Drinking Card Games

Playing games while drinking alcoholic drinks is hardly a new invention. It’s been around almost as long as fermentation itself. While the earliest recorded drinking game involved little more than racing to finish beer and throwing cups at walls, things have evolved.

Today, there are countless drinking card games for every mood and occasion. From tactical to chaotic, these drinking games with cards are perfect for adding a bit of friendly competition to your next get-together.

Before jumping into the rules, make sure your guests won’t go thirsty. Home draught machines are an easy way to enjoy pub-quality pints at home. Our BLADE machine delivers the ultimate home draught experience, with a wide range of beers available in 8L BLADE kegs.

Less fridge-stocking, more time for games.

Bussen (Ride the Bus)

One of the most popular card drinking games, Bussen combines luck, memory and a lot of sips along the way.

Phase one: dealing the cards

One player becomes the dealer. The dealer asks each player a series of questions, revealing a card after each answer. If a player guesses incorrectly, they take a sip.

The questions are:

Red or black?
Higher or lower than your first card?
In between your last two cards or outside?
What suit is your next card?

Play continues until everyone has answered all four questions.

Phase two: building the pyramid

Each player keeps their four cards hidden. The dealer then builds a pyramid of face-down cards: five at the base, then four, three, two, and one at the top.

Bottom row cards = 1 sip
Each level up increases the number of sips
The top card counts as five sips (or a forfeit, if you’re feeling brave)

Cards are flipped one at a time. If you have a matching card, you throw it down and take (or give) the corresponding number of sips. The player with the most cards left at the end must ride the bus.

If there’s a tie, the highest card value loses.

Phase three: riding the bus

The dealer lays nine cards face down in a diamond shape. One by one, cards are flipped while the unlucky player guesses red or black.

Guess correctly? You move on.
Guess wrong? The card is turned back over and you take a sip.

The goal is to make it through the diamond and escape the bus. Once completed, the game resets and continues.

Killer

If you loved Wink Wink Murder as a kid, this drinking game with cards is for you.

Create a deck with:

One red-suited card (the killer)
One ace of spades (the detective)
Black-suited cards for everyone else (the civilians)

Each player receives one card. The killer silently “kills” civilians by winking at them. When a civilian dies (dramatically encouraged), everyone drinks to their health.

The detective drinks each round someone is killed and tries to work out who the killer is (without revealing themselves).

If the detective guesses correctly, they give out sips equal to the number of victims
If the killer is caught, they drink for each person they killed

House rules are strongly encouraged.

Give and Take

Looking for a beery twist on Truth or Dare? Give and Take is a simple but effective card drinking game.

Lay out two parallel rows of 12 cards:

One row = Truth
One row = Dare

Each player is dealt four cards. Players take turns revealing a card. If the face value matches a card in either row (suits don’t matter), they must complete the corresponding truth or dare.

Refuse or fail? You drink for 1–12 seconds, depending on the card’s position in the row.

Whether you’re into tactical guessing games or chaotic party fun, drinking card games are an easy way to bring people together. Just remember to pace yourselves, enjoy the moment, and let the games do the entertaining.