Pretty much anything can be made into a drinking game, and video games are no exception. After all, both video games and drinking can lead to fun times, and video game drinking games are surprisingly popular, especially on college campuses.
Video games and drinking coincide because the majority of people do both activities, to some extent; you might be a casual gamer and solely play games on your phone, or you might be a serious gamer who plays competitively. Likewise, you can be a casual drinker who only has a few beverages for important events or with dinner, or you can be an experienced drinker who frequents your city’s bar and club scene.
With that in mind, here is a list of video game drinking games for any level of gaming experience.
Beerio Kart
Beerio Kart is the most well-known out of these drinking games and is extremely popular with college students. Players must finish an entire can of beer during a single “Mario Kart” race, but the catch is that it is against the rules to drink and drive. (Just like real life!) That means that racers must stop their cars every time they want to drink.
More experienced gamers could have an advantage because they’re better at the actual game; however, more experienced drinkers might have a leg up because they will spend less time drinking and more time driving. Just try not to swerve too much.
Call of Duty
First-person shooters, like “Fortnite” and “Overwatch,” has been the most popular video game genre for a pretty long time now, and “Call of Duty” is one of the most well-known first-person shooters. It also makes for some fun drinking games.
If you are playing online with a group of friends, rotate who is playing after every three deaths. Once you’ve died three times, chug your drink for the same number of seconds as the number of kills you got. If you’re playing one-on-one with a friend, take a drink every time you get a headshot, or every time you get a kill. Of course, while these are the rules to play “Call of Duty” as a drinking game, you can play with other games, such as “Halo” or “Battlefield.”
Guitar Hero
“Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” might not be that popular anymore, but they are still fun to go back and play. A fun drinking game to play with rhythm games like these is to drink every time you mess up. Pick your difficulty level wisely.
Fighting Games
Fighting games and drinking go together hand-in-hand; both bring out the competitive side in people, so it makes sense that there would be some fun drinking games to play alongside your fighting game. When you drink, you start to forget how to do things, and your reaction time gets slower, so it’s fun to watch your friends mess up combos.
There are plenty of fighting games to choose from, depending on your skill level. “Super Smash Bros.” is good for some casual fun, while games like “Street Fighter V,” “Dragon Ball FighterZ” and “Tekken 7” are more technical fighting games that you can play if you’re feeling extra competitive. To make the game more fair, you can establish rules; for example, the person who loses has to chug a beer, or the person who wins has to take a shot.
1-2 Switch
In “1-2 Switch,” you have to win a series of competitive minigames, and since there aren’t many single-player minigames, multiplayer mode is encouraged. The best way to play this one as a drinking game is to separate into teams, and after each minigame, the losing team drinks. At the end of the gauntlet of minigames, every member of the losing team has to take a shot.
“1-2 Switch” is the “Wii Sports” of the current generation of consoles, which means that anyone and their grandmother (if you like to drink with your grandmother) can pick up a controller and play. In fact, Nintendo’s marketing campaign when this game was released showed this game being played at parties and family gatherings.
Single-Player Games
Any video game can be made into a drinking game; most single-player games are based on quests, goals or missions, so once you accomplish one of those tasks you can reward yourself with a drink. Better yet, if you are a pro at a specific game, you can shotgun a beer before trying to beat a level. Some fun single-player games to play while drinking are “The Legend of Zelda,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “Half Life 2,” any “Fallout” game or “Minecraft.”
Dark Souls
If there is any video game that you would need to drink to enjoy, it would be “Dark Souls,” which is notorious for being the hardest video game in mainstream gaming culture. It has extremely difficult bosses that can kill you in one hit, and each game in the series is harder than the last.
A fun drinking game to play with “Dark Souls” is to take a shot every time you die, but, realistically, you’d only be able to play the game for a solid 10 minutes before blacking out. It’s recommended that you drink casually during this game so you don’t injure yourself.
Horror Games
Horror games are a staple genre for video game drinkers, because when you are drinking and start to lose sense of your surroundings, sometimes you need a good jump scare. You can set challenges for yourself, like taking a shot every time you get scared. Horror games are really fun to play with other people because you get to see your friends’ funny reactions. Some fun horror games to play while drinking are “Silent Hill,” “Resident Evil” and “Dead Space.”
Drinking culture has a long history of association with video games. In the Nintendo 64 cult classic “Conker’s Bad Fur Day,” the main character, Conker, gets blackout drunk at a bar. In a soon-to-be-released indie game, “Afterparty,” main characters Milo and Lola must outdrink Satan to escape hell. Popular game series such as “Mass Effect,” “The Witcher” and “Red Dead Redemption” also include in-game bars and drinking features.
So next time you have friends over to hang out and play video games, try out some of these drinking games — but maybe stay away from sites like gamblingguy.com.
