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Drinking Games

The point is either simply to drink, or to make your opponent drink more than you do, so that they become drunk and drink even more, and so forth. Kottabos is an ancient game involving skill in pouring a swig of wine into a large vessel. A modern variant of Cottabus, known as Arrogance, has players take turns to add as much beverage as they like to a central jug before correctly calling a flip of a coin. Failure to call the coin correctly (or dropping it, a real possibility during the later stages of the game), means the unlucky (or clumsily drunk) player must drink the entire contents of the central jug.

It is not immediately obvious whether the person with the highest intoxication level at the end of the game is the winner, the loser, or both. It largely depends on whether each player has to provide their own beverages or if they share beverages from a common pool. Unlike most games, where practice makes perfect, drinking games are often downward-motion games - The more one plays (in a sitting) the worse one typically gets.

Drinking games weren't invented yesterday; in fact, they have been known to be in existence for over 2,000 years. The "symposium" was a social event for Greek men, which included entertainment and the consumption of wine. A popular game played by the Greek symposiasts was the "capping game", which involved the recitation of poetry.

According to Dr. Rupert Thompson of the University of Cambridge, the earliest reference to drinking games in Western literature is from Plato's Symposium The Drinking Party. The game was simple: fill a bowl with wine, drink it, and pass it on to the next person. Who knew drinking games had such a long and sozzled history?

First designed in 1300’s France, the puzzle jug was basically created to test the mental agility of people hopped up on happy juice. More importantly, it was an easy way to make drunks look like idiots. The jugs were filled with wine, but also covered with holes. If a genius didn’t tilt the jug in exactly the right way, and cover up the right holes, the contents would spill all over him. In addition to the laugh factor, barflies often gambled on whether a new drunk had the mental chops to get the wine from the jug into their mouth. But since the contents more than often ended up on the victim’s shirt, the jugs remained a popular bar room feature for the next 400 years.

Back in 17th century England, drinking and drunkenness was heavily linked to swearing your political allegiance. Much in the way, you’d hug your friends deep into the night and say, “I love you so much, man,” roaring Royalists used to one-up their friends in declaring allegiance to the king by putting their arses on the line. Literally. After singing drunken ballads to His Highness and the church, festivities would often escalate to playing a “game” where everyone who was loyal enough would slice off a piece of their rump, and then toast their own blood (instead of wine) to the monarchy. As you can imagine, the game went horribly wrong on a fairly regular basis, seeing how drunks wielding knives and performing elective surgery on themselves is never a good idea. In Britain, cumulative or enumerative songs have always been a favorite social aspect to drinking in the taverns. One of the most popular is "Tom Pearce", which is a cumulative tongue twister.

After important dinners, Romans used to indulge in convivium, which were more of an Emily Post endurance test than a game. The rules of etiquette were simple, but strict. Namely, the host determined how much everyone was going to drink (anywhere from 1 to 11 glasses of the good stuff). Then everyone drank in a ritualized form. And while staying in the contest didn’t actually get you that much (except the buzz), being kicked out was a huge deal. If you couldn’t keep up, couldn’t down your drink in one pull, refused a beverage, or let out a burp during the festivities, you’d essentially be banned from hanging out at future convivium. And since only movers and shakers got to participate, a faux pas meant being demoted from sitting at the cool kids’ table.

Still played today, poo-bum-dickie isn’t exactly ancient, but it is definitely based on antiquated counting. The game basically involves counting in a circle in Roman numerals, using the word “poo” for I, “bum” for V, and “dickie” for X (until you get to 39, at least). Of course, if anyone says the wrong word, hesitates for too long, or giggles, the penalty is to drink. The game got slightly stranger when some students in Essex changed the phrases to “No”, “Daddy” and “Don’t Touch Me.”

