We are a few short weeks away from the end of 2020, and Ms. Rona has ravaged the world. Cases are set to spike globally, even more so than the initial outbreak, just as we enter the gloomiest and coldest time of the year. If we’ve EVER needed a pick-me-up, now’s the time!
The holidays are among us, and now, there’s yet another aspect of our lives that needs to adapt to being virtual. Since we’ll all have varying levels of access to our friends and family, we’ll explore different categories for today’s games. Virtual, At Home, and In Person; let’s get into it!
Online Virtual Drinking Games
Play the Classics Virtually
This first category of games includes those that can be played via Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, Facetime, Houseparty App, or any alternatives. Some of our drinking game favorites can easily be played in virtual spaces: Two Truths and a Lie, Never Have I Ever, Truth or Dare, Power Hour. My personal favorite of this bunch is Power Hour, a game where you take a shot (or a sip) every minute of the hour (beer and wine are good options for this game too!).
Create Your Own Black Trivia
For those of us that are willing to do a little pre-planning, virtual spaces are also great for trivia!
- Make a list of black pop culture questions from this bizarre ass year, or classic black movie trivia.
- Create a virtual space that all of your friends can access (Google Hangouts, Facetime, Zoom, etc.)
- Have your close friends answer the questions in the chat!
- Every wrong answer is a shot or a sip! This is a quick, fun, and easy way to reflect on the year, and drink with friends.
Splurge on an Already Existing Game
If you’re willing to invest some dollaz in your drinking games, you can also try out Stay the Fuck Inside (https://www.staythefuckinside.com/), which is a super cheap card game, and only requires that one person has the deck. The rest can be enjoyed virtually! It’s specifically made for quarantine times, and can be paired with any of the virtual spaces mentioned above.
At Home Drinking Games
This category is for those of us that don’t like the virtual hangout spaces as much, but still miss our friends. Rather than sharing via video or audio, these are all games that only require your drinking, and your occasional input lol.
Host a Virtual Watch Party
First is a classic: watch a movie or tv show with friends in a Netflix Party Room, Hulu Watch Party, or independent app like Kast. Every time a particular things happens, a certain character enters, or a certain word is said, you guys take a shot. For example, on a Christmas movie, you might take a shot or a sip every time someone says “Santa” or “Christmas.”
Santa Hat Shenanigans
Another fun Christmas drinking game, that requires every gameplayer to have a santa hat in their house, is to do the same. Watch a movie or tv show together, simultaneously, with a santa hat wrapped around the corner of the tv. Every time the hat happens to be on top of someone’s head, you drink!
Textable Drinking Games
Another idea for those with better attention spans than me, is to play the iphone GamePigeon games, but with a drinking twist. Every round you lose is a shot! Won’t be long before you’re both tipsy and tapped out.
In Person Drinking Games
Play the Classics with Friends
For those of us lucky enough to be around friends and family our own age, I didn’t forget about you! I’m in the same boat, and in my household, we’ll be playing drunk Uno, drunk Cards Against Humanity, drunk Sorry, and all that lol. If you have a deck of cards at home, you could also play old reliable – King’s Cup! There are different rules with every group I’ve ever played this game with, so personalize it to you.
Use an Online Card Generator
In addition to adding drinking twists to our favorite childhood games, there are also a number of online and/or downloadable games that are perfect for this time. Drunk Pirate (DrunkPirate.co.uk) is a card-generating website that gives endless prompts to keep the party going. Drink Roulette is a downloadable app that generates drinking prompts to guide the festivities.
Download a Game App
Heads Up is another downloadable app that’s fun and easy to play! It’s similar to charades, where the player holds their phone up to their forehead, facing their friends, with a phrase on the phone. The friends give the player clues as to what person or phrase is on their head until they guess correctly. With a drinking twist, a wrong answer would be a shot or a sip!
Now, the mentioned games are not an exhaustive list, there are ample alternatives in each of the categories I created. That’s the beauty of this time! Though we are constantly being bombarded with bad news, there are plenty of ways we can also invite joy into our lives. And more importantly, spend time with the people we love, and who love us, no matter how dystopian 2020 may feel.
Happy drinking all, and happy holidays!! Sending love and positivity to you!
