into two different piles. The first player will then draw a white card and read it out loud. They will then do what it says and then the other player will choose a white card and do what it says. Continue on until one of you picks up a “DRAW” white card, in which that player must now pick up a black card, do what that says or drink. If the player does the task successfully, they can keep the card and use it as a point. At the end, count the number of black cards you both have and then you’ll have your winner.
4. Power Hour
Those looking to get the evening off to a roaring start should consider Power Hour. From where we’re sitting, this is easily one of the best drinking games out there. The premise is simple: put together a playlist of 60 songs and have each song shuffle after it plays for a minute. Whenever the next song comes on, take a drink. Easy to play and still socialize, put your favorite music snob in charge of the playlist and see what kind of fun options come into play. Plus, you can bolster the experience by jamming the playlist over a Bluetooth speaker like this colorfully compact option from Sony.
Buy: Sony SRS-XB01 Compact Portable Bluetooth Speaker $33.00
5. Cards Against Humanity
One of the most hilarious card games made, Cards Against Humanity offers players a series of prompts (black cards) that must be responded to by playing an answer (white cards). The person that drew the prompt card will then choose which of the white cards is the funniest. Described as “a party game for horrible people,” the cards are inherently absurd and decidedly adult. Add in a drinking component by having the losers of each round have to take a sip or just play it while you’re casually enjoying your favorite beverage. It could really be one of the best drinking card games on the planet if you choose to include alcohol, which you should.
Related: The Best Card Games
Buy: Cards Against Humanity $25.00
6. Shot Roulette
Alright, this one’s a doozy. However many friends you’ve got, have everyone sit around at a table. One person will go inside and fill a bunch of identical shot glasses with water and one shot glass with clear liquor, such as vodka. That person will then mix up the shot glasses to forget which one has the liquor, then distribute them around to everyone. One at a time, each person will go around the table taking their shot as everyone watches their reactions. In the end, the goal is to have the group guess which person had the shot of liquor. If the group is right, the person who took the shot has to take a sip of their drink for losing. If the group is wrong, everyone aside from the person who did the shot takes a gulp of their drink.
It’s easiest to play with disposable clear glasses since they all look the same. You can even go a couple of rounds playing with up to two or three liquor shots depending on how many people are playing. Switch up the rules and make it your own for one of the best drinking games you’ll play all night.
Related: The Best Adult Games
Buy: 100 Count Shot Glasses $7.29
7. Flip Cup
Perhaps more than any other drinking game on this list, Flip Cup is the one that can cause the most chaos and the most mess — but it’s often the most fun. Participants split up into two teams and line either side of a table with a cup of beer or liquor. When the game starts, players on either side have to finish their drink, put the lip of the cup on the table edge and then flip it over (using only their fingertips) back into the right-side-up position before the next person can start. Frenetic and fun, it’s one of the best drinking games for larger groups. If you’re worried about getting an existing surface messy, spring for a folding table like this one from Flash Furniture so you can have a dedicated space for competition.
Buy: Flash Furniture Folding Table $52.05
8. Truth or Drink Drinking Card Game
Created by the popular YouTube Channel known as Cut, Truth or Drink is a drinking game for two dedicated to spilling the beans or getting horribly drunk. It’s potentially one of the easiest drinking card games on our list, all you have to do is take turns picking up cards and reading the question to the person your playing with. They will then choose to either answer the question truthfully or take a shot, making it one of the funniest drinking games on our list. Cut’s YouTube Channel has a slew of hilarious videos depicting gameplay that you totally have to watch before buying. You’re absolutely going to want to click that buy button.
Related: Best Games to Play on Zoom
Buy: Truth or Drink Drinking Card Game $20.00
9. King’s Cup
Whether you call it Ring of Fire, Circle of Death, or King’s Cup, the rules to this excellent drinking card game are the same. Players sit around a table with a beer in the center and a deck of cards spiraled out around it. Each person takes a turn drawing a card and the number on the card corresponds to a different action (for example a card with the number eight on it means ‘mate,’ so you pick a person to drink with). Once the card has been pulled, it needs to be inserted into the tab on the beer. The person that causes the tab to pop or the person that draws the last King card (hence King’s Cup) has to then finish the drink. Having a deck of waterproof cards like this striking gold set from EAY is handy should things start to get a little rowdy.
Buy: EAY Waterproof Playing Cards $7.99
10. Fingers
Yeah, the name isn’t so cute, but trust us on this one. Fingers is an easy game that gets you drunk, but there’s a bit of a twist. Here’s how it works: you snag a red solo cup, have everyone playing the game pour whatever they’re drinking inside (the more participants, the better) and then have each person playing the game put a finger on the rim of the cup. Each turn, all players will choose to take a finger off or leave a finger on the rim of the cup while one person guesses how many fingers stay on the cup. If they guess correctly, they’re out and do not have to drink the cup. The last person has to drink everything inside. Let’s keep it real, they’re going to be pretty sloshed at the end.
Buy: Glad Everyday Disposable Plastic Cups $9.99
11. Loaded Kings Drinking Card Game
If you like the idea of King’s Cup and want to save yourself a Google or two, Loaded Kings has all the rules for King’s Cup easily printed on the cards themselves. This will just allow you to focus on the drinking game instead of having to keep track of all the different rules throughout the course of a game and will let you just have fun instead. Oh, and the cards are 100% waterproof, so no worries if you or a friend happen to commit a party foul or two over the course of a match.
Buy: Loaded Kings Drinking Card Game $10.00
12. Quarters
Sort of similar to Beer Pong, Quarters is a drinking game that involves players trying to bounce a quarter off the table into a shot glass. If you miss your shot, it then rotates to the next player. However, if you make it, you can tell someone to drink. The game continues on like so, but feel free to set a point total to reach to be declared the winner. This set of “Let’s Get Slothed” shot glasses from Amazon gives a sturdy foundation to play on and also provides a bit of character to the competition.
