Drinking Games for Large Groups: Fun Ways to Spend your Time

Pre-loading is fun on its own but with great drinking games the experience becomes unforgettable. Here are some of the best drinking games for large groups. Choose your favorite one and rock that party of yours! It is truly amazing how an innocent pack of playing cards and a dozen of plastic cups can turn even the politest person into a wild beast who only wants to have some fun. 

But playing the same pre-loading game over and over again is not cool. By the next semester, you will find yourself groaning when a friend of yours suggests a ‘totally new’ Ring of Fire game. If you feel that you need a little bit of inspiration and a breath of fresh air, check out this list of drinking games for student parties. We have prepared some classic games and found several new ones in case you want to try out something you have never heard about.

List of Drinking Games for Student Parties

Friends and Enemies

Form a circle and deal a pack of cards evenly to each player. Players should not show the cards in their hands to others.  

The first player chooses a card and puts it in the middle for everyone to see. They also call a name of another person in the group. The chosen player takes a bottle and drinks for the number of seconds equal to the number on the card, for example, six seconds for a six of hearts). Disregard the suit and color. 

But here comes a twist. If a player in the group has the same number on their card, they can ‘rescue’ the chosen person and pass the drinking challenge to someone else. A good way to make new friends (and new enemies).

Stacking up of numbers is probably the best part. If this is not your day, you can end up with up to 20 seconds to drink. In some cases, the challenge might last up to 40 seconds if the players had cards with higher values.

Special rules:

• Picture cards, such as Queens, Jacks, and Kings, have the value of ten. Because we care about you.
• You cannot use your own cards to save yourself. Yes, your fate is in someone else’s hands! All you can do is wait and hope.
• Playing your own card is not a must. Similarly, you do not have to save others.  For instance, if someone’s got five seconds, you do not have to save them with your 5 of spades. Instead, you can choose to wait for someone else’s turn. That is why the game is called Friends and Enemies! 

Irish Snap

This is one of those fun drinking games that you would better play in a small company. Why? Because this game can get really violent! 

Sit around a table and make sure every player can reach the center. We also recommend making the area clear (keep the drinks on the floor) and taking off the accessories, especially rings (you will thank us later).

Take the cards and deal an equal number to each player. Put what is left aside. Keep the cards face down and do not look at your or your neighbor’s cards or you will ruin the fun. 

Now, take turn revealing your cards. Make sure you turn your card upside down only when you put it in the center of the table. 

As you place your card, name a value out loud starting with Ace and going all way up till King.  For example, the first player places their card and says ‘Ace’, then the next player says ‘two’, and so on. 

The trick is to spot the match between a card that is being named and the one that is being placed in the center of the table. If you notice a match, shout it out and snap your hand on the top of the pile in the center of the table. Usually players end up slamming the table violently, so this is where your hands might get serious hurt. But this is all part of the fun. 

The last person to notice the match has to drink and take the cards from the pile into their hand. And of course, the longer you play, the drunker you get. 

Mr. and Mrs.

You could have played this game at a wedding, but its version can also be added to a list of the best drinking games. Similar to Irish Snap, Mr. and Mrs. is more suitable for a small company, where people know each other well. The game is perfect for parties with housemates.

Choose a pair of players and ask them to sit with their backs to one another. Then you start asking them questions like “Which one of you is the messiest?” or “Who’s the one to sleep in most often?” A person who thinks it is them should raise their hand with a glass in it. If they think it is the other player, they should put the glass on the floor. 

A match means a win. For instance, if Eve thinks that she’s the messiest and Vikkie agrees, they are winners. But if their answers differ, then they both should have a drink. 

Think your questions through and you can make this game super funny. A hint: controversial questions are the best. All you have to do is try to make people laugh without ruining too many friendships. 

Around the World

This game is pretty popular and the chances are that you have played it under some different name. Some of the names listed in Wikipedia include Irish Poker, Harry Curie, Death Valley, Tim the Withen, and Up’n’Down the River to name a few. 

We do not know which version is the classical one, so we prefer playing Around the World.

There are several rounds and the first one is the easiest. Deal the cards to a player who is going to try to guess some fact about each card that is about to be turned over. For example, they should try and guess if it will be red or black, if the next card has a lower or higher value, and guess the suit of the card. Overall, they have to guess 4 cards until the next player steps in. Each correct guess means that they can pass their drink to someone else but they have to drink it themselves if they are wrong. 

The second round is trickier. The dealer places cards and divides them into two columns. These will be a ‘give’ and ‘take’ columns. Take a new card form each column in turns. If a card number matches some card that was played during the first round, the player has to either give out a drink or drink it themselves depending on the column from which it was taken.  

It is up to you how many drinks to give out. You might want to choose to give out the number of drinks corresponding to the number on the card or the number of the columns painted on the card (there might be between one to four). You know you are playing it right as long as people keep drinking. 

Fuzzy Duck

This game is great for someone who is looking for drinking games for large groups but needs something that does not involve cards. Besides, the game is super easy and the payers will surely get the rules in no time. At the same time, it is not really diverse and might get boring pretty soon, so do not expect to play it all night long.

