Celebrate Your Birthday With These 40 Drinking Games

How to play: Fill 20 cups with the alcohol of your choice, then arrange 10 cups in the shape of a pyramid on both ends of a table and divide into two teams. Team A will then try to sink a ping pong ball in one of Team B’s cups, and vice versa. When the ball lands in a cup, someone from the opposite team drinks from the cup, and whichever team clears out the opponent’s cups first wins.

How to play: Divide into two teams, and have the players stand in a row on opposite ends of a table. Each player should have a drink in front of them. The contestants at the front of the lines quickly drink the contents of their cup, before turning the cup upside down and flipping it into its upright position before the other player. Whichever team flips all their cups first wins.

How to play: A play on the classic party game, Truth Or Drink allows players the opportunity to spill their secrets, or plead the fifth and take a sip of their drink.

How to play: One by one, each person counts consecutively out loud but cannot say the number seven or any of its multiples (14, 21, 28, etc.). If someone says the forbidden numbers, the group will yell “Buzz!”, and whoever fails to do so has to drink with the person who broke the rules.

How to play: Each party guest agrees to drink with their non-dominant hand for the rest of the night. If a person gets caught breaking the rules, someone will yell “Buffalo!”, and the guilty party has to finish the drink right then and there.

How to play: Write instructions on Jenga pieces, like “take a shot” or “make someone of your choosing chug their drink.” Assemble the pieces like you would if you were playing a regular game of Jenga, and each player will pick a block and follow the instructions. Whoever makes the structure fall over loses, and must finish their drink as punishment.

How to play: After dividing guests into duos, each group will pick a piece of paper from a bowl. On the paper will be a body part that they must remain “attached” to for the night, such as pinkie, shoulders, or elbows, and every time someone separates, they have to take a shot.

How to play: Much like a regular game of trivia, players will be broken into teams (or they can play solo if it’s a smaller gathering), and will have to answer pop culture questions correctly. Whoever gets the question wrong has to drink.

How to play: One player spins a quarter on the table and chugs their drink with the same hand they spun the coin with. Then, the player must pick up the quarter while it’s still spinning with that same hand, and if they get caught using the wrong one, they have to take another sip and redo their turn until they complete the round.

Each finished drink becomes your own “land mine,” and gives you the right to smash another player’s quarter mid-spin and force them to down their drink and try again. If the quarter hits an empty can the spinner must drink and re-spin, and if they’re unable to complete their turn after three failed attempts, they have to take a shot and pass the quarter off to the next person.

How to play: Similar to the alcohol-free version of the game, each player lists off an activity they’ve never done before, and whoever has must take a sip of their drink.

How to play: Set up cups filled with clear alcohol (vodka, tequila, etc.) and water. The first player will grab a random cup, take a sip, and try to convince everyone that it’s water. The group will then guess whether or not it was filled with H2O, and if they guess correctly the player finishes the drink. If not, everyone else takes a sip.

How to play: Grab dice and any snack ingredients you can find in the kitchen. Next, a player will role the dice, and whichever number it lands on is the amount of ingredients that they will have to eat (combined into one delicious bite, obviously). If they eat it, you drink. If they don’t, they drink.

How to play: Similar to Beer Pong, each player tries to bounce a quarter into a cup, but if they are successful, they don’t have to drink the contents of the glass. Instead, they can pass it off to another person who must drink the bev and catch the quarter in their mouth. If they don’t get the quarter in the cup, they can try again or pass the coin to the person beside them. If they miss a second time, they must take a sip.

How to play: One player will flip a coin and call either heads or tails before it lands. If the spare change lands on the correct side, the player will pass the coin to the right. If it lands on the opposite side, the player must pass the coin to the left, and either sip or strip a piece of clothing.

How to play: Player A names a celebrity (like Jon Hamm, for example), prompting Player B to name another celeb whose first name starts with the first letter of the previous celebrity’s last name (like Harry Styles). The tricky part is, that Player B has to drink while they think, hence the name of the game.

How to play: One person lists off a “most likely to” question, like “Who is most likely to text you back a week late?”, and everyone places their votes. Whoever gets the most votes per question has to drink.

How to play: Each player writes funny sentences on a piece of paper, preferably ones that would make a person laugh. One by one, the players pick a slip of paper and attempt to read it out loud while keeping a straight face. If they laugh or smile, they have to drink.

How to play: If you know how to play the OG version, this drinking game should be pretty simple. Each player shares two truths and a lie about themselves, and if the group can accurately guess the lie, the player drinks. If not, the group drinks.

How to play: Pick a guest to be “Mr. Freeze” at the beginning of the party. Mr. Freeze will freeze periodically throughout the night, signaling to everyone else to drink. Whoever is the last person to drink has to take a shot.

How to play: Each player will sit in a circle, and one person will go around tapping the guests on the head and instructing them to “sip.” Eventually, the tapper picks someone to take a “shot,” and the chosen player has to tag them. If they do, they get to take over tapping duties. If not, they have to take a shot.

It’s basically the adult version of Duck, Duck, Goose.

How to play: Grab dice, and six “cups” of varying sizes (i.e. shot glasses, bowls, etc.). Roll the dice, and drink from the cup associated with the number it lands on.

How to play: If you’re a New Girl stan, you know True American can get pretty complicated. Basically, players will only be allowed to step on chairs, blankets, pillows, tables, and couches, because the floor is lava. In the center of the room is a castle made of beers and a bottle of alcohol, and players take a can as they move around the “board.” The first person to grab the bottle (after all the beers have been taken), finish their beer, and drink from the bottle, wins.