Buy: Let's Get Slothed Assorted Sloth Shot Glass $16.99
13. Buzzed Drinking Card Game
Another drinking card game, Buzzed, comes to us from the minds that brought us What Do you Meme? creating a fast and fun way to get the party rolling. Players will take turns drawing cards from the top of the deck and reading the prompt out loud. Depending on the card, either you or the whole group will take a drink. Meant to be played with groups as large as 20 or as small as three, the hilarious cards might cause you and your friends to blush once or twice, but will definitely be nothing short of entertaining.
Buy: Buzzed Drinking Card Game $19.99
14. Barbuzzo Spin the Shot Drinking Game
Remember playing spin the bottle? Well, spin the shot takes the infamous game of youth and puts a decidedly adult spin (no pun intended) on the well-worn classic. Simply load the included shot glass with whatever is your spirit of choice, or a particularly tasty mixed shot, and spin it to determine who has the honor of downing the drink. The arrow determines who the lucky participant will be and allows for as much fun as you can safely have. Plus, it’s small enough that you can easily take it with you to the bar and play there.
Buy: Barbuzzo Spin the Shot Drinking Game $12.99
15. These Cards Will Get You Drunk Game
We at SPY obviously love drinking card games, so here’s another to add to the list. These Cards Will Get You Drunk is a multiperson drinking game for adults that will have you and your closest pals cackling the whole night away. It works like this: you and your buds sit in a circle and take turns drawing from the deck in a clockwise rotation. Follow the instructions on the card and each will let you know who needs to drink. Throughout the game, you’ll have to vote and screw your friends over a few times in order to have the time of your life.
Buy: These Cards Will Get You Drunk $15.99
16. Three Man
Three Man involves at least two dice and three participants. Players will take turns rolling the dice until one person rolls a three and becomes the titular Three Man. From there, each player will take turns rolling the dice, with each number determining a different outcome: Three means the Three Man drinks, seven means the person left of the dice roller drinks, nine means the person to the right of the dice roller drinks, 11 means the roller drinks, doubles means you get to take that number value and distribute drinks accordingly. This set of dice from RERIVER comes with a felt dice can, making it easy to play the game and not have the dice go flying off the table.
17. Never Have I Ever Drinking Card Game
The game you most likely played as a teen comes home in a card game form that makes it easy to think up questions to get to know your friends better. The game comes with a set of rule cards that enhance the playing of the rounds and play cards that entice participants to own up to some of the worst decisions they’ve ever made. Attach some drinking rules to it like having those who have done the action take a sip and so forth.
Buy: Never Have I Ever Drinking Card Game $24.95
18. Drink-A-Palooza Drinking Board Game
If you enjoy a good board game but wish there was more of a chance to drink while you roll the dice, well, Drink-A-Palooza is the drinking board game for you. The game actually functions as a way of combining a bunch of other drinking games (including Pong, King’s Cup, Flip Cup, and more) into one game. You’ll move around the board, landing on spaces that will determine which drinking game you’ll be doing Plus, with the ability for up to 12 players, there’s plenty of fun to go around.
Buy: Drink-A-Palooza Drinking Board Game $34.99
19. Drunk, Stoned, or Stupid Drinking Card Game
Implicate. Advocate. Adjudicate. That’s the name of the game in the drinking card game Drunk, Stoned, or Stupid. 250 prompt cards will let you and your friends determine whom among your group is the most likely to do a given thing such as “wake up with half a burrito in bed” and so forth. Once you draw a card, it’s up to the group to determine who best fits the description, letting the accusations fly. Technically speaking, this even acts as much more than a drinking card game, if you catch our drift.
Buy: Drunk, Stoned, or Stupid Drinking Card Game $18.00
20. EZ DRINKER Shot Spinning Roulette Game Set
Drinking games are always more fun when there’s a bit of risk involved, which makes this drinking glass roulette game from EZ DRINKER a great option for those looking to up the stakes with their drinking games. The small glasses around the edge of the roulette wheel can be filled with all kinds of different alcohol, letting fate determine your drinks for the evening. The possibilities to torture your group with awful spirits are relatively endless.
Buy: EZ DRINKER Shot Spinning Roulette Game Set $21.63
21. Suck and Blow
No, it’s not as dirty as you might think. Suck and blow is the classic high school game turned into one where everyone gets a little tipsy. And flirty. It works like this: get a playing card. Any playing card. Have everyone stand in a circle and pass the playing card around only by using your lips and by sucking and blowing to the next player. When the card drops and the players accidentally smack lips, they have to do a shot together. Switch the order in which players stand each round to make things harder. Not only is this one of the most flirt-centric games from your high school days, but it easily makes for one of the best drinking games when there’s some booze involved.
Buy: Bicycle Standard Face Playing Cards $6.25
22. Thumper
What’s the name of the game? Thumper! When playing thumper, you need nothing but pals, drinks and a set of hands. To play Thumper, every player needs a hand signal of sorts. You can cover your eyes, do a peace sign, give yourself antlers — whatever, just get creative. Everyone at the table goes around slapping their knees twice throughout the game while one person does their sign and passes it to someone else through every double knee slap. For example, if it’s your turn, you’ll slap your legs twice, do your sign, slap your legs twice again and then do someone else in the circle’s sign to pass it to them. The signs will continue passing until someone messes up. That person drinks and you’ll start the game over until you’re bored!
Spice things up and sip from these fun cups pictured below. Who needs red solo cups?
Buy: Prextex 12 Pack Coconut Cups $21.99
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