The players sit in a circle and pronounce ‘fuzzy duck’ one by one. A random person says ‘does he’ on their turn, and now the players say ‘fuzzy duck’ one by one but in a reversed order. So if you started playing clockwise, you should go anti-clockwise after someone says ‘does he’. There are no restrictions on how many times you can change the direction. Well, you get the idea. 

Of course, the trick is to respond to the changes quickly enough. If you do not, take a shot. The longer you pay, the drunker you get and the funnier the game becomes. 

International Rules of Drinking

This one is perfect for really big companies. You can also choose to play international Rules of Drinking when you do not feel like been a part of ‘organized fun’. So, the participants should go on socializing as usual but they also have to mind several rules:

1. They should not swear
2. ‘Drink’ is a forbidden word
3. People in the room should not call each other by their names
4. They should not point at each other, either.
5. Use your weaker hand to drink with
6. Do not place your drink further than at a thumb’s length from the table edge. 
7. Refill empty glasses instead of putting them on the table. 
8. Naturally, a person that messes up should have an extra drink. 

Task Master

If you are going to pre-drink in public places, Task Master is a good choice because it’ll have you approach strangers. Start with a quick round of rock, paper, and scissors. The winner becomes the Task Master in this game, which we think is among the best drinking games.

The responsibility of the Master is to appoint tasks to players. The tasks should involve people who are not plying the game! For example, as a Task Master, you can ask a player to borrow socks from a passerby. 

And here are the rules: if a player refuses to complete the task, they have to drink; if they fail to complete the task, they have to drink; if a player succeeds, the drink is passed to the Task Master. So it is in your best interest to be creative, but do not get carried away. 

Here is a good tip from experienced players: try playing this games while you are having the night out. You can create a list of tasks for everyone and then watch them fail (or succeed) as they face the challenge. Besides, you will have something to discuss in the morning. 

Loose Tongues

This one, too, has different names, but basically this games tests your ability to think fast. Count down from three and show a card to two players simultaneously. Their task is to quickly pronounce a word that start with the same latter as the suit of the card you have shown to them. So, for instance, if you have the Queen of spades, they could say ‘secret’, ‘simple’, ‘society’, etc. The slowest thinker in the couple has to have a drink. To complicate the game a little bit, try introducing word categories or asking the players to name the words that start with the second letter of the suit. 

What makes this game super-fun is the perfect combination of panic and alcohol. You will hear people shout the weirdest words and this will be super funny. 

Picolo

You read it right. Drinking games have apps these days. Download this app and you will always know what to do if you are stuck somewhere with a great company but with no playing cards. 

The basic level of the game is free but you will have to pay for the advanced levels. The game is not expensive and we think that you will definitely buy it after a few drinks.

So basically, to get the ball rolling, type everyone’s names and choose the level. The app will guide you further. 

The free version comes with a “Getting Started” level, which is pretty simple but is enough to get you going. You’ll receive amusing tasks, like rhyming words from different categories, or more straightforward tasks, such as ‘an unemployed player drinks a drink’ or ‘take two sips if you have ever had your hair dyed’. 

The only safety precaution you should take is have your phone plugged in because your battery will be drained soon enough.  

Drinking Jenga

You’ll have to spend some time on preparation, so grab some colored markers and let your creativity shine! And do not forget to get yourself a Jenga set. If your friends love drinking games, ask them to make a collective investment so that you have your own customized drinking Jenga set.

Use colored markers to write different commands on Jenga blocks. Whenever a player removes a block without toppling the tower, they have to complete the task that’s written on the block. That is where your creativity steps in – if you want the game to be fun, make sure the tasks are tricky. Do not forget to pour the drinks into your cups before you start playing. 

A player that topples the tower must drink the full glass. 

Never Have I Ever

Depending on the people you are plying with, this game can be either a great way to get know each other better by revealing surprising facts about each other, or a way for the people you know to tell about some of the pretty impressive things they have done over the course of their life on this planet. 

You are probably familiar with the rules: every player starts a sentence with the phrase ‘Never have I ever…” and ends a sentence in whichever way they want. The more embarrassing the fact, the better. 

For example, you could say ‘Never have I ever been to a museum.” And if this fact is true for some player, they should have a drink. 

Now you see why this game is favorite on fresher parties – this is a perfect way to learn some new and potentially nasty facts about the new people. 

Beer Pong

The last on the list but is still a must to try if you love drinking games for large groups. Unlike the rest of the games mentioned here, Beer Pong actually requires some physical preparation. You will need a Beer Pong set to play this game. Take 10 cups and set a table arranged in a triangle shape, like you would do in a 10-pin bowling game. Fill the cups with the drinks (traditionally, its beer, as the name suggests) but not to the brim because there is some movement involved here.

Now divide into 2 teams. Each team should try to throw a ping pong ball into a cup of the opposite team. Whenever some team succeeds, a player from the losing team takes a drink. To win the game, a team has to get rid of all cups in the opposite team.