Titanic Drinking Game

Float the shot glass, pour with a surgeon's hand - don't sink it.

Also known as: Soju Titanic · Submarine

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Players 3-10

You needBeer glass, shot glass, soju, beer

DrinkSoju + beer (somaek)

Intensity

Time15-30 min

Titanic is Korea's most nerve-shredding drinking game, and it fits in two glasses. Float an empty shot glass in a glass of beer, then take turns pouring tiny amounts of soju into it. Each pour makes the shot glass ride lower in the beer. Whoever's pour finally sends it under - Glug, gone, straight to the bottom - Drinks the whole glass: beer, soju, and sunken ship together.

It's a game of steady hands and gleeful sabotage. A confident player pours a single drop and slides the danger to the next person; a shaky one hesitates, overpours, and watches the glass slip beneath the surface to a chorus of screams. Titanic is a fixture of Korean bar rounds and company dinners, and it doubles as a beautiful machine for producing somaek - The beloved soju-and-beer bomb - One dramatic sinking at a time.

What you need & setup

Fill a beer glass roughly half to two-thirds full with cold beer.
Float an empty shot glass gently on the beer's surface - It should sit level and stable.
Open a bottle of soju and set it within everyone's reach.
Sit in a circle and agree on turn order and pour rules (every pour must add at least a drop).
Keep a towel handy; Titanic produces splashdowns.

How to play Titanic

Build the ship

Pour beer into a wider glass until it's half to two-thirds full, then lower the empty shot glass onto the surface so it floats upright. If it lists or dips, re-float it before starting - Everyone deserves a fair ship. The beer level matters: too full and sinkings splash, too empty and the shot glass grounds on the bottom.

Pour in turn

Going around the circle, each player pours a little soju from the bottle into the floating shot glass. Every pour must visibly add liquid - No fake pours, no hovering theatrics that add nothing. As soju accumulates, the shot glass sits lower and lower in the beer, and the surface tension of the entire table rises with it.

Play the meniscus

Strategy lives in the pour size. Early players can pour generously to load the ship and pass the danger downstream; late players pour single drops with surgical focus. Watch the rim of the shot glass relative to the beer - Once beer starts lapping near the lip, any drop can be the last. This is where hands begin to shake.

Sink it, drink it

When a pour sends the shot glass under, it sinks to the bottom and the beer and soju swirl together into an instant somaek. The player who sank it drinks the whole glass - Traditionally in one go, with the shot glass clinking inside. Cheers, applause, and at least one person yelling the movie theme are customary.

Reset and sail again

Fish out the shot glass, rebuild the ship with fresh beer, and start the next voyage - Usually with the sinker pouring first, since fortune owes them nothing. Rounds take a few minutes, so Titanic works perfectly as a between-courses game at a barbecue table or a bar. Rotate the starting player so the risky late positions move around the circle.

Mind the somaek

Remember what the loser is actually drinking: somaek - Soju (soju's typically around 16-20% alcohol) mixed into beer. It goes down easy and adds up quickly, which is exactly why Korean drinking culture pairs games like this with food, water, and long dinners. Pour modest beer levels and treat each sinking as a real drink, not a dare.

The rules

The shot glass starts empty and must float freely on the beer before the first pour.
Players take turns pouring soju into the floating shot glass, in a fixed order.
Every turn must add a visible amount of soju - A single drop is legal, an empty tilt is not.
No touching the beer glass, the shot glass, or the table during another player's pour.
Whoever's pour sinks the shot glass drinks the entire glass - Beer, soju, and all.
The resulting drink is somaek, Korea's classic soju-and-beer bomb - That's the whole point of the punishment, so size the beer glass sensibly.
If the shot glass sinks between turns with no pour (a delayed sinking), the last pourer drinks.
Deliberately jostling the table means you drink in the sinker's place.
The sinker pours first in the next round; rounds continue as long as the table wants.
Anyone can swap in a lighter pour-and-sip penalty - The game works at any strength.

Variations & house rules

Double Bottle Titanic

Players pour with a bottle in each hand - One soju, one beer - Choosing either (or a rule forcing alternation) on their turn. Beer pours raise the outer level while soju loads the ship, so the physics get delightfully unpredictable. For experienced tables that have gotten too good at reading the meniscus and want chaos restored.

Countdown Titanic

Each player must pour for a duration they announce in advance - 'one second' up to 'three seconds' - Called before touching the bottle. Longer calls earn respect; surviving a called three-second pour is legendary. It removes the drop-pour safety valve and turns every turn into a public wager between ego and buoyancy.

