There was once a time when I thought I'd grow out of drinking games in my twenties. I thought the pressure of outwardly having a good time and maintaining the same level of booziness as everyone else who also doesn't really know what to do with themselves at pre-drinkswould fade with my new found adult maturity. I thought it would be lots of fine, expensive wine slowly sipped in between bites of potent, intentionally mouldy cheese. Safe to say that has not quite happened yet.
We all like to play grown-up every now and again of course, but for many of us the standard protocol for a night out hasn't evolved that much from our university days. Except beer pong, let's leave that back there with Blue VKs and that 'spillage is lickage' rule.
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Everyone still gathers at the designated house of pre-drinks. Someone always 'forgets' to have dinner and so an emergency own brand oven pizza is popped in the oven. And, once everyone has arrived, has caught up and is sat in an unintentional circle in the living room, there's still that awkward moment of 'so what shall we do until the taxis arrive because everyone's bored and sober?'
Here is where the drinking games come in. The #lad will suggest something stupid like Centurion, the mate who's most eager to please will sheepishly suggest *another *round of Never Have I Ever, but you all know each other too well for that now.
To save everyone the trouble of hazily Googling 'fun easy drinking games', though, wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to put that phone you've been intermittently checking for notifications to good use? Wouldn't it be easier if there was an app for that?
Yes, yes it would. These are the ones to download right now and have quite literally in your back pocket for the next time pre-drinks come to an awkward lull.
The Debrief - Drinking Game Apps
1 of 7Drink or Doom
Sounds ominous, I know. But never fear, it's not that scary. It's set up like a comic book and basically involves completing various challenges. They can be a bit risqué, to say the least so you'll want to play this one with people you trust not to broadcast the whole thing on Instagram stories. Android / iOS
2 of 7Drink & Tell
Three guesses what the premise of this game is? Nope, you won't get it. You chose from six categories – love, sex, life & death, personality, ethics and user generated', and then you'll be presented with a question with multiple answers that you have to read out to the group before you make your choice. Then everyone else has to guess how you answered and whoever gets it wrong has to drink. It's quite the test of friendship, really.Android / iOS
3 of 7Bomba Drink
Did you ever play pass the bomb at school? That high pressure, think on your feet and pretend and inanimate object is about to explode game? This is like that. You can play Classic mode which is the PG, punishment-free version, or Happy/Party modes which involve taking a drink if you lose.Android / iOS
4 of 7Picolo
This is right up there as one of the best, hassle free drinking game apps. All you have to do is input the names of the people playing and you're off. As the phone is passed from player to player you'll each be given an instruction. It can be anything from 'Player 1 has to drink every time Player 2 drinks' and 'Player 3 must speak in an Irish accent' to 'The first person to text a family member can give out 2 sips' and 'Name songs by Beyoncé, first person to repeat themselves or can't think of anything drinks 2 times'. Android / iOS
5 of 7Kings
I'm of the personal belief that this game is a bad idea for everyone involved. Mainly because I played it once back in 2011 and to this day have no idea what happened afterwards. But if you keep the drinking to sensible proportions (like always, obvs) then maybe you'll come out of it better than I did. Here's your card-free version of Ring of Fire. Android
6 of 7Game of Shots
If it's variation you want, Game of Shots carries a whole load of different drinking games in the one app. There's everything from (digital) card and dice games to classics like 'Truth or Dare' that you don't have to bother coming up with ideas for. There's also a little indicator of how boozy each game is out of six depending on what you want the vibe of the night to be. Android
7 of 7Seven Drinking Party
Another card game of sorts for ya. Choose between 'Original', 'Hardcore' and 'Ultimate' (guides to the required levels of consumption) game modes and be taken on a journey. There's 420 illustrated cards that'll give you various instructions. They range from standard 'player with the fullest glass drink' to 'tell us about one of your favourite books'. Android / iOS
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.