Have you ever had a drinking contest? Did you play a lot of quarters? Asshole? Do you think that those types of things are a part of early adulthood and that you outgrow that love of binge drinking?

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Answers

I will never grow out of my love of binge drinking. However, my love of self-respect gets larger all of the time. Damn self-respect.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Ah yes, I've played a lot of Quarters in my day. I always lost. Or won, I guess, because isn't the object of the game to get hammered? I was always hammered and usually one of the first to have to quit.

As I have matured into the froggy old woman that I am now, I rarely play drinking games, or if I do, I beg off early. Binge drinking has ceased to have a good effect on me, and I go right from sober to make-the-room-stop-spinning nauseous in about 2.2 seconds. These days I stick to sipping wine or margaritas, and I'm happy with a nice buzz. Now that weekends are so precious to me, I refuse to spend another Sunday as a slave to my hangover. Didn't mind it so much when I was younger and had nothing but time.

Man, sometimes it really hits me that I am nearing the crest of that hill, and before I know it I'll be over the hill and descending at an alarming pace. Maybe I should rethink this. Maybe playing Quarters will keep me young! I'll see if my dad and his new wife want to play when they come visit. They're 60, but if I tell them the fountain of youth lies in the bottom of a beer glass, they might be up for it.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Apparently I will never leave early childhood... I went to St. Paddy's with folks from the old job. Someone started a quarters game. I got my ass kicked until the game changed to Thumper. We're talking a bunch of people in their 30s and 40s. The waitchild thought we were psycho. The problem now is the next day becomes more and more painful as the years roll by... Ouchy head!

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

we used to play drunk monopoly... i don't really remember the rules, or even if there were any... no one bought a damn thing, but we were all pretty wasted.

i do remember playing a "match" game with my then-fiance- i'd match him for every yukon jack shot (which was really retarded, since it's a liquor and that's a HUGE no-no). i stopped at eight, vomited for hours later.

other than that... we played "buttons" with kool-aid as a kid- i think it's the same as quarters.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

My favorite version of Quarters was one where you had to sing a verse of the favorite song of the person to your left every time you missed a shot.

Singing + fucked up = some damn funny stuff, yo. I suppose that explains the popularity of karaoke.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

i think i missed the part of "Drinking Fundamentals" where they teach you to "socially drink". to my knowledge, i have never drinken socially. not that i'm anti-social. i'm fortunate enough to have a rather jovial disposition when i get shitty. i consider that lucky, being that some others i know get real belligerent.

anyway, i love to drink. i don't like playing drinking games, because they generally force the issue. it seems that when i did play those games it was before i realized that everytime i sit down to do some drinking, i'm not gonna quit until i'm "buzzing", till at the very least i am toeing the line of a .1 blood alcohol level, and at the most, steering the porcelin bus, etc.

i second jeff's summation. can't lose the bacchanal addicition and so all i can hope for is that some other part of my life becomes more important and kicks love of drinking out of the driver's seat.

poker is good. i'm thirsty. draft horse? 5:30?

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Quarters?? What dat?

Obviously in Ireland we take our binge drinking more seriously.

Pamie, I can reassure you as a mature (no, stop laughing, that's not nice) 27 year old, binge drinking is not just a part of early adulthood. It's a part of life.

Of course you stop planning on getting rat-arsed drunk - it just sneaks up on you instead. Some nights I can drink anyone under the table other nights I hit the floor first.

I think that's the main symptom of getting older I don't not know my drink tolerance I just keep forgetting it .. or misplacing it somewhere.
Seriously though, what's quarters? Or Asshole??

Just Stopping By

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Oh yeah. At my college newspaper, we'd split into teams of four and do a case race -- whichever team chugs a case the fastest is named the winner. All you win is people's awe and of course bragging rights until the next race. We were the Drinking Team with a Journalism Problem.

I'm also a huge fan of Cups, and my last year of college I got really good at it. I would heckle people into playing against me so I could beat them. I suspect this makes me lame and sad, but hey -- no regrets.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

I drank far more before I turned 21 than I have since.

Yeah, used to play all the drinking games and could guzzle and chug faster than anyone else in the drama department. Even the master electrician guy who always had a margarita in his 7-11 Slurpee cup. It's all about relaxing your throat.

