One deck · free
Drinking card games
Ten classic drinking games you can play with a single deck of cards, from Kings Cup to Ride the Bus. Simple rules for each, plus how many players you need.
All of these use a standard 52-card deck. Aces are high unless a game says otherwise. Pour small sips, keep water on the table, and let anyone drink water instead.
1. Kings Cup (Ring of Fire)
3+ players
Spread the cards face down in a circle around an empty cup. Take turns drawing a card; each card has a rule, from Waterfall on an ace to Mate on an eight. Every king adds some of your drink to the cup, and whoever draws the fourth king drinks it.
Every Kings Cup card explained →
2. Ride the Bus
3+ players
The dealer asks each player four questions in turn, dealing them a card each time: red or black, higher or lower than your first card, inside or outside your first two cards, and which suit. A wrong guess means a drink. Then the dealer lays out a pyramid of cards and turns them over one by one; if you hold a matching card, you give drinks. Whoever is left holding the most cards rides the bus: they guess red or black through a row of cards and start over every time they are wrong.
3. Pyramid
3+ players
Deal each player four cards face down and let them look once. Lay out a pyramid of fifteen cards face down: five on the bottom row, then four, three, two and one. Turn them over from the bottom. If you have a matching rank, you can give drinks: one per card on the bottom row, two on the next, and so on up to five at the top. You can bluff that you have it, but if someone calls it and you were lying, you drink double.
4. Screw the Dealer
3+ players
The dealer holds the deck. The next player guesses the value of the top card. The dealer says "higher" or "lower" and the player gets a second guess. Right on the first guess: the dealer drinks four sips. Right on the second: the dealer drinks two. Wrong twice: the player drinks the difference between their guess and the card. House rules vary on when the deck moves on; the most common is that the dealer passes it to the left once three players in a row have guessed wrong.
5. Horse Race
4+ players
Take out the four aces: they are the horses. Lay six cards face down in a line next to the track. Everyone bets sips on a suit. Flip cards from the deck; the ace of that suit moves forward one step. When all four horses have passed a sideline card, flip it, and that suit's horse moves back one. The first horse over the line wins: its backers hand out double their bet, everyone else drinks theirs.
6. Higher or Lower
2+ players
Turn over a card. The next player guesses whether the next card is higher or lower. Wrong guess: drink one sip for every card in the current run, then the run starts over. Equal cards count as wrong. It is the simplest game here and works with two.
7. Red or Black
2+ players
Go round the table. Each player guesses red or black before the dealer flips a card. Wrong guess: drink. Make it harder after a round: guess the suit, and a wrong guess costs two sips.
8. Presidents
4+ players
Deal out the whole deck. Players take turns playing higher cards (or pairs and triples) onto the pile; if you cannot or will not beat it, you pass. The first player out becomes President, the last becomes Scum. In the next round, Scum gives their two best cards to the President and gets two cards back, and the President can tell anyone ranked below them to drink at any time.
9. Spoons
4+ players
Put spoons in the middle, one fewer than the number of players. Everyone gets four cards. The dealer picks up a card, keeps or passes one to the left, and everyone passes at the same time. The first to collect four of a kind grabs a spoon, and then everyone grabs. The player left without a spoon drinks.
10. Drinking Snap
2+ players
Deal out the whole deck. Players take turns flipping their top card onto a shared pile. When two cards of the same rank land on top of each other, the first to shout "snap" wins the pile and everyone else drinks. Shout snap at the wrong time and you drink twice.
Questions
What is the best drinking card game?
Kings Cup (also called Ring of Fire) is the most popular: every card has a rule, so it works for any group. Ride the Bus and Pyramid are close behind.
What drinking card games can you play with a small group?
Higher or Lower, Red or Black and Drinking Snap all work from two players. Screw the Dealer and Ride the Bus are best with three or more.
How do you play Ride the Bus?
Each player answers four guesses: red or black, higher or lower, inside or outside, and the suit. Wrong guesses mean drinks. Then a pyramid of cards decides who rides the bus, and that player guesses red or black through a row of cards, starting over after every wrong guess.
Can you play Kings Cup without cards?
Yes. Ring of Sin on Chug Games is a phone version of Kings Cup: one phone shuffles, deals and reads out each card's rule.
Play a game
ClassicPlay →Ring of SinKings Cup on one phone1 phone · 2–16 players
Every phonePlay →Most LikelySecret votes with selfiesOwn phones · 2–16 players
NewPlay →SpyWho doesn't know the word?1 phone · 3–12 players
