10 Card & Board Games That Are Fun to Play While Drunk

Who doesn’t like card or board games? Odds are you have a bunch of them going unused in your closet until the next time the Wi-Fi is out. Board or card games can be a lot of fun to play by themselves, but you know what's especially fun? Adding alcohol to card & board games that are fun to play while drunk.

You don’t need some elaborate drinking game and, let’s face it, you’re probably sick and tired of beer pong at this point. It’s time to spice up your game night with a board or card game you can convert into a drinking game.

Drinking is a pretty good time by itself, but there’s something that makes drinking even more fun when you add the element of competition to it. There’s still those old standby games that have to do with a movie or TV show, but those are passive and can be boring after the first few drinks.

Think about that old favorite board game, sitting lonely, collecting dust in the back of your closet. Wouldn’t it be fun to break it out and add another element to it by turning it into a drinking game? Sure, you can always find fun new boards games to watch out for on Kickstarter, but spicing up that classic collecting dust in the closet can be even easier!

Cards Against Humanity is a pretty fun game to play without the element of drinking mixed in. However, there are a few ways to spice up this game with your friend group who might be looking to take the game to the next level.

The game is made for people with a sense of humor that tends to be a little darker or more sarcastic, so it is funny without alcohol involved. The thrill of getting to ask the question from the black card is a reward in itself, but after you’ve played the game, at least somewhat sober, a handful of times then you naturally start itching for a new way to play the game.

An easy way to convert this to a drinking game is to make anyone whose card didn’t make anyone laugh, take a shot or a drink. Another variation of this could be that anyone whose card was not chosen also has to drink.

Monopoly is one of those classic games that can be a lot of fun, but it also can be extremely slow, no matter what version of Monopoly it may be. There are plenty of spaces that are fairly useless, especially the Chance and Community Chest spaces—not to mention the four railroads. An easy upgrade to this is to make players take a drink every time they hit one of these spaces. Now these spaces will take on a new meaning as people try to either avoid or land on them. It depends how drunk they want to feel!

If you really want to ramp up the game, though, you can have players take a drink when they land on a utility, pay some sort of tax, hit free parking, or if they have to pay rent once a property is owned. The sky is the limit in Monopoly, and it can turn a slow classic into one of the best board games that are fun to play while drunk.

Honestly, Clue can be a really fun game to play sober, but there’s no real consequences for wrong guesses. That has always been the most frustrating part of the game: People get the opportunity to make a guess, but if they’re wrong, the party just moves on and the game continues. Some people will simply work their way around the players, rooms, and weapons until they eventually guess right.

It’s easy to make Clue a drinking game, however, countering this strategy by requiring players to drink when they make a guess. You can also assign a drink value, or type of liquor (beer, shot, wine), as the price of admission for each room. You might think twice about going into the kitchen or using that secret passage if it costs you a shot or two to get in.

Sorry! is one of those iconic games that resulted in more than one black eye, be it from friends or family. The game is fast paced and it is a great recipe to get revenge on anyone and everyone on the board. You can start by requiring that anyone who pulls a Sorry! card will have to take a drink or a shot to use it. Another twist to this is to have a chugging race anytime someone tries to bump you back to start. The loser has to go back. You can also make people take a drink to use the slide portion of the board or even to get into the safety zone. Get creative with it and you will find that this is another classic board game that is definitely an added blast with alcohol.

Jenga is another one of those games that can oh so easily be adapted into an exciting new drinking game. The easiest way to take Jenga to the next level is to write an action on each of the pieces. The internet has endless suggestions on what you can write on the Jenga blocks, but part of the fun is creating them yourself.

Some suggestions to write on the blocks:

• person to right/left drinks,
• everyone drinks except you,
• you have to close your eyes on your next turn,
• no cursing or you drink,
• categories (for example, name a character from a specific movie), and
• no talking.

The list could go on and on, but the sky is the limit on how naughty or nice you want the game to get. You can write multiple commands on each block and create a different game each time you play.

The Game of Life can be easily changed to be one of the better board games that are fun to play while drunk. A simple way to turn it into a drinking game is to take a shot every time you land on a space that represents something you haven’t done. If you land on a space that says to buy a house, and you haven’t yet bought a house, then you drink. No kids? Drink. Not an artist? Drink. You get the picture. You can also make players drink for the number of seconds they rolled every third or fourth turn, but with quite a few variations, Life is only limited to your own creativity and the amount you want to drink—kind of like real life, am I right?

Scrabble can be difficult to play if you're intoxicated, but it can also be even more fun. You can make someone drink every time they add an "S" to a word. If they use one of those Scrabble-specific words that nobody ever uses in real life (like "qi"), then they drink, too. You can get extra creative and make players use a word that is the same part of speech as the word played previously. If you can’t make another verb, then you drink. Change the game up and play only names or make someone drink every time they play a three letter word. The Scrabble drinking game rules are that easy. Similar rules can also be applied to Rewordable—another word game for nerds!

Battleship was always fun growing up, but it should not be forgotten because it is one of the best board games to play when you're drunk. Turning it into a drinking game is as simple as basing your drinking on hits and misses. If you miss your shot, then take a drink. A direct hit? Well, then your opponent takes a drink. You can get creative when it comes to the actual sinking an entire ship. The smaller ships could be a single shot, while the battleship might be two or three.

Risk is one of the most polarizing board games; it's one of those games that people either really love or really hate. Nonetheless, you can adapt this game into a drinking game by making players drink each time they gain control of a continent or lose control of one. You can also make people pay a “tax” to move forces into areas where one player has territory. Anytime three or more players have forces on the same continent, everyone drinks, or another variation is to have players drink before they launch an attack.

The last of the board games that are fun to play while drunk is a classic: Trouble. The game is simple enough; be the first to move all your pegs around the board to the finish area. If you land on an opponent, not only should you send them back to start, but they also should drink. If you send two pieces from the same player back to start, then they drink twice, and so on. If you want to try to extend the game a little, you can also apply penalties any time a player rolls a specific number.

It’s up to you now. Check your closet, dig out one of these games, and go grab a couple of bottles or cases, all depending on your drink of choice. The right board games are especially fun to play when you're drunk and they are sure to be a hit at your next party or gathering. And if you think the classics might be too dry—even with drinking—try creating your own rules for one of these board games that aren't boring.