Those were the days, my friend. (altogether now: We thought the'd never end. We'd sing and dance forever and day...)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

The Vegetable Game. You had to give yourself a vegetable title and then this clapping rhythm thing started and you had to say your vegetable, followed by someone else's vegetable, then that person would have to say their vegetable and someone else's...you see the pattern here...but you couldn't show your teeth. Your lips had to completely cover them. Next to impossible if you were the slightest bit tipsy, because you looked like an imbecile and sounded even more stupid. If you were unsuccessful at hiding your teeth, you drank.

I don't admit this sort of thing to just anybody.

Oh yeah, and the "I Never" game. That was bad news, too.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Drunk twister is fun, everytime you fall, you take a shot. And you ultimately end up hammered, you get beligerent and start talking shit to others, challenging people to play, and in your drunken haze, you make a complete as out of yourself. Then you challenge everyone to naked twister after the keg has run dry. So I've heard. Drunk Pictionary is fun, too. We always end up with one person drawing chicks with dicks for every picture (he is in the navy and is on submarines for 6 months at a time, so we just let him have his fun.)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Cups is pretty much the only drinking game I play, because I'm really good at it and enjoy talking smack while the other team drinks. A drinking game isn't a drinking game if it doesn't involve talking trash.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

lesse... quarters, of course, presidents and assholes (is that the same as asshole?), one called mexican (i have no idea for another name for it...), um.. one my best friend and i made up called "odds or evens" wherein you roll a pair of dice. odds, you drink, even, you don't. that one gets you fucked up pretty quick. chug and trade, for when there are two of you, a keg and just one cup. the question game. (i could go on and on and on...)

and i guess im still a young adult, and i'm not tired of binge drinking yet. :)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Drinking Games hell yeah...despite teh fact that any form of organized drinking is STRICTLY prohibited at my university (trying to shed the image of being a school konwn for its drinkings and instead get back to its good catholic school image *rolls eyes*)..you also can't have beer hats or funnels..but hey that never stopped anyone. homecoming this year the guys house in our rez did Poison Ivy and another rez did red death..nasty stuff Im telling ya..i coulnd't even get a whole glass of poison Ivy into me *wrinkles her nose*

The best was for BURMAC though (those of you who watch David Letterman might know taht my little old school in Nova Scotia was 3 on his top ten list of biggest known partys for BURMAC *L*, that and we have the 3rd most recognizable ring in the world other than the popes ring and the superbowl ring..but anywho I digress *L* For BURMAC we did catagorys! what a friggin blast..i was drunk by noon :) (can't tell im 19 or nuthing *L*)

And is it just me, or am I the only person whose never heard of quarters, maybe its an american thing or sumthing..i don't know.

Monica :)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

"I Never" was another of our favorites. The drunker we got, the more specific so that we could get our friends (and selves) drunker: "I never hooked up on a rooftop in September with someone from one of the North Quad dorms...", etc....

Card games were good too, we picked up a few good ones like Circle of Death/King's Circle, or Drunk Driver, High/Low -- it's amazing how creative the college mind can be when it wants to get completely shitfaced.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

oh, god. i've never has been the downfall of many a person in my group of friends. one person once said, "i have never slept with..." and that guy was there, and i had and therefore had to drink, god, the embarrassing things that can go on in that game...

asshole, that's another, can't even tell you how many times i have drunk myself into oblivion with that game.

keg stands: i was the first girl at a huge party to do a keg stand, which i am not quite sure i am proud of, but anyway...

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Suck and Blow. Oh yeah.

When I was a freshman (high school), my best friend Regan's older brother Will had a party. So I of course arranged to spend the night with Regan. Will was a senior and all his hot senior friends were there. One of his friends, Mike, always flirted with me at school. I think he liked to embarass me. So Regan and I are drunk off our asses and Mike suggests we play Suck and Blow. So we all get in to a big circle and Mike sits next to me. The first time the card went around the circle and passed between me and Mike, he reached his hand up pulled the card away and fell on top of me, lips locked in front of everyone. He kisses me for a good minute. I was too shocked to be embarassed. But even as a freshman, I knew a damn good kisser when I had one attached to my lips. So I just let him. Afterward he pulled away and said, "Sorry, I just always wanted to do that". I don't think he spoke a word to me for the rest of the year, but everytime he walked by he would blow me a kiss.

Suck and Blow....good game....good memories.....good excuse to kiss someone.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Since drinking is a relatively new part of my life, I've never really engaged in the heavy drinking games. I've played them, sure, but I usually lose. By that I mean I end up being in a place where I don't end up taking too many drinks (because I'm sober enough to win) or I'm Rules Queen where I have to stay sober enough to make sure the game is played correctly so that no one gets in a fight.