For more instructions on how to play the ~involved~ game, see here.

How to play: Similar to the card game, each player is given a stack of cards and has to get rid of them by lying. When you think someone is lying, yell “bullsh*t” and make them reveal their cards. For this game, though, if the person playing the cards is lying, they take a drink and add the cards to their deck. If the person calling them out is wrong, they take a drink and the cards.

How to play: The person to your right whispers a question in your ear, and you have to answer out loud. Anyone who wants to hear the question takes a drink.

How to play: Divide the party into two groups and queue up “Roxanne” by The Police on the aux. Group A drinks whenever Sting says “Roxanne,” and Group B drinks whenever the crooner says “Put on the red light.” There’s no real winner for this game, but it’s a fun way to get the party started.

How to play: Guests sit in a circle and count to 21 one by one. Upon reaching 21, everyone yells “Cheers to the governor!” and takes a drink. The person who says 21 makes a rule for one of the numbers, such as “say number 14 backward” or “lick your lips on number six.” The players have to follow that rule when counting during the next round, and so on so forth.

How to play: Guests sit in a circle while Player A writes a prompt on the front page of a notepad. Player A shows the prompt to the first person (Player B) in the circle, and flips the page to let them draw an interpretation of your words. Player B passes the notepad to Player C, who will do the same, and so on. The last person in the group will explain what they drew, and Player A will share whether or not they got it right. If they did, Player A takes a shot. If not, everyone else takes a shot.

How to play: Put a cup in the center of the table, and lay playing cards face-down around it without leaving any spaces between them. Each card should be assigned a meaning, like a four means the cardholder can make someone else take a drink.

Each player draws a card from the pile and follows the assigned rule for their number. If they create a gap between two cards, they have to drink. Players who draw a King will pour their drink into the cup in the center of the table. When the fourth and last King is drawn, the cardholder has to drink from the cup.

How to play: The dealer arranges playing cards in the shape of a pyramid face-down on a table and distributes the remaining cards to the players. The players have 10 seconds to study their cards and can’t look at them again.

The dealer flips a card from the bottom of the pyramid and shouts out the number and suit. Whoever claims to have that card can direct another player to drink. If the other player calls their bluff, the cardholder must reveal the card. If they don’t have it, the cardholder must drink twice, but if they do have it, the other player drinks twice.

How to play: A dealer deals all the cards (minus the Jokers) to the players. Each card has assigned values: Aces are the highest-ranking cards, followed by Queens, Jacks, 10, nines, eights, sevens, sixes, and fives. Four is the lowest ranking card. (Twos can be used to clear a round, and threes can be used as wild cards.)

Each player lays a card or set of cards face-up. The next player goes and does the same, while trying to beat the previous player’s hand. If they can’t play, they drink. The first person to get rid of their cards becomes President, and the person who loses becomes the assh*le.

How to play: For this Pictionary alternative, someone whispers a prompt into a player’s ear and the player draws it for everyone to see while the whisperer times the round. Once a contestant correctly guesses the drawing, stop the timer. The person has to drink for every 20 seconds it took them to guess. If no one can guess, the artist takes a shot.

How to play: If you’re a Traitors stan, you’ll love this party game. With seven or more players, one moderator will determine who in the group is a villager, who is a police officer, and who is a mafia member. The objective is to find all the mafia players before they capture any of the innocent villagers; for every wrong guess, police officers and villagers must take a sip. (BTW, everyone should have a blindfold — no peaking!) If the mafia members go undetected, all players must chug their drink.

For more specific rules on how to play, see here.

How to play: Each player takes a shot before the designated lookout yells, “Everyone hide! Here comes the tiger!”, signaling to the participants to hide under a table until the coast is clear. The players get out from under the table, take another shot, and repeat. Whoever is still drinking by the time the tiger comes is out, and whoever can get out from underneath the table wins.

How to play: Test your guests’ knowledge of the birthday person with trivia questions about the main character on their big day. The players who get the questions wrong take a sip at the end of each round.

How to play: At the top of the party, each player will be given a card with a word or action on it that will likely come up in conversation throughout the night (don’t share your card with anyone else!). Whenever someone says or does your “taboo” word, take a drink.

How to play: Guests sit around in a circle and one player starts the game by saying “Fuzzy duck.” The person next to them says “Ducky fuzz,” the third player says “Fuzzy duck,” and this continues until someone says, “Does he?” This reverses the playing order of the game, but you can’t say “Does he?” after another player. Players who stumble over their words or mess up the order must drink.

How to play: Toss a beanbag into the hole on the cornhole board and take a drink for every missed shot.

How to play: Gather at least four players and arrange 20 alcohol-filled cups in the middle of a table. Give an empty cup and a ping pong ball to two players. Player A will then bounce a ping pong ball into their cup and pass the cup and ball to Player B once it goes in. Player A will try to slap the cup away from Player B, and if successful, Player B must take a drink from the middle of the table. Play until there are no more cups in the center.

How to play: Each player will come up with their own dance move and share it with the room one by one so that everyone can commit it to memory. Then, while the group “thumps” their palms on a table to make a beat, one player shares their move, and the next player has to do the same followed by their own move. Whoever misses the move before them or messes up the beat must drink.

How to play: Each player drinks a canned bev, like beer or hard seltzer. After finishing a can, players grab another can and tape the empty bottle underneath the new drink. Whoever has the longest “wizard’s staff” by the end of the night wins.