Like an ancient version of beer pong, one of the most popular games in ancient Greece was kottabos, where participants flicked the dregs of a cup at a target in the middle of the room. Not only were you judged on whether the droplets hit the target (which was generally a disk balanced on a thin stand), but also if you used the correct throwing motion. Prizes, like baked goods and smooches from servers, were awarded for hitting the mark, while improvised penalties (along with copious drinking) were assigned for missing. According to one source, many Greeks “took as much pride in playing kottabos as others did in hurling the javelin.”

Although the Greeks were undoubtedly great thinkers, drinking games technology has advanced somewhat since then. Although drinking games are not a new phenomenon, the number and types of the games have expanded over the last 10-15 years. Whereas in the 50s and 60s there were a few drinking games that were played, to include "chug-a-lug", today there are dozens of different drinking games.

While good empirical evidence on behaviors and outcomes related to drinking games is extremely limited, there has been an attempt to classify drinking games into categories.

Motor Skill games

A game which involves the movement of one or more body parts (usually the hands or feet) in a manner as to accomplish a task that will result in a player having to take a drink. The motor skill behavior can be developed or improved with training (i.e. practice) for some people, but not necessarily all people. Motor skill games can require a degree of "athleticism", but it may also be a task of hand-eye coordination.

Consumption games

A game in which the focus or object is to see how much beer can be consumed in a given time or during a given event. I.Q./Verbal Skill games. A game in which a participant must use a cognitive thought process to play. This process might require the recall of visual and/or verbal cues as well as being able to verbally or nonverbally communicate information to other game players.

Unity games

A game where the sole purpose is to foster an environment of "togetherness" and friendship. A unity game will be noncompetative and will generally be played by a small group of people who most likely know each other.

Team games

A game that involves at least two teams pitted against one another. The primary goal of team games (other than to drink beer) is to create an environment of competition and to promote comradre among the members of each team involved. These games are sometimes variations of consumption games but involve the concept of a team.

Chance games

A chance game is just that; chance. The players have little or no control over what determines who will drink. Elements could be described in terms of luck or odds. Games of chance can be played with devices such as cards or dice, or without devices.

Almost any game of skill or chance that does not traditionally involve drinking can theoretically be converted into a drinking game. In some games, conversion could be as easy as letting the winner distribute shots to the other players, while in more complicated games, shots can be forced upon players for specific events in the game.

If you think the path to spiritual enlightenment passes through a six-pack, prepare to achieve brewski nirvana. The Real Beer Page has gathered more than 75,000 Web sites devoted to the amber elixir (no, you’re not counting double—we said 75,000). If it relates to beer, it’s here: info on brewpubs and beer festivals; suds-centric city guides; and unique home-brewing recipes. For the more serious-minded, there’s a section of brew news (who cares about Chechnya when there’s headlines like “Drunken Elephants Rampage Village”?). There’s even a database of beer games, from TV drinking games to BEERopoly (where combining your mortgage with alcohol is actually a good idea). It’s enough to make a guy thirsty.

For example, in the game of chess, players may have to take drinks when one of their pieces are captured (or perhaps the opposite, where they have to drink upon capturing a piece), as portrayed in the checkers-game scene of Our Man in Havana (in which the pieces are replaced with mini-whisky bottles). In a popular variant of baseball called Beer Ball, players have to drink some beer every time they reach a base. Players should exercise caution before choosing to add drinking to any sport that could be dangerous under intoxication.

Have fun, but be extremely careful if you play any games, especially the ones with high buzz factors. The games were created as an aid to responsible adults who know their limits (and not to cross them) when it comes to drinking, and not to promote this kind of drinking behavior. You should of course be of legal drinking age if you want to play these games with beer or drinks, but anyone can play these games with non-alcoholic beverages as well.

The only thing more pathetic than playing a drinking game is doing it alone. We are not responsible for beer guts, beer spills, broken coffee tables, broken marriages, hangovers, or any other circumstances caused by game participation. Play at your own risk.

Drink responsibly. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery, operate a car, have a conversation with your girlfriend or wife (boyfriend or husband), use a calculator, balance your checkbook, prepare your tax return, or put in contacts while under the influence of alcohol. As with all things drinking, you need to be 21 and not drink yourself to death.

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