The best drinking games, ranked
This list is ranked by the games people actually keep playing, not by novelty. The top of the list is simple, scales to a table, and runs on one deck or ten cups. Further down are the games that are better than their popularity suggests. Every entry links to full rules, and every game works with any drink in the cup.
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Kings Cup
3 to 12 players · Cards and Cups · 30 min ·
The one everyone knows. Rules stack as the deck runs down, so the second half is chaos and nobody has to learn anything first.
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Beer Pong
2 to 4 players · Cups and Ping-pong balls · 20 min ·
Two teams, ten cups, a ball. Competitive enough to take seriously, simple enough to play badly at 1 a.m.
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Bus Driver
2 to 10 players · Cards · 30 min ·
Guess wrong, drink, start over. Somebody always ends up riding the bus and it is the story of the night.
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Beeramid
2 to 8 players · Cards · 30 min ·
A pyramid of cards and a lot of lying. Works for quiet groups because the bluffing does the talking.
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Flip Cup
4+ players · Cups · 10 min ·
Relay race for large groups. Loud, fast, and it gets the whole room standing up.
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Higher or Lower
2+ players · Cards · 20 min ·
Call the next card higher or lower. The simplest game in the deck and it still works with two people.
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Sam Yuk Gu (3, 6, 9) Drinking Game
2+ players · Nothing · 15 min ·
Korean counting game. No materials, three seconds to learn, and people get it wrong by the second lap.
Full Sam Yuk Gu (3, 6, 9) Drinking Game rules · More no cards
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Seven Drinking Game
2+ players · Nothing · 15 min ·
Count around the circle and clap on anything with a seven. Sounds easy. Is not.
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Quarters
2 to 10 players · A coin and Cups · 20 min ·
Bounce a coin into a glass. A bar classic that rewards steady hands, briefly.
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Drunk Jenga
2 to 10 players · Jenga · 30 min ·
Jenga with rules written on the blocks. Tension, then collapse, then everyone drinks.
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Most Likely To
3+ players · Nothing · 20 min ·
Point at whoever is most likely to. No setup, and it starts conversations that last past the game.
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Up and Down the River
3 to 14 players · Cards · 15 min ·
Drink on the way up, hand out drinks on the way down. Fair, fast, and it scales to a full table.
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Civil War
4 to 8 players · Cups and Ping-pong balls · 15 min ·
Beer Pong at three-a-side with no turns. Balls everywhere, no time to think.
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Medusa
3 to 15 players · Shot glasses · 15 min ·
Heads down, heads up, make eye contact, take a shot. Thirty seconds a round and brutal with a big group.
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Asshole
4 to 8 players · Cards · 45 min ·
Shed your cards to become president; lose and you pour for everyone. Rewards strategy over luck.
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Roxanne
2+ players · A phone · 5 min ·
One song, two words, two teams. Over in three and a half minutes.
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Yes, No, Maybe
2+ players · A phone · 20 min ·
Answer questions without saying yes, no, or maybe. Harder after the second round.
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Taboo
2+ players · Other · 2 h ·
Describe the word without the banned words. Loud, competitive, and great with teams.
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Baseball
4 to 12 players · Cups and A coin · 45 min ·
Quarters with innings and bases. For people who want a game that lasts.
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Beer Chess
2 players · Other and Cups · 1 h 15 min ·
Chess where captured pieces get drunk. Slow, tactical, and the only game here for two people who want to think.
Picking a game, answered
What is the most popular drinking game?
Kings Cup, under its various names (Ring of Fire, Circle of Death). It needs only a deck and a cup, the rules are per card so nobody learns anything first, and it runs with anything from three to a dozen people.
What is the best drinking game for a big group?
Flip Cup. Two teams of any size, a row of cups, and a relay. Nobody waits for a turn and there is no skill ceiling, so a crowd of twenty stays involved.
What is the best drinking game with no materials?
3-6-9 or Sevens. Both are counting games that go around a circle and produce a mistake every lap. They work in a kitchen, a bar booth, or over a video call.
What is the best drinking game for 2 people?
Higher or Lower. It is a genuine two-player guessing game rather than a party game shrunk down, and one deck keeps it going as long as you like.
How did you rank these?
By how often people come back to them. Traffic to the rules pages, how many other games reference them, and how well they hold up across a whole night, which is why simple, scalable games sit at the top.
Please drink responsibly. Pace yourself, drink water between rounds, look after each other, and never drive after playing.