In college movies, drinking is always a huge, wild event–taking shot after shot, doing keg stands, playing beer pong–and sometimes that culture is prevalent.
But sometimes it’s much more low-key: Saturday night in your dorm room with a handful of friends, quietly watching Arthur on Netflix and taking a sip whenever he does an outfit change.
That’s right, we have an Arthur drinking game.
Our other favorite game is Cheers to the Governor.
The basic idea is that everyone goes around in a circle counting up to 21, but it gets progressively harder as numbers are replaced with phrases, topics, or gestures. The only hard-and-fast rules that must be followed are that 7 and 14 are switched and 21 is “Cheers to the Governor.” The rest are up to your creativity and vary from game to game. Sample rules include:
- Instead of 3, say a type of plant.
- Instead of 5, say the title of a Taylor Swift song.
- Instead of 8, say a breed of dog.
- Instead of 12, say the name of someone you’ve kissed.
- Instead of 16, you repeat 15.
- Instead of 19, you have to twerk.
Eventually you get a game that sounds less like counting to 21 and more like an extremely nonsensical list of words. In the above game, the process around the circle would sound like: “1” “2” “geranium” “4” “You Belong With Me” “6” “14” [remember 7 and 14 are always switched] “poodle” “9” “10” “11” “Jamie” “13” “7” “15” “15” “17” “18” *twerk* “20” “Cheers to the Governor.”
If you mess up your turn by forgetting to substitute an established rule, you drink. If you take too long to come up with a breed of dog (for example) or repeat one that’s already been said, you drink. After somebody drinks, the next person starts with 1. If you say “Cheers to the Governor,” everybody clinks glasses and drinks, and you decide a new rule that everyone must follow.
Why would you dress up and go out when you could watch Arthur eat cake and get trapped in the library? Why subject yourself to getting beer spilled on you at frat parties when you can sit in a circle saying numbers in silly accents and spouting names of kitchen appliances?
I, for one, think that would make a better college movie than neon lights and keg stands.
This post is part of my April A to Z Challenge. For more All Things College posts, click here.
Victim to Charm 
My best friend and I have a State of the Union game. We started it as a way to sit through George W. Bush’s speeches. The rules change from year to year, but some remain the same. Drink whenever Biden touches his face. Drink when they show Congressman Langevin (he uses a wheelchair). Drink whenever there is a bi-partisan standing ovation. Drink whenever POTUS mentions people with disabilities. We make the rules the day of the speech. The final rules are declared at 4:00 PM EST. I can include you this year if you are interested. It forces us to watch the speech, and some years we actually remember some of the things which are said.
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That sounds like the best way to watch the State of the Union.
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“Some years we actually remember some of the things which are said” hahaha. That sounds like a great game!!
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My best friend lives in Dryden, close to Ithaca. We could easily arrange for a gathering, I’m sure…..
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Let’s!
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Gotta try that
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It’s a blast.
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I love this I am going to try this :)
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It’s so fun! Enjoy :)
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This sounds great. Other good ones are like 90’s TV shows or The Hills.
keepcalmandchiffon.com
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Oh, absolutely. The Hills = drink every time somebody eye rolls or makes a phone call or Heidi “unexpectedly” shows up.
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I’ve never played a drinking game except the one time we visited my son’s apartment when he was a senior in college. He played football so after his game and the tailgate, we all went out. Him and his roommates thought they were expert in beer pong so my husband and I had to show them how the old folks did it. We were undefeated and my husband drank any beer our side needed to consume. Sitting in your room with friends is much better and safer than frat parties.
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The frat that my friends and I go to is very safe (mostly because we know all the guys and have a “come together leave together” pact) but I’ve heard a lot of frat horror stories.
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I don’t know if I could play that game sober. Too much work.
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It’s HILARIOUS.
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this actually sounds pretty fun and definitely something that I could do . I will definitely rememeber this one in case I need it in the future :)
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It’s a great time! Thanks for visiting!
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Drinking games are super fun to watch, though I don’t drink, so can’t partake. I did try a chu-hi drinking game for Sailor Moon once… But… the offenses added up too quickly, haha.
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That’s kinda how the Arthur game is too, whoops ;)
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Am thinking I need to start a drinking game for the Prime Minister Debates that we’re having at the moment here in the UK – we have two to the election and then we’ll spend the next few years regretting the choice probably!
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Love it!
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I love this post, maybe a little too much. This Arthur game may be the best drinking game I’ve ever seen.
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It’s SO much fun. Glad you enjoyed :)
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I’ll have to show my husband this, he would love this. He loves making games like these aw well.
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It’s a blast, and can be quite funny to develop the rules. We began to realize that the number of flashbacks/dream sequences in Arthur was a problem, so we limited it to 3 per 15 minute episode so things weren’t going too fast.
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Oh my! This sounds like such a blast! :) Thanks for the idea!
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I don’t know why that is linking to my old blog. I’m Lauren White over at http://www.alifeofloveandjoy.com LOL!!!
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Enjoy!
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I am so trying this game at the weekend – it’s going to be messy!
Popping by on the A to Z Road Trip
Debbie
http://www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com
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Hope it goes well for you :) Thanks for visiting, Debbie!
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