Let’s face it, everyone loves a good drinking game. It can be the entire life of a party. It’s hilarious watching your friends or colleagues get progressively more drunk as they play on. You can play a drinking game just about anywhere at any given time provided you don’t plan on driving any time soon. They key ingredient is of course alcohol, but it can be tough to decide what the best drinking games are.

Maybe you want to relive your glory days playing beer pong with your college friends? Or are you having a family party or function you want to spice up and ruin with excessive drinking? Then a drinking game is sure to do the trick. It’s the fastest way to great time… and a hangover in the morning.

A drinking game is of course a game which involves the consumption of alcohol, but we advise that you should always drink responsibly. The aim of most drinking games is to get everyone playing drunk, making the game progressively harder to play in most instances.

If you’re a super lightweight then tread carefully, many of the best drinking games are not for the faint of heart. But there is only one way to get better at playing drinking games, and that is to drink and play.

Many drinking games require a few extra items or equipment to play properly, but like we’re sure you have done in the past, you can always create your own bootleg versions of each game.

The best drinking games can be great ice breakers for parties, functions, events, and generally getting to know everyone a little better. If you went to college or university, you probably have some experience bonding with strangers over the drunken act of playing a drinking game. The best drinking games are a brilliant way of bringing people together to have some fun.

The biggest bonus to playing drinking games is that you don’t really need any type of alcohol to play, you just need alcohol. It could beer, cider, spirits, moonshine if you want to keep it country, or even those nasty pre-mixed drinks in a can which are so disgusting that they should only be used if playing against your sworn enemy.

We all know the popular best drinking games to play, like Kings or Beer Pong. But there is lots of competition for the best drinking games to play. We’ve had the pleasure of playing all of the best drinking games, which of course was awful having to drink on the job, but somebody had to do it, and we got there in the end.

Sink it! Down it! Bottom it! Chug it! These are often the cries you will hear when playing a drinking game, followed by crying over the toilet bowl the next morning. So, if you like to show off your ability to sink a pint of lager in a disgustingly fast amount of time, or rather your lack of skills at sinking pints then why not consider playing a drinking game when the opportunity arises?

Fueled by fun, alcohol and absolutely awful dance moves, the best drinking games are always the ones in which you consume the most alcohol in the shortest space of time. Or is it? We have taken it upon ourselves to compile a list of some of the best drinking games you can play at home, on the go, at the beach or wherever you please really. Just remember to drink safely and responsibly. Oh, and try not to embarrass yourself once the liquor loosens your inhibitions.

BEST DRINKING GAMES

1. Beer Pong

Price: $20 or less
Requirements: Table/Ping Pong ball/12 cups/Alcohol of choice/At least two willing participants
Suitable For: Anyone in college or university, or those who wish to relive their glory days

Beer Pong shouldn’t really need any introduction, we’ve all heard of it, played it or at least seen it in a movie. But for those of you who haven’t had the wonderful experience of playing this incredibly competitive game, let us give you a quick run-down.

Create two triangles of cups opposite each other at each end of a table, in a simple 3-2-1 style formation. You’ll need at least two players for this game to work but feel free to split into two teams if you have a bigger group. Half or quarter fill the cups with whatever alcohol you wish – some could have a shot of vodka, others a half pint of beer.

Then simply take turns to throw the ping pong ball into the opposing teams cups. If the ball lands in a cup, then the team who’s cup the ball landed in must drink the contents of the cup and remove it from the table.

Whoever runs out of cups first not only loses, but will likely end up much more drunk than you. You can then either choose to laugh at them, or quickly catch up to their level by playing again with another person or team. 

BUY HERE

2. Wizard Staff

Price: $20
Requirements: At least two people, duct tape and some cans of beer. Long beards and pointy hats are optional
Suitable For: Avid Lord of The Rings fans

The tale of this drinking game is known by few, but we’re going to let you in on the big secret and tell you all about this hilarious drinking game. You’ll need to make sure that you’re drinking cans of beer for this one, or it won’t work.

