15 Drinking Games For Your Next House Party

It’s your classic house party and everyone’s hanging out in the backyard on half-broken green garden chairs that were sprayed for Red Backs that afternoon. There’s a half-dead fire surrounded by empty goon sacks that have long since been emptied. 🥳

A random couple are making out on the trampoline and that guy has taken his shirt and his pants off after being at the party for exactly two seconds. You’ve topped up your cups with the random alcohol you took from your parent’s liquor cabinet, and whatever you managed to scab from your mates.

It’s coming up to that time of night when you put your inebriated brain (and liver) on the line. It’s time to grab your friends and pull out one of these good ol’ drinking games. 🎉

1. Goon of Fortune

This game is why I can't smell goon without vomiting a little. Yeehaw

Peg a goon sack/sacks to a spinning clothesline. Circle some contestants around the clothesline and spin! Whoever the goon sack lands on has to drink. Also, have a specified number of drinks until each person is eliminated so that there can be a winner! But I mean, isn't everyone a winner in goon of fortune? 

@breehussey Straya #goonoffortune ♬ You Spin Me Round - Reflections

2. Paranoia

Sit everyone down in a circle. The person on your right whispers a question to you, the answer of which has to be somebody playing the game (e.g. ‘who is the hottest in this room?’). You respond out loud. If someone wants to know what the question was, they have to finish their drink.

3. Categories

This is another super easy one that will gradually get harder as the night goes on. One person calls out a category e.g. cars, and the person next to them calls out something that fits into that category e.g. Jeep.

It carries on until a player can’t think of something, or repeats one that has already been said. They finish their drink, then pick a new category.

Category starters:

• People who died in Game of Thrones
• synonyms for 'good'
• Harry Potter spells
• Types of alcohol
• Songs with a name in the title

4. Thunderstruck

It's quick, it's simple, it does the trick.

Blast the song Thunderstruck by the gods ACDC and have a drink in hand. Every time you hear 'thunder' or 'thunderstruck', everyone has to scull. 

A more hardcore version of this is to stand in a circle and one by one, each time 'thunder' or 'thunderstruck' is heard, a new person has to drink...and keep drinking until the next 'thunder' or 'thunderstruck' is heard and the next person takes over.

5. Kings Cup

There are a lot of variations on this one, but everyone will need a drink, one empty cup and a pack of cards. Gather around a table, place the empty cup in the middle and scatter the deck of cards around it, face down. Each different card will require the players to do something, e.g. if you pull a number two you have to choose two people to drink, etc.

You can follow a set list for what each card means or make your own variations–although sometimes it’s easiest to write them down so everyone knows the rules. The only card that can’t be changed is the Kings. If a player picks up a King, they must empty their drink into the middle cup. The person who picks up the final King must drink whatever concoction has been poured into it, and loses the game.

6. Never Have I Ever

This is the perfect game for figuring out what your friends are really like and will inevitably descend into confessions that probably shouldn’t see the light of day. Chuck your backyard chairs into a circle and make sure everyone has a drink. Whoever wants to start will say ‘Never have I ever… [insert situation here]. Whoever has done said activity has to take a swig.

Starter ‘Never have I ever…’

• …stolen something
• …walked in on someone having sex
• …peed my pants as a teenager

7. Most Likely

One person asks a ‘most likely’ question, for example ‘who is most likely to be arrested’. After counting to three, everyone points to who they think is most likely. Whoever has the most people pointing at them has to drink.

‘Who’s most likely’ starters:

• …to vomit tonight
• …get in a fight
• …to live the longest
• ...to be a drug lord
• ...to get a divorce less than a week into their marriage

8. Buffalo

Buffalo rules need to be established and agreed upon at the start of the party and continued for the rest of the night. In its basic form, it’s pretty simple: you can only drink from a cup/glass/bottle you’re holding in your left hand.

If you drink from your cup/glass/bottle while holding it in your right hand, and someone catches you they call Buffalo and you have to chug the drink. If they’re wrong, they have to finish their drink.

9. Confidence

Super simple; and the same structure as Kings Cup in terms of a circle, drinks and a centre cup. You’ll also need a coin.
When it’s your turn, you pour some of your drink into the cup depending on how confident you’re feeling. Flip the coin and call it in the air. If you’re right, it’s the next person’s turn. If you’re wrong, you’ve had to drink whatever is in the cup.

10. Straight Face

All players write sentences on small pieces of paper. What kind of sentences? Ones that are ridiculous or inappropriate; ones that anyone would struggle to read (or hear) while keeping a straight face. 

One at a time, each player will choose a slip of paper and attempt to read whatever is written on it without giggling or cracking a smile. If they fail, they have to drink.

11. Drunk Twister

What do I think of when I think of my youth? Twister. Why not bring those wholesome days back and play Twister...with alcohol. I know, I know, it's a revolutionary idea.

Anytime you want to use a circle, you have to scull your drink. Loser has to drink. Things will most likely get very messy. 

12. Beer Pong

Every round, you'll hear someone say "I'm normally so much better at this".

Beer pong has 2 teams of 2, cups arranged on either side in a pyramid-like formation of a rectangular table. Fill each cup with a little bit of beer.

Each person on one team will take a turn trying to throw one ping pong ball into the opponent’s solo cups. When a ball is sunk, that team must remove the cup from the pyramid, drink the beer, and set the cup aside. The ball is allowed to bounce, or it can go directly into the cup. The game goes on until one team has no cups left. The team with remaining cups wins the game.

13. Slap cup

Slap cup is one of my all-time favourites. It's fast-paced and stressful in all the right ways - but to explain it, it may sound more convoluted than it really is. I'll give it a shot but click here for a more extensive list of rules.

To keep it brief, put 20 cups (1/4 filled with beer) in a big group in the centre of the table. One cup in the middle should be completely filled with beer. Everyone (up to like 16 people can play this) stands around the table. Two people on opposite sides start with a cup and a ping pong ball and try to bounce the ping pong ball into their cup. Once they make the shot, they pass the cup and the ping pong ball to the person next to them. If anyone makes a shot on their first try, they can pass the cup and ping pong ball to anyone they want.

If anyone makes a shot and the person directly to their left is still trying to make theirs, they can slap their cup away from them. Then, that person has to grab a fresh cup from the centre, Swig it, and try to make the shot with the new cup

The game ends when all of the cups are gone. The last person to get slapped has to swig the full cup of beer!

14. Medusa

Everyone starts the game with their heads bowed so they can’t see any of the other players. Someone needs to count down from 3 to 1 and then everyone needs to look up and stare into the eyes of another player.

If two players are looking at each other both players need to shout ”MEDUSA!” and need to drink their drink. Everyone else is safe.

15. Christmas Hat

A cheeky game to get you into the Christmas spirit.

Pop a Christmas hat on the corner of the tv and watch and movie. Every time someone wears the hat, take a drink!

Bonus if it's a Christmas movie.