Warwick Drinking Games: No alcohol required

Who else is better to talk about popular Warwick drinking games than two social secs? Warwick Improvised Theatre Society’s Izzy Searle and Wilkie Dickinson-Sparkes explain circling, their favourite games to run and the ones they used to break the ice in Freshers’ Week last year!

Izzy’s flat night favourites!

Ring of Fire 

This was the first game we ever played, because we all knew it. If you have not played before the rules are really simple. Players take turns to draw a card from a deck (arranged in a ring around a central glass, hence the name) and have to do an action depending on the value of that card. For example, if you draw a Jack then you have to make up a rule that the group must follow for the rest of the game. We had one where you had to drink if you use someone’s real name, which forced us to become creative with nicknames very quickly. There are loads of different ways to play the game, but finding a ruleset online is super easy. 

Two of my flatmates did not drink alcohol and they still enjoyed playing with water. They were very smug whenever an ace was drawn, because an ace means you have to chug your drink until the person to your right stops. Those who were drinking water kept on going forever. Though, try not to make a fool of yourself like me. At the end of the game my flatmate drew a nine which meant you had to go around the circle saying something that rhymes with a word of their choice. The word was ‘fridge’ and I decided to rhyme it with ‘tree’. As a Creative Writing student, I have never quite lived that one down.

Never Have I Ever

 This is a fantastic game to play a little later in the evening; it is a great way for groups to learn more about each other and after a few drinks people are not so afraid to ask less bland questions. As I am sure you know, Never Have I Ever is where you take it in turns to say ‘never have I ever…’ followed by a thing you have never done. For example, ‘never have I ever been kicked out of a club’. Those who have done whatever it is drink (or put their hands up if they do not want to drink). I found out quite a lot about my flatmates that first night. Though watch out. One of the other girls had drank quite a lot, so she was a little more open than the rest of us. She earned the title of ‘The Scandalous One’ that night and the nickname is not going away any time soon.

Made-up TV Drinking Games

Whilst the first two are great for flat parties, I would say my favourite of the ‘Warwick drinking games’ I played are the ones we made up ourselves. I binge watched a lot of TV shows with my flatmates so one night, we used the back of a poster to write down several recurring gimmicks in MTV’s Catfish, allocating sips to drink for each. For example, we drank every time Nev’s chest hair was on display or every time Max was unnecessarily savage. The one that made us drink the most was when we had to down our drink for the duration of the edgy travel montages. We also dished out sips if we managed to guess who the catfish was. I would absolutely recommend finding a series or film that you and your flatmates love, then convert it into a drinking game. It means you can have a great night with your friends without having to go out!

Wilkie’s go-to circling games:

MR AND MRS

This is one of my favourite Warwick drinking games. Based on the classic TV show, this game is played by one pair at a time. They stand back to back, each with a drink in their hand (alternatively they can raise their hands for this next part). The social secretary will direct questions from the circle to the pair, in the format of “which one of you is the most…” or “who is the best at….”. If one of the pair wants to nominate themselves as the answer to the question, they drink (or raise their hand). If the pair agree, such as if A drinks for “who has the best hair” and B doesn’t drink, acknowledging A’s hair superiority, then the circle drinks. If the pair disagree then they must both drink.

SPLAT!

A classic game from drama lessons. The drinking version is identical to the original, everybody plays and the social secs, one-by-one, point at people and yell “SPLAT”. The person they point has to duck, and the people either side of them race to point at each other and yell “SPLAT”. The slower of the two is eliminated. If the original person does not duck in time, then they are eliminated instead. If you splat or duck when you are not meant to, you are also eliminated. When you go out you have to take a drink. Slowly, the circle will shrink and shrink until only two remain. The rest of the circle then votes on who they think will win the final splat-off, a quick-draw round. At the end of the game, if you voted for the loser, then you drink again.

PREFERENCES

This final one can work as an alternative to ‘Never have I ever’ if you want to try something a bit different. The social secretaries nominate someone from the circle, who stands up, and declares “I prefer X to Y” (filling in the gaps). Anyone who also prefers X, joins that person in standing up. Anyone who prefers Y, remains sitting down. Those in the minority then drink. This game can easily cause a lot of controversy, even if the subject is kept tame. One time I said I preferred lasagna to macaroni cheese; a drink was thrown at me when I said that…

Most importantly for any of the Warwick drinking games in this list, the point is to have fun. If your idea of fun does not involve drinking alcohol it is alright to drink something non-alcoholic. Further, if you only want to have one drink, you can easily make it last a whole night. If you ever feel any unwanted pressure to drink, just speak to a society’s welfare officer and they can help you out! Though do not be too afraid to party hard, just try not to be the person that needs to be carried home.