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TV Show Drinking Game
Catchphrases, cold opens and cliffhangers - drink on cue.
TV Show Drinking Game
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Drinking Game
The **Brooklyn Nine-Nine Drinking Game** runs on the tightest bits in network comedy. Eight seasons of the 99th...
You watchBrooklyn Nine-Nine
You needDrinks + friends
Triggers14 drink rules
Best with2-15 players
The Brooklyn Nine-Nine Drinking Game runs on the tightest bits in network comedy. Eight seasons of the 99th precinct rely on the same handful of beats - Jake's 'Noice', Holt's flat delivery, a 'title of your sex tape', Boyle overexplaining a meal - so almost every scene in the bullpen is a trigger. Agree your rules before the cold open, then drink together as the squad does the thing it always does.
Fox made the first five seasons and NBC the last three, and the show never really changed gears, so any episode plays. Where it does shift is the annual Halloween Heist: one episode a season where the whole cast schemes at once and the trigger count roughly doubles. Save those for a party, and pair the rest with any other TV show drinking game on a normal night.
How to set it up
- Pick a heist or a normal episode on purpose. A Halloween Heist is a two-drinks-a-minute episode with everyone scheming; a Doug Judy episode is Jake-heavy and full of singing; a regular case-of-the-week spreads the sips evenly.
- Count the 'Noice' and 'Toit' rule as one trigger per outburst, not per repetition - Jake stacks them, and the room will argue otherwise.
- Decide whether Holt's deadpan counts for every line or just the punchlines. He never raises his voice, so 'every line' means every scene with him is a drink.
- Put Hitchcock and Scully on one watcher - they mumble their food lines in the background of other people's scenes and get missed.
The rules: drink when…
The heart of the game: 14 triggers. Read them out before you press play, keep the ones your group likes, cut any that would fire every minute, and remember that a "drink" is one sip.
| When this happens… | …you drink |
|---|---|
| Jake says 'Noice' or 'Toit' | Sip twice |
| Jake makes a Die Hard reference or launches into a bit | Sip |
| Someone makes a 'title of your sex tape' joke | Sip twice |
| Captain Holt delivers a line in a flat, deadpan tone | Sip |
| Holt mentions his dog Cheddar or his husband Kevin | Sip |
| Terry talks about yogurt or his daughters | Sip |
| Amy geeks out over organization, binders, or Holt | Sip |
| Gina says something self-absorbed or starts dancing | Sip |
| Boyle gushes about food or about Jake | Sip |
| Hitchcock or Scully mention food or being lazy | Sip |
| Rosa intimidates someone or guards a secret | Sip |
| Someone brings up the Halloween Heist | Sip |
| Jake and Amy make a bet or compete | Sip |
| The squad rallies together for an emotional win | Drink for 3 seconds |
How to play
Choose an era of the Nine-Nine
Seasons two through four are the peak for the running bits: Jake and Amy competing, Holt and Kevin, the Vulture, the early Doug Judy visits. Season one is still finding Holt; seasons six to eight have no Gina and a heavier, more serialised tone. Pick accordingly.
Drink on the bit
Jake's bits and Holt's lines arrive fast, so they set the pace; the Rosa and Terry rules fire only when their subplot comes up and give you a breather in between.
Play the heist as a round
For a Halloween Heist, add a rule: drink every time the prize changes hands. It can happen a dozen times in one episode, so it's a single small sip, and the reveal of the real winner is the long drink.
Keep the long drink for the squad
The three-second rule fires when the whole precinct rallies - a full-bullpen 'Nine-Nine!' chant, Jake's proposal in the season-five heist, the wedding in the season-five finale. Once an episode at most, and in most episodes never.
Variations & house rules
Heist night
Watch every Halloween Heist back to back - one per season, from 'Halloween' to the series finale. Each player backs a squad member before the episode starts; the backer of the winner hands out a sip to everyone else, and Holt losing costs the room a drink.
Doug Judy episodes
Line up the Pontiac Bandit episodes only - roughly one a season from season one. Drink whenever Doug Judy escapes, sings, or calls Jake his best friend, and finish the last one with a long drink for the way it ends.
Jake vs Amy
Two players take Jake and Amy. Every time your character wins a bet, a bust, or a bit on screen, the other player drinks. A shared romantic moment resets the count.
Pro tips
Holt's lines land dry and quiet, so any noise in the room means missed drinks - it's the one rule where you either play in silence or downgrade it to 'only when the squad reacts'.
'Title of your sex tape' is a Jake-to-Amy joke first, and it thins out once they're married in season five; it's a two-sip rule in the early seasons and a bonus later.
Season eight is only ten episodes with a heavier tone, so most rules fire slowly; the finale heist is the one episode there that plays like the old show.
Drink responsibly: The bits come in bursts - a heist episode or a cold-open run can stack a dozen sips in five minutes - so cap the night at three or four episodes rather than 'one more heist'. A movie-length game adds up fast, so keep the pours small, water between drinks, and swap any trigger for a sip of water whenever you like. See our safety guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes are best for a drinking game?
The Halloween Heist episodes, one per season starting with 'Halloween' in season one - every rule on the list fires as the squad double-crosses each other for the prize. For a regular episode, any Doug Judy visit or 'The Bet' in season one run close behind.
How does the drinking game handle the Halloween Heist?
Treat it as its own game. Keep the normal rules, add one small sip every time the prize changes hands, and make the final reveal of the winner the one long drink. Because everyone in the precinct is scheming at once, cut the Holt deadpan rule for that episode or the room won't reach the reveal.
Can we play the Brooklyn Nine-Nine drinking game on season eight?
Yes, but it's the slowest season for this list. The final run is ten episodes, more serious in tone, and without Gina, so her rule and the lighter bits sit idle. The finale's heist is the exception and plays like the Fox years.
Does the drinking game work on the cold opens alone?
Better than a full episode, minute for minute. The cold opens are self-contained sketches - the Backstreet Boys lineup, Holt's 'Hot damn', Terry's yogurt - and each fires two or three rules in ninety seconds. A cold-open-only compilation is the fastest form of the game.
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