I enjoy a game of "i never" immensely.

Quarters: you get a shot glass and a quarter. You put the shot glass in the middle of the table (i believe). You have to bounce the quarter off the table and it has to land inside the shot glass or you take a shot. I think you can add rules to this, but that's the basic premise.

What's cups?

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Drinking games. Ugh. They're the reason why I can't drink red wine anymore. When I was in college, we were poor. So my friend goes to the store and buys a gallon jug of the cheapest red wine she could find. Another friend brings a pint bottle of Jack Daniels green label. We then proceeded to play about four hands of Drunk Driver.

The only thing that tastes worse than cheap red wine is retasting cheap red wine when it wants to leave your stomach and make a public appearance. That's the only time I've ever puked so hard it came out of my mouth *and* my nose.

And if those of you across the pond are confused about what the hell these games are we're talking about, see the drinking games listed at http://www.webtender.com/handbook/games/ or http://www.realbeer.com/fun/games/ or http://www.partyschool.com/drinkinggames/drinkinggames.htm and you'll find more than you ever wanted to know.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

heh...I once played Quarters with a Marine master sergeant, using Jack Daniels...I stupidly thought I could beat him...must have been all that beer I drank first...I believe I recall driving the porcelain bus home early that night...

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Monica - I'm from Southern Ontario/Toronto area, and we played quarters... pretty religiously. I *love* to drink - and it really sucks that I'm incapable of real serious drinking nowadays.

I had my own place in *highschool* - so you can imagine how rowdy that was :) Lots of quarters - and I always ended up smashed because everytime someone got a quarter in they'd yell "make little jen drink!" and so of course not even five minutes into the game I'd be leaning on the person next to me. Always good. That was friday nights. Saturday *morning* we'd head to the liquour store, pick up a large bottle of tequila, and head back to the house. And *start drinking*. By 2pm, we were all *very very* drunk. We usually used a set of those drinking cards.

An odd fact - and if anyone can explain this I'd be really happy - I'm really teeny - and yet, I can handle hard liquour much better then beer. In fact, I don't get a hangover from saaay tequila or vodka - but give a couple of pints or a glass of wine and I feel terribly ill the next day. Anyone know of a possible explanation for this?

My record for tequila shots is ... 8? I think? I was still walking and talking and *not* puking. Pretty impressive for someone my size. Of course, nowadays I'd be lucky to get three down and not fall over. And forget a drinking binge; I pulled one of those in Vegas a month ago and ended up passing out sitting on the toilet in a casino rest room (first time ever that has happened) and ended up so incredibly ill I puked in the hotel LOBBY - *twice*. Once in the evening, and once in the morning. Sucks. 'Cause like I said - I like to drink. :(

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

I used to play quarters when I was in college, but no more. The last time I played quarters, I became so drunk that I threw a whole case of full beer bottles out a fourth floor dorm window, just so i could hear the noise when they hit the ground. Needless to say, i soon saw campus security come running from all directions, but I was able to get away. Later that night a friend and I were still drunk, and for some reason we destroyed a coke machine with fire pokers. It was a lot of fun at the time... but i learned drinking games can lead to me being chased by the police.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Oh dear, the world of drinking. I drank a lot more in high school, but really learned the fine art of drinking games thanks to University. Cups? - never heard of it, and that goes for Quarters as well...but by far, the best drinking game (besides "I Never" - which incidentally we call "Never Have I Ever") is the "One Hen" game.

Let me give you the low down for anyone interested. Basically, it works best if the only person who has played it before is the one leading it. That person starts by saying "One Hen". Then, everyone has to go around the circle saying "One Hen". When you get back to the leader, they tag on more - "One hen, a couple of ducks". And then the rest of the cirlce repeats it. If you mess up, you drink. By the end of the game, you will have to say - ahem - "One hen, a couple of ducks, three brown bears, four running hares, five fat females fixing for a fight, six Cicilian sailors sailing the seven seas, seven HUNDRED thousand Masadonian warriors dressed in full battle aray, eight sheet slitters slightly slitting sheets - I am the son of a sheet slitter, nine sympathetic diabetic empathetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth, ten spherical lyrical diabolical denisons of the deep lurking about in the key in the cave of the cove of the queasy - all together and all at the same time, - and then everyone in the group says "Just the facts Ma'am."