Basically, players will drink their cans of beer or cider, after a player has finished their can they must hold on to it, and tape it to their previous can underneath. Your taped together cans will start to somewhat hopefully resemble that of a staff depending on how drunk you are. You have now created your very own wizard staff. Who knows what powers of drunkenness you will unlock?

Ultimately, the person who has the biggest staff wins. Yes, size matters when it comes to comparing your staffs in this game. The first to get to ten cans becomes the White Wizard. Anyone who reaches ten cans after the White Wizard, must duel the White Wizard with their staff. Staves are smacked together until one breaks, the champion keeps the title of White Wizard.

This is a great drinking game to play while having a Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings marathon or alternatively playing a board game like Dungeons and Dragons. Or maybe you’re just bored and want to do something with all of your empty cans?

3. Truth or Drink

Price: The price of whatever you want to drink
Requirements: Alcohol/Cups (optional)
Suitable For: Birthday parties, girls, sleepovers, girls, people who are incredibly nosey

The best drinking games are often the simplest. Truth or drink is a pretty self-explanatory game unless you struggle with matching actions with words. But we’ll explain it anyway.

Each player has a drink; you then simply choose to drink or tell the truth to a question which has been asked by one of your fellow players. If you don’t want to answer you can just drink, but everyone is going to know what you did last summer…

This is a great game to play with a close group of friends where everyone has some heat on each other. Maybe you want to get your friend back by embarrassing them for something they’ve done in their past?

Be warned, the more people drink, the raunchier this game can get. Do you like meatballs for dinner can quickly turn into did you hook up with said person last summer. If you drink, everyone’s going to know anyway so you might want to tell the truth regardless.

SEE HERE

4. Shot Roulette

Price: $20 or less
Requirements: Shot Roulette wheel/Two types of spirits/At least two players
Suitable For: Anyone who enjoys the combined thrill of gambling and drinking

This game is very basic but is great to whip out for just about any occasion. Shot roulette is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a roulette wheel made with shot glasses. You have red shots and black shots. Each color of glass has a different spirit. You spin the ball and drink the corresponding color of shot it lands on. Quite simple.

The drunker you get, the more you hope it lands on something like tequila over neat vodka. You can mix it up and just put a variety of shots on the wheel without having it related to colors, some water, some gin, some absinthe. Gamble your soberness away. But remember, the house always wins so you’re probably going to end up not being sober and with a hangover the next morning.

BUY HERE

5. Sixes

Price: $1 + your drink
Requirements: Six glasses of different size/Dice
Suitable For: Risk takers

You’re going to need six different sized cups for this one, ranging from a small shot glass to those comically massive mugs or a German beer stein. You then fill these six cups with six different types of alcohol. You then assign each cup to a number between 1-6. Each player rolls the dice and must then drink the corresponding cup with whatever number they roll.

A great tip for this game is not filling your biggest cup with the hardest liquor you have. Nobody wants to be sinking a massive cup of Jack Daniels.

6. Drunk Jenga

Price: $15
Requirements: Jenga/Pen/2 willing participants/Alcohol
Suitable For: Architects or people who were good at sober Jenga

For this drinking game, you will need to purchase a Jenga set if you don’t already own one. You can find them pretty cheap on Amazon. You can choose to write on all of the blocks or just a few of them. You can write things like ‘Take a shot’, ‘Down your drink’ or ‘Spin round 10 times’

You just play this like normal Jenga, but you must do whatever has been written on the block. You can get pretty imaginative with what you write on the blocks. Drunk Jenga is a great game to spice up any party.

The drunker everyone gets, the harder the game becomes. Just make sure you’re not the one on clean up duty. Whoever pulls the block that topples the tower has to choose two more blocks with a task on in addition to the one they pulled, at random.

BUY HERE

7. Titanic

Price: Free
Requirements: A pint glass and a shot glass
Suitable For: If you come from Belfast, your name is Jack or Rose, or just about anyone else of legal age

To play this game, you can choose to fill a pint glass with multiple different alcohols or just one depending on how drunk you’re willing to get. Once the pint glass is full, simply place a shot glass into it so that it floats.

