Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Game Night

I don't want to over think it, but... I also didn't want to over think it 30 minutes ago, and here I am.

The dilemma: pick words that are too prevalent and the game will become a burdensome obligation, an "oh fuck, that bastard just said Congress four times in a minute" grind... and who wants that? We're drinking precisely to avoid that, no?

So, for example, if future required everyone to take a drink, we're in for a messy evening. And don't pick words that nobody wants to drink to:

We need bi-partisan efforts to... Bi-partisan!! Drink! He said bi-partisan, everyone drink!... See, that's fucking terrible. Nobody wants to drink to bi-partisan.

Then there are questions of format. The classic formula requires State of the Union drinking game participants to share at least three words and (this is a terrible thing to forget) there must be a second set of action words — words that only require one person to drink. These words are usually chosen by the group and are assigned to each player at random, or, should time allow, I encourage conducting a word draft. Here, you have a few options as well:

a) Give each participant many words — perhaps five to seven — which figure to get very little action (such as: torture, love, or ahimsa — I'm just kidding, obviously Obama ain't sayin' ahimsa) and you'll have busy listeners but light boozing.

b) opt for only one or two high traffic words (responsibility, aisle, and challenge being some obvious choices) and we run the risk of exhausting the players.

Anyway, don't over think it, but realize that you do have options. Follow the gubmint's lead: make rules that suit you. Do you prefer exact rules — for instance, every "drink" is measured (pouring beer into a shot glass seems to be common), or maybe you're content keepin' it loose, making em' up as you go. Fun and drunk are the only objectives. And don't forget to keep score (play to win, a beautiful idea encouraged by beautiful people) and conjure up a few prizes. Everyone is a winner! Yay!

2 comments:

  1. The sentence that made me laugh the most was the first one, and then every sentence after it.

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  2. You, a charmer, have charmed me. Be careful of that Ethan, he's a charmer... the old folk warn.

    ReplyDelete