The joy of drinking games

As I am not Dutch I don't have a lot to offer you about history or culture of The Netherlands. However, I am going to write about something that I know a lot students from all over the world enjoy. Drinking! Now drinking is a broad subject, I mean there are all sorts of ways to drink. With rumors swirling about an ESN organized drinking game tour, I will tell you a little about some of my favorite drinking games.

Power Hour

Power Hour is all about drinking. The game is very simple, take a shot of beer every minute for an entire hour. While this seems like a simple task, I always struggle in the closing minutes of the game. If you really want to prove you can drink a lot, you can try and join the century club. The century club is doing a shot every minute for 100 minutes. This is a good game to play in the beginning of the night to break the ice.

Edward 40 Hands

Just out of High School, I learned of a game called Edward 40 hands. The name of the game is referencing the film, Edward Scissorhands, starring, Johnny Depp. As you probably have guessed, Edward Scissorhands, had scissors for hands. When playing this game you will feel similar to Edward, except that instead of scissors for hands, you will now have two 40 ounce (1183ml) bottles of malt liquor for hands. The two bottles are duct taped to your hands and may not be removed until you have finished both bottles.

This means if you have to use the toilet, you either have to chug the rest of your beer or find a very helpful friend. You are not allowed to even use one hand if you have finished one of the bottles. The general idea of this game is to make you drink a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time.

Flip Cup

Flip Cup is a relay race game played traditionally with red plastic party cups. Teams are divided  evenly with a half cup of beer, or 2 shots of hard liquor. Sometimes the people who are the last to drink on their teams (anchors) will fill up their cups.

The game starts by the first two people drinking the contents of their cup and then flip the cup from the edge of the table with their fingers to the upside-down position. Only then next member can begin. First team to finish wins.

Beer Pong

Beer pong is a game that is growing in popularity all over the world, particularity in Groningen. There are a lot of rules to the game and you will find everywhere you play beer pong the rules are slightly different. I will explain the fundamental rules of the game, you will have to discuss further details with the team you are playing with. To play beer pong, you will need two ping pong balls and 12 cups of beer filled up a little less than half way. Arrange the six cups of beer on each side of a table in a pyramid shape (3-2-1). Each team will consist of two people and will sit on one side of the table with 6 beers in front of them. The idea of the game is that you will shoot the ping pong ball into the opposing teams cup until the opposing team has no cups. When the ball is successfully shot into the cup you remove the cup and one person on the team drinks the contents. I'm going to now list out some common rules that people follow

1. If you do a bounce shot it is worth two cups. However, the opposing team can catch or swat the ball if it is a bounce shot.

2. If the ball is in the cup but is rolling around inside the cup you are allowed to take it out before it touches the beer. The rules of how you can take it out vary from table to table so its something to discuss before the game starts.

3. Two “re-racks” are allowed each game. A re-rack is when you rearrange the cups to make it easier to score.

4. If you make three shots in a row, you then will shoot until you miss. Once you make two shots in a row you must say “heating up”. Once you make three, you must say “on fire”. If you don't say “heating up” or “on fire” you will not be able to shoot until you miss

5. If both people on a team make a cup during a turn, they then get the balls back and shoot again. If you both make the same cup its worth three cups and the team gets the balls back.

These are just a few games of many that I enjoy playing, there are many other games that include cards and dice. Remember to always be responsible when consuming alcohol. Party responsibly!

Jackson