Each player is going to take turns to pour a little bit of their own drink into the shot glass without sinking it. Whoever sinks the shot glass must drink the full pint. An easy way to add the drink to the shot glass is to give everyone a straw which can be placed in the drink, the end sealed and then removed and used as a pipette.

Be warned this is a one-way ticket to the toilet bowl for the weak. However, makes for a great night of fun and can be repeated multiple times.

8. Where’s the Water?

Price: Free
Requirements: Shot glasses and clear spirits
Suitable For: Anyone with a great poker face

The best drinking games are always for those who like to bluff. Where’s the water is a great game if you can handle your clear spirits like vodka and tequila.

To play simply line up some shot glasses and fill some them with clear spirits and some of them with water. Each player picks a drink and downs the shot. They must then say ‘Mmm, water’ in a convincing tone.

You can call them out and say they’re clearly lying, in which case if they are then they must drink another. But if you call them out and they are not lying, then you must drink a real shot, and the game continues.

9. Friends and Enemies

Price: $1
Requirements: A deck of cards
Suitable For: Friends and enemies

All of the best drinking games should be played and enjoyed with friends and enemies alike. Especially this one. All you need is a deck of cards and some drinks.

Deal the pack of cards out evenly amongst everyone playing the game. Whoever wants to go first can choose a card and set it down on the table while saying aloud the name of a person in the room playing the game. That person must then drink for the number of seconds that is on the card, for example 4 seconds for the 4 of hearts.

The big twist is that another person with the same card as the one set down can use that card to save said person and pass the drinking on to another player. A great way to make some friends and enemies.

10. International Drinking Rules

Price: Free
Requirements: The ability to follow rules
Suitable For: Big parties and people who are good at following rules

International Drinking Rules has to be up there with the best drinking games, internationally of course…

This game is very basic and easy to play. Simply carry on socializing and drinking as normal, except there are some rules. If the rules are broken, then you must drink. You can customize the rules to whatever you like but there are a few ‘standard’ rules as such.

11. Drunk Twister

Price: $10
Requirements: Twister/Being flexible
Suitable For: Gymnasts or tall people

If you were a fan of drunk Jenga, then you’re going to love drunk twister. Just make sure you’re a little tipsy before you begin, it makes it more fun.

This is the adult version of twister. If you happen to fall over, then you must take a drink. You can correlate the colours to different drinks or dares. Get creative with this one. It is a great game to whip out at any friendly function.

This is a sure way to get twisted really fast. The drunker you get the harder the game becomes. It is a great way to explore how flexible you are and if it’s worth your time to look into joining the Olympic gymnastics team.

12. Task Master

Price: Free
Requirements: You must be willing
Suitable For: People who like to be bossy

Task Master is definitely one of the best drinking games for parties where you don’t really know that well. It’s also a great pre-drinks game and can be a good laugh.

You will firstly want to play a quick round of everyone’s favorite game, rock paper, scissors to decide who gets to be the Task Master. Once you have decided on a Task Master, the Task Master can then pick a person from the group to perform a certain challenge or dare. The riskier and funnier the better.

As a good example, the Task Master could ask somebody to speak with a funny accent for the next 30 minutes without breaking character. If the person refuses or fails to perform their task, then they must drink. If they are successful, then everyone else must drink instead.

This works much better when everyone is progressively getting more drunk. Just try to make sure all of your tasks are legal and don’t involve something crazy like stealing a police car.

13. Never Have I Ever

Price: Free
Requirements: A clean conscious
Suitable For: People seeking revenge

Never have I ever will always hold a spot as one of the best drinking games. We have all played it at one point or another. It’s a great game to get to know your friends, or better yet, catch them out. If you like being a mischievous, then you’ve got to play Never Have I Ever.

To play, you take it in turns to use the prefix ‘Never have I ever’ in a sentence of something you have never done, anyone that has done the said action must drink.