Titanic Roulette

Line up several beer glasses, each with a floating shot glass, but only one containing beer mixed with a spicy or bitter twist agreed by the table. Players choose which ship to pour into on their turn. Sinking any ship means drinking it - And only then discovering which vessel carried the cargo. Melodrama guaranteed.

Iceberg Rule

Add an ice cube - The iceberg - To the beer before floating the shot glass. As it melts and drifts, it nudges the ship unpredictably, and any collision-caused sinking counts against the last player who poured. Slower, weirder, and wonderfully tense; best played somewhere a little cold so the iceberg lingers.

Soft Sail

The zero-proof version: float the shot glass in a soft drink and pour in juice or tea, with the sinker drinking the (perfectly pleasant) result. Identical tension, no alcohol - Which makes it a genuinely great party trick for mixed groups, designated drivers, and anyone pacing their night between full-strength voyages.

Pro tips

Pour down the inside edge of the shot glass, not the center - Center pours rock the ship and sink it early.

Brace your pouring elbow on the table or your other hand; most sinkings come from wobble, not volume.

Watch the gap between the shot glass rim and the beer surface - Under a few millimeters, pour one drop and pray.

Use a cold, freshly opened beer; flat beer floats the glass lower from the start and shortens the game.

Keep food on the table Korean-style - Somaek on an empty stomach is how one game becomes the whole night.

Agree on the delayed-sinking rule before starting; it's the game's only real argument.

Where Titanic fits on the shelf

Titanic lands mid-table for intensity (6th of 9 world games), rated 3 out of 5.
The sweet spot is 3-10 players - enough for chaos, few enough that every turn matters.
A typical session runs 15-30 min - a solid middle act for the evening.
Browse the full world drinking games shelf to compare all 9 games side by side.

A little history

Titanic comes from South Korea's rich soju drinking-game culture, where it's often played alongside games like 3-6-9 and Baskin Robbins 31 at bars and company dinners (hoesik). It appears to have spread through Korean university and nightlife culture - The name presumably borrowed from the famous sinking ship, and the 1997 film likely helped it stick. It's essentially a theatrical way of making somaek, Korea's iconic soju-beer bomb, whose tradition is far older than the game.

Drink responsibly: Titanic's penalty is a full glass of beer with a shot of soju in it - A real drink, every round. Keep the beer glass small, rotate in water, and eat while you play, as Korean drinking culture wisely does. Let repeat sinkers sip instead of chug, and never pressure anyone to finish the glass. See our safety guide for pacing tips and alcohol-free versions.

Titanic FAQ

What is somaek and why does it matter in Titanic?

Somaek is Korea's signature bomb drink - The word blends soju and maekju (beer). Normally you'd mix it deliberately to taste; Titanic just builds one by accident, dramatically, inside the loser's glass. When the shot glass of soju sinks into the beer, the mixture is somaek, and drinking it is the game's penalty. It's smooth and easy to underestimate, so treat each sunk glass as a genuine full drink.

How much beer should be in the glass?

Half to two-thirds full is the sweet spot. You need enough depth for the shot glass to float freely and sink visibly, but the loser has to drink everything, so an overfilled pint turns a fun penalty into a punishing one. Many Korean tables use a modest glass precisely so the game can run several rounds without wrecking anyone. Adjust downward as the night goes on.

Is Titanic really a Korean game?

Yes - It's a staple of South Korean drinking culture, played at bars, university gatherings, and company dinners alongside games like 3-6-9. Its exact origin and age are hard to pin down, and the name is obviously borrowed from the famous ship (the 1997 film likely boosted it). The underlying somaek tradition of mixing soju and beer is authentically and distinctly Korean.

What happens if the shot glass sinks when nobody is pouring?

That's the 'delayed sinking', and the standard ruling is that the last person who poured takes the drink - Their pour set the ship past its limit, even if it took a moment to go down. Some tables call it an act of the sea and re-float with no penalty. Decide before round one, because this exact situation will absolutely happen.

Can you play Titanic without soju?

Definitely. Any spirit works in the shot glass - Vodka, rum, whiskey - Floating in beer, though the result won't be true somaek. For a gentler game, pour beer into the shot glass instead of liquor, or go fully alcohol-free with soda and juice. The tension comes from the physics of the floating glass, not the strength of what's in it.

Titanic Drinking Game

What you need & setup