Snow storms and bone-chilling cold temperatures have hit many parts of the country. And while sitting by the fire and drinking hot cocoa and Bailey’s is certainly enjoyable, one can only embrace picturesque serenity for so long before boredom inevitably sneaks in with a chokehold. When drinking has worn out its monotonous welcome and you’re teetering on the edge of losing your damn mind, here are nine games to help you pass the time.
Up The River, Down The River
Lay out two rows of five cards face down. Designate one row “give” and one “take.” Then deal out four cards to each player face up. Turn over the first card in row A. If it matches one of the player’s cards, they drink one. Turn over the first card in row B. If it matches one of the player’s cards, they get to give out a drink to another player. Repeat for each row, increasing the drinks given or taken by one. Rivalries are sure to form!
Beer Pong
Find a (Ping-Pong) table, set up a triangle of six Solo cups at each end, fill each with an inch of beer. Get two teams of two people (ideally) and have them take turns shooting the balls at each opposing set of cups. If team A makes a shot in team B’s set, team B drinks that cup. There are many rule variations —including ball bouncing, a repeat of turn if you sink two shots in one turn, etc. — but those are the basics.
Kings
Fan out an entire deck of cards around an empty cup. Take turns pulling cards, one per player per turn. Each card has it’s own designation (feel free to make up your own). Some suggestions include: take a drink, give a drink, start a rhyme and whoever can’t rhyme with the word drinks, pick a category like “sodas” and the players each name a kind of soda one by one and whoever can’t drinks, speak to the person to your right in question and whoever forgets drinks, everyone drinks from their beer and the person who drew the card stops first followed by the person to their right. This is the necessary one, though: with each king card, the drawer pours some of his beer into the cup. The one who draws the fourth king drinks that cup. Be kind because you never know who will draw that fourth king.
Flip Cup
Requires at least six players. Set up each team along a side of the table. Put a plastic Solo cup in front of each person, with the cup on the edge of the table, some of its bottom off the edge. Start on one end, each player trying to flip the cup and have it land upside down on its mouth. Once one player flips the cup, the player to his left can start, and so on. Whichever team finishes first down the line, wins.
Edward 40 Hands
This is simple. Duct tape a 40 oz. Olde English bottle on one or both hands. And drink them. We’re all winners!
Power Hour
This game sounds much easier than it is. Here are the rules: take a shot of beer every minute for an hour. Seems easy, right? That minute speeds up on you. Be forewarned!
Bottle Cap Float
Put a flat bottle cap upside down in a glass of beer. Each player takes his bottle of beer and tries to gently pour just one little drop in the bottle cap – sort of like Jenga, except you’re not pulling a block, you’re pouring a drop – keeping afloat. The one who sinks the cap, drinks the cap.
- RELATED STORY: Cozy Up: 12 Winter Beers To Usher In The Cold Weather
Asshole
This is a four-to-six player card game. Deal out the deck to all the players. The object is to get rid of your hand. You can play any card that’s the same number or more than the card the player before you played. If the player before you plays doubles or triples (two or three of a certain number) then you must play doubles or triples of equal card value or more, respectively. The two “clears” the deck, wiping the table clean — it’s the most powerful. The person who finishes first is the President and can make rules for the players who finished after him.
- RELATED STORY: 11 Of The Best Cheap Beers In America, Ranked
Quarters
Take a quarter between your thumb and forefinger and try to bounce it on a table into an empty cup. The player opposite you should try to do the same thing. The one who makes it first tells the other player to drink.
