What is the Drinking Card Game?
The Drinking Card Game is a 13-card drinking game where every card comes with a rule. There's a bit of everything: reflexes (touch the floor, copy the leader's gesture), quick thinking (rhymes, categories, a story five words at a time), confessions (never have I ever), rock-paper-scissors showdowns and a toast for the whole group.
It feels like the classic drinking games with cards, just shorter. Kings Cup uses all 52 cards and ends when the fourth King comes up; here there's just one card of each value, no cup in the middle, and each round goes much faster. The rules are different too: the rule card is the Ace, the sip buddy is the 8, and there are cards of its own like the showdown, the story, follow the leader and the toast.
If you were looking for other drinking card games, like the Pyramid Drinking Game (cards flipped row by row) or Ride the Bus (guess red or black, higher or lower… until you get off), those are different games with their own mechanics. The Drinking Card Game is the one right here, ready to play in your browser with no download.
How to play with a real deck of cards
With a standard 52-card deck it takes seconds: pull out one card of each value, Ace through King, shuffle them and put them face down in the middle. Everyone draws on their turn and looks up the rule in the list on this page. When they run out, shuffle the same thirteen again.
What a real deck can't do is remember the active rules. If you play with physical cards, leave the last Ace, the last 8 and the last J face up next to the deck: that way everyone can see which rule, which sip buddies and who's leading are still in play.
Want the rules on paper? The list on this page has all thirteen cards with their full rules: print it from your browser or keep it open on your phone while you play.
Tips to keep the game going
The Ace rules are the ones that make the game: the best are easy to watch and a little silly, like not saying “drink”, talking in an accent or asking permission before you get up. If nobody remembers to follow it, it's not a good rule; and if it makes anyone uncomfortable, it isn't either.
When you're leading (the J), don't make the gesture right after you draw the card: wait until the group is distracted. With the Q, short, fast questions catch people best, and for categories (the 10), pick topics everyone knows: TV shows, brands, cities.
For the night to end well, keep water on the table from the start and keep the sips small. Spread out the sip-buddy picks: if one person keeps getting picked as a sip buddy, the group can swap their next sip for water or a dare, no big deal.
Variations: house rules, two players, no alcohol and video calls
House rules: whoever draws the King picks what you toast to, the 6 becomes a thumb war instead of rock, paper, scissors, or the story on the 7 always has to start with “Once upon a time”. As long as the whole group knows before you start, anything goes.
Just the two of you: it works as a two-person drinking card game too. The group cards (floor, categories, rhymes) turn into one-on-one duels, and the Ace rules get a lot more personal.
No alcohol: swap each sip for a point and whoever has the most at the end tells a story, or play with water and soda: the cards work exactly the same. None of the rules depend on what's in your glass.
Everyone on their own phone or long-distance: if you create a room, everyone sees the card and the reminders on their own screen, at the same table or over a video call. On a video call, reflex cards like the 4 are played by touching the floor in front of the camera.
When to play and who with
It's an easy card game for drinking at pregames, dinners and groups of any size: 2 to 12 people, with games that last 15 to 30 minutes. Since each round through the deck is short and the rules explain themselves as you go, it's a great way to kick off the night, even with people who don't know each other.
If you like it, try Kings Cup when you have more time, the 21 Drinking Game for something quick with math and nerves, or Three Man if you want to swap the cards for dice.