Board Games and Booze: You Can’t Go Wrong!

May 9, 2009     Posted in Cool Stuff

girl_talk_box_cover.jpgWe’ve all played the typical card-related party games: Kings, F*** the Dealer, Up and Down the River. We’ve also played games that require plastic Solo cups and a lot of clean-up: Flip Cup, Beer Pong, Beirut. But there is still a world of party entertainment out there that remains in the shadows of these Drinking Game Giants.


By Kathryn S

Sure, you can play football, baseball, or basketball while under the influence, but you might find yourself missing the ball and falling over. The following are some tried and tested drinking games that will let you unleash your inner child… even though your ID reads 21+.

Jenga

Drinking Jenga, that is. Write some rules on each block, e.g. “Drink two,” “Pass out three,” or “Categories,” (feel free to hi-jack your favorite rules from Kings and its counterparts), and see how long it takes for your balance and your vision to be so blurred you can’t help but topple the tower. What makes this one so much fun? Place a yard cup in the center of the table, and invite everyone to pour their drinks in at their leisure, especially if everyone’s drinking something different. Whoever ends the game has to drink the alcohol soup in the cup.

Girl Talk

Dust off your seventh grade slumber party favorite and try playing it with booze. Instead of zit stickers, take a drink. You’ll be surprised how entertaining the “future cards” can be now that you’re all grown up…and half in the bag. If the GT dares aren’t thrilling enough, have everyone write down a few of their own dares and play. This one is great to play while leisurely sipping fruity cocktails.

Apples to Apples

This is my personal newest obsesh. Best game ever. This one doesn’t need to be a “drinking game,” per say, but if you play it while drinking, you’ll never want to put it down. Everyone gets five red cards with random adjectives on them. In turn, each player then takes a green card, which usually consists of a noun. Every player puts whichever red card they possess that best goes with the green card, and the player who drew the green card chooses the best red card and rewards the winner with the green card. With cards like “Viagra,” “rope burn,” and “Penn and Teller,” the possibilities are endless…and bizarre. To get your BAC up quicker, let the Green Card winners take a shot at the end of each round.

Twister

Do I really need to explain the pros (and/or cons) of drinking Twister?

Scrabble

See how creative (and potentially inappropriate) you can get when your inhibitions are lowered. Of course, just because your language is slurring doesn’t mean you can spell your words with a few extra R’s, and things might get a little bit raucous when people start making up words that make sense only in their drunken minds.

Sorry!

If you thought intoxicated beer pong players got competitive and aggressive, just see what happens when a group of inebriated college students bump little plastic pawns all over a board. Sorry! is one of the most fun games that I remember from childhood, and a few brews will only amplify its awesomeness. When your piece lands on a slide and you get to move ahead a few extra spaces, you may or may not lose control and jump up and down as if you’ve hit the jackpot. But hey, it’s only a game, right?

If you’re still on break, I encourage you to break into your parents’ attic and try to dust off some of your former favorite rainy day games. Make up your own rules to put a grown-up twist on board games, games of chance, or even Dream Phone! It’s a great way to beat the winter break blues, just before you get back to hard partying ways in the dorms. Anybody have any particular favorites?

18 Comments on "Board Games and Booze: You Can’t Go Wrong!"

  1. jodi says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20097:30 am 

    I want to start drinking just so I can play some of these.

  2. Reid says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20098:41 am 

    catch phrase! it's tiny so you can just stick it in your purse and it is the best game EVER when you're drinking:)

  3. Krista says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20099:03 am 

    I totally just did the apples to apples one last night! I love apples to apples!

  4. Erica - Kent State says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20099:20 am 

    It's so funny that Apples to Apples has become such a party/drinking game. I used to play it with my aunt & uncle (okay, while drinking) like years ago. so much fun!

  5. Lauren, University o says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 200910:23 am 

    Catch Phrase is DEF the ultimate drinking game. I played for 3 hours once and never ended actually making it out of the house.

  6. melanie says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 200910:53 am 

    CATCH PHRASE!!! best drinking game everrrr i'd say

  7. Casey says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20091:20 pm 

    haha Sorry! My boyfriend and I smoke and then play that. It gets intense! That's the only time I can beat him at it, and I beat him every time. My nickname is "The Champion".

  8. maddie says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20092:21 pm 

    you described apples to apples wrong…

    everyone gets red cards with NOUNS on them and puts one facedown in the pile that matches the one green card with an ADJECTIVE on it, which is picked by the person judging. the person who put down the winning red card keeps the green, and so on until you accumulate the correct number.

  9. lina says:
    Sun, 25th Jan 20093:53 pm 

    haha maddie i was just about to correct the post too

    apples to apples is hilarious prob be funnier drunk

  10. AJ says:
    Mon, 26th Jan 20094:41 am 

    Apples to Apples is so fun drunk. As is Boxers or Briefs, if you can find it. It's the same concept, only you're trying to find the best phrase to describe the dealer. The dealer then chooses the funniest and the truest statement and those people get chips. Everyone else drinks.

    And yes. Catch Phrase…is dangerous. Most nights we pull it out and losers take shots end with lots of barfing. SO MUCH FUN.

    Also, dear jeebus, please tell me I still have Girl Talk at home. I have to play it now. Have to. Maybe it's on ebay…

  11. Elle says:
    Mon, 26th Jan 20096:50 pm 

    Apples to Apples is the most hilarious game. Touchy Feely? Heller Keller for the win!

  12. maddie says:
    Mon, 26th Jan 20099:10 pm 

    man i loved pretty pretty princess… where is that…

  13. Kelly says:
    Tue, 27th Jan 20095:06 pm 

    My boyfriend and I are getting each other board games for Valentine's Day just for this same reason. I got him Trivial Pursuit and Scene It and I can't wait to play!

  14. Jenna says:
    Sat, 9th May 20092:25 pm 

    For Apples to Apples, we generally just have everyone but the green card winner drink at the end of each round, or the green card winner can hand out 5 (or however many) drinks.

  15. Anonymous says:
    Mon, 11th May 20091:42 pm 

    Catchphrase for sure. I can’t even describe the implications of taking shots when your team loses 6 times in a row. FML.

  16. Fox says:
    Sat, 19th Sep 20092:44 pm 

  17. DokyoblIllelt says:
    Thu, 11th Feb 20107:59 am 

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    Is it worth is to sell my baseball cards? but I want to research if it is actually worth it to sell these cards or if I should hold onto them. They are

    1967 baseball cards Thanks for any advice.

  18. Dream Phone says:
    Thu, 30th Sep 20105:47 am 

    Nice article!

    Some of these a blast from the past…!

    We've just launched our official website, which features an online version of the Dream Phone board game.

    Take a peak: http://www.dreamphone.co.uk

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