You can be as tame as you like with this one, but it quickly progresses into who has performed what sex acts with who to catch people out in your friend group. So, play with caution, you might get embarrassed.

Also, be warned of calling out your friends in front of others, it might not end very well when there is alcohol involved.

14. Straight Face

Price: $5
Requirements: Paper/Pen
Suitable For: People who cannot keep a straight face

The best drinking games get better the more alcohol you consume. Straight face is certainly one of those games.

In order to play, you’re going to need some pens and paper. Hand these out to everyone who intends on playing. Everyone will then be required to write down a funny phrase that they think other people won’t be able to keep a straight face when saying aloud.

Each player will then take it in turns reading a different piece of paper aloud and whoever laughs, must then drink.

This is a great game to get creative with, you can read in a funny voice or seize the perfect opportunity to think of the most rancid, out of character dirty talk you can think of that people won’t be able to resist laughing at.

15. Flip the Cup

Price: $5
Requirements: Plastic cups/Table
Suitable For: Anyone that thought beer pong was a timeless drinking game

If you still play beer pong, you’ll probably know this one and be well acquainted with it. The name kind of explains this one, but if you’re a little unsure of how this drinking game works and haven’t seen it at work in any teen style coming-of-age college movie, here is the run down.

Firstly, you want to have some cups that won’t break when you flip them, we recommend plastic cups and not glass cups. The game requires at least two players; cups are lined up at opposite sides of a table and filled with alcohol. Players must then down the drink and attempt to flip the cup with their fingers into an upside-down position. First person or team to flip all of their cups wins.

This is one of the best drinking games for house parties and can be enjoyed both inside and outside. Although it is a little harder than it looks, unless you’ve had plenty of practice in your younger days, eh?

There Are So Many to Choose From

Drinking games are a great way to add a little spice to a party and are create at covering your rampant alcoholism up. Chances are, you’ve heard of most of these games before. That’s because they are some of the best drinking games around, world-wide. Yep, almost every country will have some variation of some of the best drinking games around.

There are many different drinking games to choose from, depending on the style of your function or party and what you want the vibe to be. It’s usually best to keep drinking games lighthearted and just for fun as we all know things can get out of hand fast when alcohol is involved.

Try not let your super competitive drinking ego ruin all the fun, and enjoy some of the best drinking games with family and friends or maybe even try to flirt with somebody you’re interested in. There are so many drinking games to choose from that there is bound to be one for everyone to enjoy. 

Just remember to drink responsibly and not to do anything illegal, there’s lots of fun to be had in a safe, legal way without things getting out of control.

FAQ

What is The Best Drinking Game?

We like the traditional games like Beer Pong and Drunk Jenga, but the best drinking games are those which you think suit you and your function or party as well as all the guests attending the best. Different drinking games are better for different situations. Beer Pong might be better for a competitive group of friends, whilst Never Have I Ever might be better if you’re super nosey and want to know what your friends have been up to.

Do I Need To Drink Alcohol To Play?

Drinking games are great fun when alcohol is involved but it is by no means a requirement that you need to drink alcohol. If you enjoy a life of sobriety or aren’t of legal drinking age, then you can always substitute alcohol for something else like hot sauces or disgusting drink mixes like Pepsi and milk, or orange juice and ketchup. Alcohol just makes it more challenging! But it will be just as much fun watching everyone get progressively worse at the games whilst you stay coherently intact.

Do I Need Money To Play?

Absolutely not, many of the best drinking games are free and just require some imagination. You can make bootleg versions of the game without having to buy anything other than the alcohol.

Do I need Other People To Play?

Ideally yes, playing with others makes the games much more fun. But if you’re bored and want to play on your own, games like Beer Pong or Flip The Cup can be great fun.

What Alcohol Do I Need?

Aside from some games requiring multiple different types of alcohol, you can really play with whatever alcohol you please and generally whichever alcohol you find tastes better. Usually you can all chip into buying the bottles to make things more affordable, so the bigger the group the better.

Get Playing!

Pick a game and grab your friends, a drink and get playing some of the best drinking games around!