I'm Going to the Bar

I’m Going to the Bar is a memory game played around a table of shots. Each player repeats the full order so far and adds one drink to the end. Miss a drink, get the order wrong, or take too long, and you take a shot. It is the shots drinking game to play when nobody brought anything, since the whole kit is one bottle, a few glasses, and a group that thinks it has a good memory.

What you need

• A shot glass for every player, filled before each round
• A bottle of whatever the table can handle. A low-strength spirit or a liqueur makes the game last longer
• 3 or more players. It works with two, but the list grows fast and becomes a two-person spelling test
• A phone timer, optional, for the ten-second limit

Setup

1. Sit in a circle and pour a shot for everyone. The shot sits in front of you for the whole round. Nobody touches it until they fail.
2. Agree on what counts as a drink. Real drinks only (a Heineken, a whisky sour, a gin and tonic), and brand names are fine. Water is out. “A beer” is usually out because it makes the list too easy.
3. Set a time limit. Ten seconds to start your turn is standard. Stalling is the easiest way to cheat at this game.
4. Choose who starts. The host, or whoever most recently went to an actual bar.

How to play I’m Going to the Bar

1. The first player says “I’m going to the bar and I’m ordering a…” and names a drink. Something simple. The first player has the easiest turn of the game.
2. The next player repeats the sentence and the full order, then adds a drink. “I’m going to the bar and I’m ordering a Heineken and a brandy.” The drinks must stay in the same order they were added.
3. Continue around the circle, each turn adding one more drink. By the sixth turn the list is six drinks long, by the twelfth it is twelve.
4. A mistake means a shot. Skipping a drink, saying them in the wrong order, repeating a drink already on the list, naming something that is not a drink, or running past the time limit all count. The table is the judge; a majority call is final.
5. After the shot, the list starts again from that player. The player who failed refills their shot, opens a new order with one drink, and the next person carries on from there.
6. Play a set number of lists, or until the bottle says stop. Three lists is a good length. Nobody remembers the fourth.

Variations and house rules

• One long list. The list does not reset after a mistake. Whoever fails takes the shot and play continues with the same list from the next player. Harsher, and the list hits twenty drinks fast.
• Alphabet bar. Drinks have to be added in alphabetical order: an Amaretto sour, then a Bloody Mary, then a Corona. Getting a letter wrong counts as a mistake, and nobody ever has a drink for X.
• Beer brands only. Every drink on the list must be a beer. Stops the easy “vodka, gin, rum” run and makes the round about who has actually read a bar menu.
• Gestures. Each drink comes with a gesture invented by the player who added it: a shake for the cocktail, a tilt for the beer. Every later player must repeat the gestures too. This is where the game stops being a memory game and becomes theatre.
• Sip version. Replace the shot with three drinks from a beer or mixed drink. This is the version that can run for an hour, and the one to use with a big group.
• Picnic rules. The children’s version, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing”, with food instead of drinks. Same shot for a mistake. Better for a table that knows more about sandwiches than spirits.
• Reverse at ten. When a list reaches its tenth drink, the direction of play flips and each player must recite the list backwards from then on. Our house rule, and it produces the fastest shot in the game.
• Point and name. Instead of going around the circle, the player who just added a drink points at anyone to go next. Nobody gets to relax because their turn is three people away.

Tips

• Attach each drink to the face of the person who said it. Going around the circle in your head is the easiest way to hold twelve drinks in order, which is also how bartenders do it.
• Pour the shots weak or half-full. A ten-player table produces a failure every minute or so, and a shot per failure stacks up quickly for the one person who is bad at this.
• Add a short drink, not a clever one. A long cocktail name is harder for you to remember on your next turn than for anyone else, because everyone else only has to hear it once.
• Have water on the table. This game is loud, fast, and played in shots, and that combination finishes people early.