The Tab’s top five drinking games

Embarking on my fourth year of student life, I still manage to get lost on my way to class. Yet I would consider myself an expert on a subject matter like this. As the saying goes ‘practice makes perfect’ and I can without a doubt claim that I have perfected the art of drinking games!

Drinking games are a really effective way to save money on your nights out, the easy way to get ‘merry’ without spending loads in town. Not that drinking too much is to be encouraged (know your limits ladies and gents!) They are also a great way to break the ice in a group you’ve never socialised with before.

Deck of cards at the ready here’s my Top Five…

Coming in at number five I’ve put ‘SLAPS.’ The person who starts must shout one and tap either their right or left shoulder to determine the direction the game goes. This continues until number seven, where whoever’s turn it is must place one arm on top of the other and determine the direction again. Number eight and nine continue but whoever’s turn is number ten has the privilege of pointing to someone to drink for ten seconds. Count slowly! Also, if anyone forgets the rules and makes a mistake they must down their whole drink!

I have never: always proves to be an interesting one! Definitely a good way to get to know random and embarrassing facts about those you’re socialising with. Basically, you take it in turns to say something you have never done, if those around the table have done the thing thing you have said, they must drink for a certain amount of time. I find this one is good when you know some of your drinking friends and know things they have done to get them to drink. Great for friendly banter!

Kings – the notorious drinking game and a likely cause of many a paralytic night for many students. All you need it a deck of cards, a list of rules and a pint glass in the middle. Rules can vary. Your best bet is to Google a set of rules, print them out and set them in pride of place in your lounge. The cards must be placed around the pint glass, everyone takes a turn and each number on the card has a rule. With each King card selected, the person who pulls the card pours some of his or her drink into the pint cup in the middle of the table. The person who selects the last King in the deck must drink what’s in the cup – also known as a dirty pint.

Roulette – I sometimes find that drinking games such as Kings can get a bit too confusing for small brained people like me! Especially as the night goes on a bit – the drink is in and the wit is out. So I find something like roulette is much simpler and still manages to fulfil the aim of a drinking game. The trusty cards are arranged around the pint glass, before each person picks one, they must guess if it is to be red or black. If you get it right then you can pick someone to drink for the number of seconds that the number of the card is. For aces etc, just drink for ten seconds for good measure. You must then put your card on top of the pint glass; if you drop the cards you must then drink a mixture of everyone’s drinks in a good old dirty pint!

CELEBRITIES – This has to be my all-time favourite drinking game! Everyone sits round in a circle and someone starts with a celebrity name, the next person must then take the first letter of the surname of the previous celebrity and say a different celebrity. This game is harder than you may first imagine. Also if you can’t think of a celebrity, you must drink while you think! This game is my favourite because you surprise yourself with the names you come out with. For example, one time my mate shouted out ‘Shobna Gulati.’ Yes, that is Sinitta off Corrie, I did wonder as well. It is a relaxing game and achieves the aim of drinking games – that is to send you on your merry way!