Oh how hammered I have gotten on that game, even if I have heard it a dozen times. Ah, memories.

Woohoo!

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Oh my... drinking...

I have never been in a drinking contest, simply because despite my size (I'm far from thin), I am an incredible lightweight. However, one night I was at this party and this guy that can usually drink ANYONE under the table, challenged the guy that was making the drinks. The guy told him to be careful with a drink because he might have made it a bit strong. The Drinker pretty much just laughed in his face and said it would take a lot to get him drunk. Hours later, he was passed out. Funny funny stuff. NEVER challenge this particular guy when it comes to drinking. He's an alcoholic after all. (=

As for drinking games? Yeah, Asshole is a fun one (yeah, I think it is the same as Presidents and Assholes, to whoever asked) but we would take it a step further and after everyone was well on the way to being drunk we would turn it into Truth-Hole. Kinda a cross between Truth and Dare and Asshole. Don't ask me the rules, cuz I just don't remember them. That game fucked me up bad.

And, of course, my absolute favorite drinking game?

Drinking Jenga.

You must play this.

Here's what you do: Get a Jenga. (Usually at Target, Wal*Mart, any toy store, prolly. 20.00. The best 20.00 you will ever spend.)

Get black marker. A fine felt-tip will work just fine. Something that has a small enough tip that you can write on the blocks.

Now, you have to come up with something for every block.

That's right, you WRITE something on the blank side of all the Jenga pieces. Things like: "If you're wearing jeans, take 7." "Drink your shoe size." "Drink the number of sexual partners you've had."

The "number" is the the number of seconds you have to drink for.

So, you set it up like a regular Jenga with the written portions of the blocks facing DOWN. Then proceed to play jenga like normal. But every time you take a block, you have to do whatever the piece says. (Oh, and you *have* to have a piece that says: "You're screwed! Drink 45.")

The person that knocks the Jenga down has to slam a full glass/bottle of whatever they're drinking.

We used to do a "community cup", where everyone would pour into the cup on their turn, but at one party, the game went on SO long that the person that knocked it over was one of the heaviest drinkers and HE wouldn't even drink from the community cup, so we amended the rules. (=

It's pretty fun, and gets you fucked up fast. I think I'm going to write about it my entry tonight. For a full list of suggestions, you might want to check it out. Of course, give me a half an hour or so to get the entry written. Hee! (=

Take to the Sky

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

HEY!

Anybody ever play quarters with shots of JACK? I played with Brad Sherwood (of WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? fame)and some friends during the Big Stinkin' Fest. He didn't make his tech rehearsal at 3 p.m. the next day because he was so hungover, whereas I drove 2 friends that were playing home that night (completely sober). Sherwood's a p____y. He hated everyone who played that night. I bet he even remembers my name... BTW, Eviny didn't show up tonight at the bar. What a wussssss...

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

I don't know what cups is, what is "I never"?

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Hmm...I've never played "I Never" as a drinking game...(I guess here I would have to take a drink). I thought it was just a slumber party game but hell, booze would make it all the more humiliating so, bring it on!

What's Cups? Must not be a Southern thing.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

um, the Cups game I've played may be different from others, but we filled up six plastic cups with varying levels of alcohol. then you roll a di, and whichever number you get corresponds to one of the cups. you have to drain that cup. (works best with beer obviously, as this is a fast game.)

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

I was so not a drinker in high school, but went to a party where I had my first run-in with Quarters. Was nagged to play, and refused multiple times, just watched. Finally was successfully nagged into playing, so took quarter, and with complete beginner's luck, plonked it right in the cup. Much astonishment, as I was expected to fail miserably and have vile homemade Everclear-heavy substance forced upon me. I mask my utter shock (probably wretchedly) but recover in time to ask what I'm supposed to do next. Apaprently I get to make someone drink something. Okay. "Everybody drink," sez I. Then I wandered off.

I knew better than to try again. That sort of luck never happens twice.

I do kick ass at Vodkopoly,though. Vodka is my friend. I can drink massive quantities and get up happy and blithe the next day, no cares in the world, no hangover. (People who have watched you whip their butts at Vodkopoly usually console themselves by looking forward to the size of your hangover, and when there isn't one, they truly loathe this.)

