I got drunk and fell in love (a drinking game)

Submitted by davidc on Fri, 10/12/2010 - 03:02

In my game design workshop this week, the task was to come up with and iteratively redesign and prototype a game based on two fundamental concepts provided by another team: an action, and a feeling.

I gave out "flying" and "nausea", and that group had fun making a terribly sickening game where one player is an airplane, spins around rapidly five times, and tries to "land" at an airport - another player - by touching their hand. Dizziness and nausea does indeed rapidly ensue.

Our concept words were "drinking" and "love", so we dutifully went off to sit at the bar and come up with a drinking game. After a few iterations we came up with a pretty workable and fun game, and here's a description of the rules so Allison can read them and quit feigning ignorance when she messes up.

I got drunk

The rules are simple: the first player says a sentence of the form "I got drunk in PLACE and I fell in love with NAME". The place and the name have to rhyme. For example, "I got drunk in PARIS and I fell in love with ALICE".

The next player - let's say clockwise - then has to make another sentence of the same form, only this time the first letter of the place name has to begin with the same letter as the first letter of the last person's love. In this case, Alice begins with A, so a suitable riposte might be "I got drunk in AMSTERDAM and I fell in love with SAM".

Going out

If you can't think of anything to say, you're out.

If you repeat a word that's already been used, you're out.

If you start with the wrong letter, you're out.

If you fail to rhyme, you're out. There has to be some leeway in this though, it depends who you play with.

I'm out

If you go out, the game stays on the same letter and reverses direction. The person who goes out then gets to change one rule of the game. For example, instead of getting drunk on a PLACE, you might now have to get drunk on a TYPE/BRAND OF ALCOHOL. Or instead of falling in love with a NAME, you might now have to fall in love with an ANIMAL. This allows you to take a little revenge on the person to put you out.

So if I couldn't think of a comeback for "AMSTERDAM/SAM", the game changes to counterclockwise, and goes back to the person who did "AMSTERDAM/SAM". I change the rules so that they must now fall in love with an ANIMAL. The letter they have to begin with remains "S". So they might come up with "I got drunk in SLOUGH and I fell in love with a COW".

Example

Allison: I got drunk in PARIS and I fell in love with ALICE.
Bert: I got drunk in AMSTERDAM and I fell in love with SAM.
Cindy: I got drunk in SEVILLE and I fell in love with BILL.
David: I got drunk in BOMBAY and I fell in love with CLAY.
Erik: I got drunk in... I can't think of anything. I'm out.

Erik: Rule change: You now get drunk on a TYPE/BRAND OF ALCOHOL.
Game reverses direction and David is still on the letter C.

David: I got drunk on CHAMPAGNE and I fell in love with WAYNE.
Cindy: I got drunk on WINE and I fell in love with... I can't think of anything. I'm out.

Cindy: Rule change: You now fall in love with a FRUIT OR VEGETABLE.
Game reverses direction and David is still on the letter W.

David: I got drunk on WINE and I fell in love with a LIME.
(Erik is already out).
Allison: I got drunk on LAGER and I fell in love with a BANANA. (ick!)

And so on.

Fell in Love

There's scope for refinement of the rules - for example, what happens if someone changes the rules to such a ridiculous thing that nobody can come up with anything? What happens if everyone goes out on a tricky letter like Y or Z? These and other questions will be answered the first time we play this while actually drinking!