Drinking Games: Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on your group. Kings Cup is the best all-rounder (one deck, works for almost any group), Beer Pong is the best competitive team game, Never Have I Ever is the best icebreaker, and Power Hour is the best music-driven marathon. If you only learn two games, make them Kings Cup and Beer Pong - between them they cover most parties.

The entire party games category runs on nothing but people and drinks: Never Have I Ever, Most Likely To, Paranoia, Would You Rather, Buffalo, Medusa, 21 and Cheers to the Governor. The word games shelf is just as gear-free.

Head-to-head games shine with two: Higher or Lower, Liar's Dice, Quarters and Mexicali all work perfectly. Our drinking games for 2 people guide ranks the best options for date nights and small hangs.

Games that keep everyone involved at once: Flip Cup and Boat Race (team relays), Rage Cage and Medusa (whole-circle chaos), and counting games like 21. See the large-group guide for a full party plan.

The campus classics: Beer Pong, Kings Cup, Flip Cup and Rage Cage. The college party guide lays out a night that scales from a pregame to a full house.

Sixteen full games - browse card drinking games. Kings Cup and Ride the Bus are the two everyone should know, and Presidents is the best one for a longer session.

A sleeve of 16-18 oz party cups, a handful of ping pong balls, one deck of cards and a couple of pairs of dice cover the vast majority of games on this site. That kit runs Beer Pong, Flip Cup and Rage Cage, every card game, and every dice game.

Most dice games use two standard dice. Ship, Captain & Crew uses five, Liar's Dice needs five per player, and Drunk Farkle uses six - a cheap set of ten dice covers everything.

Any rule your group adds or changes from the standard version. House rules are sacred: agree on them before the game starts, and write down the good ones. Our drinking game glossary defines the most common ones, from re-racks to the Buffalo rule.

Completely free - no signup, no downloads, no paywall. Quick Play runs from a single phone, and interactive card decks, dice rollers, spinners and timers are built into every game page that supports them.

A card appears, you do what it says and press Done for a point, or take a sip instead. It is our house game - 90 cards of dares, questions, group actions and votes - and it runs from one phone passed around the circle.

Yes - better than almost any other format. Everyone syncs the same Power Hour timer, movie or playlist at home and drinks together on cue. The online drinking games guide lists the best games for Zoom and FaceTime nights.

No. Everything works signed-out. If you sign in with Google we'll track the games you play and build a personal dashboard, but it is entirely optional and there is no email sign-up - Google only.

Yes, every single one. Use water, soda or juice, or swap sips for points, dares or push-ups. The alcohol-free guide converts the most popular games rule by rule - honestly, some are funnier that way.

The golden rules: sips not chugs, eat first, water between rounds, drinks always optional, and nobody drives. The full safety guide covers pacing by game intensity, looking after friends, and when to call for help.

One normal sip, unless a rule explicitly says otherwise. Any table that treats every penalty as a chug is playing wrong - big penalties like 'finish your drink' should be rare and always swappable for a dare or a pass.

The drinking versions are for people of legal drinking age where they live (21+ in the US). Every game also works alcohol-free at any age, so the mechanics are for everyone - what's in the cup is the part that has an age limit.

BestDrinkingGame.net is built and maintained by its editorial team, who were tired of half-written rules pages buried under ads. Every game is researched, cross-checked against how it is actually played, and written up with setup, full rules, variations, tips and its own FAQ. More on the about page.

We aim to be the reference. Each game lists the standard rules plus the common house-rule variations, and we hedge where a game's history or 'official' rules are genuinely disputed. Spotted something wrong? Tell us via the about page.

Please do - we grow the library based on what players ask for. Send your game, your house rule or a correction using the contact details on the about page, and check the glossary to see if your rule already has a name.