I have never thrown up because I drank too much nor have I ever had a hangover. I sense when I'm getting close to crossing that line but haven't had the desire to see what happens when it's crossed. No one has ever said "boy, you don't know what you're missing, puking is SOOOO fun!" so I suppose I'll leave that experience alone for now.

That said, I can't drink beer or wine, though, without getting completely loopy. Even cider does me in. Without sulfites, I'm hardcore. One pansy-ass pear cider and I'm both sleepy and giddy, like I've stayed up WAY past my bedtime. Alcohol does not smooth away my personal social inhibitions, I just detach a little and get the rare opportunity to watch myself (semi-objectively) act like an ass.

I.e. Oh great. I was thinking Deep Thoughts but they'll think I'm staring. *hic* Hee. *wave* God. I *AM* staring. Must stop staring. Oh no. Caught. SHIT. Oh dear, here s/he comes. Huh. What do you mean, 'what am I looking at?' Ohmygod, I know what I'm going to say. Please don't let me say that. It's not going to come out right. People will look at me like I sprouted a third eye. Stifle yourself, for the love of-- Dunno what I'm looking at; the label's fallen off, hasn't it?--OH HELL. SHIT. I TOLD you not to say it, and now you're going to get beaten, you twit. Oh great, now I'm giggling inanely. That's how to win friends and influence people! Way to go! Oh, good, they have gone away. I musta intin--edum-- intimer--SCARED 'um. Hee. *blurp* I think I need another drink. Heh. No! No I do NOT need another drink. I'm squiffy enough. Put down that bottle. God damn it. I hate going out with me, I'm a total 'tard. *grump*

Also, I'm losing my impressive excessive vodka consumption ability the older I get. Don't know why. One day I will have a hangover and everyone will mock me and rejoice and talk very loudly and stomp around (or I'll just feel like they are).

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Heather - you can hook up on the roof of North Quad dorms? I'm so impressed! Never considered that one. ;)

We tend to play a lot of drinking games. Any board game is better drunk. The most recent was Sorry. Get sent back, drink. Risk is another amusing one, because once everyone's drunk, the game just gets weird. Twister is always good, but that usually ends up with a hookup or two.

The I Never game is always good. The things I have learned about others terrify me.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

i've played quite a few binge drinking games, my favorite being "3 man". but my favorite contest was the one i had when i was 19 with my friend joe in the back of his van - we had a bong-toking contest. how you play: load 'er up and let 'er rip. pass to the next person. repeat. the winner is the person still standing after the others have dropped out.

i smoked him under the table.

problem is, we somehow ended up in hartville at joe's parents house, petting his cat and eating spaghetti. i have no idea how we got there. i think he drove. hartville is a good hour away from my school. there was no sauce for the spaghetti so joe added butter and garlic powder, and it wasn't very good. and i have no idea when or how i got home. maybe i never did and the 9 years since that day i've been living in a stoned dream world. that would really suck, cause i would hate to have to do everything all over again...

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

In college we played a game called "Pennies." Basically, you get the number of pennies for the number of people playing (works much better with more players.) One person picks up all the pennies and shakes them (in cupped hands, or in a cup or something) then calls "heads" or "tails" then drops them on the table. For each penny you called wrong, you drink. For each you called right, you give away to another player or players. You might drink one, you might drink all 10, or any combination. Fun, totally easy, all luck, fast.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Ah, yes. The two most deadly words of my college/post-college days.

Three. Man.

Mad wicked that. Our version had so many subtleties and quirks that even with a group of 6, one could be Three Man for 30 minutes or more.

G

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

what is three man?

to whomever asked: i've never is a wonderful game, and it's more fun with a lot of people. everyone has a beverage and someone will start the game by saying "i have never... (insert thing here, doesn't matter what it is, but it usually starts off pretty tame, like, had my ears pierced)" then, anyone who HAS had their ears pierced has to drink. as people start getting drunker, the "i've never" statements rapidly degenerate into things such as "i have never had anal sex" or "i have never spit". they get pretty raunchy, adn sometimes you learn things you never really needed to know. it's fun though. oh, and if nobody drinks when you say something, *you* have to drink. i think htat rule is to prevent people from saying "i have never jumped off a skyscraper in new york" or something. anyway, try it, it's great fun

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

I AM the quarters QUEEN. Ok, not really, I just loved that game. Way to many nights of drunken hilarity. Damn I miss that. I haven't had a good drunk in a long time. Friday's my 25th birthday though, so I must, must, have a good old fashioned falling down drunk.

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2000