St. Patrick's Day Drinking Games
St. Patrick's Day is the closest thing drinking has to a national holiday, and it splits neatly into two great nights: the pub crawl and the house party. For the crawl, nothing beats Pub Golf - nine bars become nine holes, each with a par and a scorecard, and suddenly a bar hop has a whole competition wrapped around it. For the party, the card table is where the day belongs, anchored by Irish Poker and a deck that keeps everyone guessing. This guide lays out the crawl, the Irish card games, the house-party relays, and how to survive the greenest, longest day on the calendar.
Why St. Patrick's Day and drinking games go together
St. Patrick's Day is built around going out - the whole culture of the day is the pub, the crowd, and the crawl from one bar to the next. That makes it different from a house-party holiday: the game has to travel with you, survive a crowded bar, and work with strangers joining in. The best St. Patrick's games are portable, quick to explain, and heavy on structure, because structure is what keeps a long day of bar hopping from turning into an aimless blur.
The other half of the day is the house party, where friends who would rather not fight for a spot at the bar set up their own green-tinted celebration at home. There, the card table rules. Irish-named card games give the day its theme, and a few cup relays keep the energy up between hands. Whichever way you celebrate, the goal is the same - lean into the Irish flavor and give the day a shape, so it feels like an event rather than just an excuse to drink.
Run a pub crawl like Pub Golf
Pub Golf is the single best way to organize a St. Patrick's crawl. Every pub on your route is a 'hole', and every drink has a 'par' - the number of sips it should take to finish. A pint might be par four, a shot par one, a cocktail par three. You keep a scorecard, count your sips at each stop, and whoever finishes the round closest to par wins. It turns a shapeless bar hop into a proper game with a leaderboard.
A quick Higher or Lower bet between pubs is a fun way to decide who buys the next round while you walk. Here is a sample nine-hole card - adjust the pars to your own route and your own pace.
| Hole | Drink | Par (sips) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pint of Guinness | 5 |
| 2 | Irish whiskey, neat | 2 |
| 3 | Green lager | 4 |
| 4 | Irish coffee | 3 |
| 5 | Cider, half pint | 3 |
| 6 | Shot of your choice | 1 |
| 7 | Pint of ale | 5 |
| 8 | Water (free hole) | 0 |
| 9 | Final pint | 5 |
Irish card games for the table
If the party is at home, the deck is your best friend. These are the games that give St. Patrick's its card-table tradition, and they all run on a single pack and a few pints.
Irish Snap for fast reflexes
Irish Snap is chaos in the best way: players flip cards while counting up through the ranks, and the moment the card played matches the number being called, everyone slaps the pile. Last hand down drinks. It is loud, fast, and gets funnier as the day goes on and everyone's reflexes get slower - the perfect St. Patrick's game because it needs no skill, only nerve.
A Kings Cup centerpiece
Kings Cup is the anchor game for the home party - one deck spread around a center cup, with every card rank triggering a different rule. Rename a few for the day (make the kings 'pour a Guinness' and the waterfall a 'river dance') and it becomes a St. Patrick's staple. It seats a big table and runs as long as the deck lasts.
Ride the Bus for a big finish
When you want one dramatic showdown, Ride the Bus delivers. One unlucky player who guessed wrong has to run a gauntlet of face-up cards, drinking their way down the line while the whole room cheers or groans with every flip. It is the most theatrical card game of the day and a great way to crown a loser.
House party games in green
Cards are the backbone, but a house party needs movement too. Break up the hands with a few active games that get people off their chairs and shouting.
Team relays
Flip Cup is the go-to St. Patrick's crowd game - split the room into two teams, fill the cups with green lager, and race down the line flipping cups. For a pure chugging showdown, a Boat Race lines both teams up and settles who is faster in under two minutes. Both are instant, loud, and easy to run again the moment someone demands a rematch.
Aim and bounce
For skill games that reward a steady hand, Beer Pong is the tournament centerpiece - set up a bracket and let it run all afternoon. Quarters is the low-key option that lives on any table, bouncing a coin into a glass between rounds. Both slot neatly around the card games without needing their own dedicated space.
Quick filler games while the Guinness settles
A proper pint of Guinness takes almost two minutes to pour and settle, which is the perfect length for a fast, no-gear game. Categories fills that gap beautifully - name a topic like Irish counties or whiskey brands, go around the circle, and drink if you blank or repeat. It needs nothing but a group and works standing at the bar.
For a game that doubles as an icebreaker with the strangers you meet on a crawl, Never Have I Ever loosens up a new group fast. Load a few statements with St. Patrick's flavor and you will learn more about your fellow crawlers than you bargained for. Both games run in the gaps, so the fun never fully stops even between pints.
Green beer, a big day, and a safe night
St. Patrick's Day has a way of starting early and running long, and the green food coloring fools nobody's liver - a green pint is exactly as strong as a normal one. Pace it like the endurance event it is: eat a real meal before you start (a proper Irish fry does the job), drink a full glass of water between every pint, and treat that water 'free hole' on the scorecard as mandatory, not optional. Every sip on the card can be swapped for water or soda without leaving the game.
Because the day so often means a crawl across town, transport is the rule that matters most. Plan sober rides before the first pub - public transit, a booked car, or a designated driver who is genuinely not drinking. A crawl covers real distance on foot and by car, so map the route to end somewhere everyone can get home safely. Nobody drives after a St. Patrick's day out.
