Kings Cup

Kings Cup is the drinking card game people mean when they say “let’s play cards”. The rules are per card, so nobody has to learn a system before the first draw, and the fun compounds: by the middle of the deck there might be two Question Masters, a rule about swearing, and a Thumb Master waiting for the right moment.

What you need

• A full deck of 52 cards, jokers removed
• One big empty cup or glass for the middle of the table (the Kings Cup)
• A drink for every player
• A table everyone can reach

Setup

1. Put the empty Kings Cup in the middle of the table. It stays empty until the Kings start coming.
2. Shuffle the deck and spread it face down in a ring around the cup. Cards should touch or overlap so the ring is unbroken.
3. Agree on the card meanings before anyone draws. Use the table below or your own house list. Write them on a napkin if you have to. Arguments at card 40 are the only thing that ruins this game.
4. Pick a starting player. Host, birthday person, or whoever poured the drinks.

How to play Kings Cup

1. The starting player draws any card from the ring. Pull from the ring, not a stack, and try not to break it (see Ring of Fire below for why).
2. Do what the card says before the next person draws. Play continues clockwise. Cards that create a role (Thumb Master, Question Master) stay in force until the same card is drawn again.
3. The first three Kings pour into the cup. Whoever draws a King pours some of their drink into the Kings Cup. How much is up to them, which is where the tactics start.
4. The fourth King ends the game. Whoever draws it drinks the entire Kings Cup, mixed drinks and all. Shuffle and go again if nobody has learned their lesson.

Card meanings

These are the most common meanings in North America. Your table, your rules; the variations section has the British and Australian swaps.

Card	Rule	What it means
Ace	Waterfall	Everyone starts drinking at once. The person who drew the card stops when they want; the player to their left can only stop after they do, and so on around the circle. The last player drinks longest.
2	You	Pick someone to drink.
3	Me	You drink.
4	Floor	Everyone touches the floor; the last person to do it drinks.
5	Guys	All the men drink.
6	Chicks	All the women drink.
7	Heaven	Everyone points at the ceiling; the last person to do it drinks.
8	Mate	Pick a drinking mate. Whenever one of you drinks for the rest of the game, the other drinks too.
9	Rhyme	Say a word. Going around the circle, each player says a word that rhymes. The first person to repeat a word or fail to rhyme drinks.
10	Categories	Name a category (car brands, cereals, people at this party). Each player names something in it. The first to stall or repeat drinks.
Jack	Never have I ever	Everyone holds up three fingers. Going around, each player says something they have never done; anyone who has done it puts a finger down. The first person with no fingers left drinks.
Queen	Question Master	You are the Question Master until the next Queen. Anyone who answers a question you ask them drinks. Answering with a question is the only safe move.
King	Make a rule, and pour	Invent a rule that lasts the rest of the game (no first names, drink with your left hand, no saying “drink”). Breaking it costs a drink. Then pour into the Kings Cup.

Variations and house rules

• Ring of Fire (UK). Same game, British name, with one extra rule that gives it the name: if you break the ring while drawing a card, you drink. Some British tables play 4 as “whores” and 5 as “thumb master”; the table above uses the less dated floor rule, and the Thumb Master moves to the Jack.
• Circle of Death. Put an unopened can in the middle instead of a cup. Every King opens the tab one click; whoever opens it fully drinks it. Keeps the game going past four Kings because nothing ends until the can is open.
• Thumb Master on the Jack. Instead of Never Have I Ever, the Jack makes you Thumb Master. At any point, put your thumb on the table edge; the last player to copy you drinks. Lasts until the next Jack.
• Little man on the cup. Anyone who draws a Jack (or an Ace, in some houses) puts an invisible tiny man on top of their drink. They have to lift him off before drinking and put him back after, or drink again.
• Two-player Kings Cup. Swap every “everyone” rule for “the other player”: Waterfall becomes a drink-for-as-long-as-I-do, Heaven and Floor become a reaction race between two people, Guys and Chicks become “you drink”. It is fast and slightly vicious. For a real two-player game, Higher or Lower is better.
• Kings Cup with a twist. Before the game, each player writes one custom rule on a slip. Kings draw a slip instead of inventing a rule on the spot, which removes the “I cannot think of anything” stall.
• Waterfall cap. Set a maximum of five seconds per person in a Waterfall. Without a cap, the person who drew the Ace can hold the whole table hostage, and that person is always the same person.

Tips

• Use beer or something mild. The Kings Cup ends up holding whatever everyone poured, and a cup of mixed spirits is how this game gets a bad reputation.
• Decide on the Jack and the 4 before you start. Those two cards cause every argument this game has.
• Keep the ring tight on the table. Cards that slide off the edge are a broken ring in Ring of Fire, and a lost card is a game that never finds its fourth King.
• Water between rounds. A full deck is a lot of small drinks and the Kings Cup at the end is a big one.