Roxanne

Roxanne is a drinking game that lasts exactly one song. You split the room into two teams, play “Roxanne” by The Police, and one team drinks every time Sting sings “Roxanne” while the other drinks every time he sings “red light”. He sings each about 25 times in three minutes. It is the quickest of the drinking games without cards, and the one most often played on purpose right before leaving the house.

What you need

• “Roxanne” by The Police, the 1978 original. Any phone and a speaker will do.
• A drink for every player, a beer or something as mild, because 26 sips in 3 minutes is already plenty.
• 2 or more players. With 2 it is a duel; with 10 it is a chant.

Setup

1. Split into 2 teams. Team Roxanne and Team Red Light. Flip a coin, go by which side of the room people are standing on, or use the old-fashioned split of one team for the boys and one for the girls.
2. Everyone gets a full drink in hand. You will not have time to pour mid-song.
3. Queue the original song. Not the Moulin Rouge tango, not the Arizona Zervas track, not the Puff Daddy remix, unless you have read the variations below and mean to. Have it ready on the speaker before anyone presses play.
4. Tell both teams their cue. Team Roxanne drinks on the word “Roxanne”. Team Red Light drinks on “red light”, which always arrives as “put on the red light”.

How to play Roxanne

1. Press play and stand where you can hear the words. The first “Roxanne” arrives within the opening seconds, so be ready.
2. Team Roxanne takes a sip every time they hear “Roxanne”. Sting sings it 26 times by most counts, including the backing vocals in the outro.
3. Team Red Light takes a sip every time they hear “red light”. That is 25 times, and they come in a thick cluster in the second half.
4. A sip, not a gulp. The drink has to last the song. The cues in the outro come fast enough that people struggle to keep up with sips.
5. Miss a cue and you owe it. Drink twice on the next one. The other team is allowed to point this out, loudly.
6. The song ends and the game ends. Three minutes and twelve seconds. Anyone who still has drink left finishes it, or you swap teams and go again, which nobody sensible does.

Variations and house rules

• Everybody on Roxanne. No teams: the whole room drinks on every “Roxanne” and ignores “red light”. This is how this page used to describe the game and it is the simplest version to explain to a crowd that is already loud. It is also 26 drinks each.
• Swap at the midpoint. When the instrumental break starts, the teams switch words. It keeps both sides watching the clock and means nobody can relax after their cluster has passed.
• Moulin Rouge version. “El Tango de Roxanne” from the 2001 film has fewer Roxannes, more drama, and a stretch of shouting that is hard to count. Better as a second round than a first.
• Remix round. The 1997 Puff Daddy and Pras remix with Sting keeps the hook, so the cues still work, and it runs longer. Do not play it first; the original is shorter and better.
• Thunderstruck rules. Same idea with a different song: AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”, one player drinking for each “thunder” and passing to the next person on the following one. Roxanne is the team version, Thunderstruck is the relay.
• Finish on the fade. When the last “Roxanne” plays, whoever has the most drink left finishes it. Encourages actual sips rather than hovering the glass near your mouth.
• Wrong word, double sip. Drink on the other team’s cue and you owe two on your own next one. With a loud room and a fast outro, this catches someone every time.
• Scorekeeper. One person sits out with a tally and counts the cues out loud. Settles the “was that 24 or 25” argument at the end, and gives the designated driver a job.
• Double feature. Play “Roxanne” and then “Message in a Bottle”, with Team Roxanne switching to “message” and Team Red Light to “S.O.S.”. Twice the length, and a much fairer split for the second song.

Tips

• Put the numbers on the table before you start: 26 and 25. People who know what is coming pace themselves; people who do not are surprised in the outro.
• Use a half-full can or a weak mixed drink. A full pint in 26 sips is a pint in three minutes, and the game does not slow down for anyone.
• Play it once. Roxanne is a pregame, not a night. A second run back to back doubles the intake in six minutes and is the one way this game goes wrong.
• Turn the speaker up. Half the arguments are about whether a backing “Roxanne” counts, and you cannot rule on it if nobody heard it.