We all enjoy a little activity when we go out to the bars…so much so that there are games and activities that are synonymous with bars and alcohol. I’ve compiled a short list of what I think are the Top 5. It was a tough decision and I even tried to include some runners-up at the end to encompass all of my favorites that wouldn’t fit into the list. So here it is, the 5 best games to play while drunk.

5. Billiards (aka Pool)

Cue Sports, also known as Pool…is a given. Pool Halls serve alcohol for a reason. Billiards is generally regarded to have evolved into indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn games[2], and as such to be related to croquet and golf, and more distantly to the stickless bocce and bowling. Nothing says a Billiards hall like bad country music and a thick cloud-layer of smoke. As a matter of fact, according to a survey conducted by the Billiard Congress of America poolrooms that served alcohol did fifty percent or more of their business in alcohol sales. It’s oft said that Pool is the only game that you play better drunk. Just don’t drink so much you end up passing out while playing pool.

4. Bar Video Games

I’ve never been to a bar where I didn’t see a couple of those little arcade games with touch screens sitting on the bar. These games can include an array of games such as Mah Jong, Shoot the Monkey, Count your fingers (much safer than the real thing), Texas Hold’em, and Sudoku (way too hard to play while drunk, by the way). These games are designed to do nothing more than take every single dollar you have leaving you with nothing to buy beer with. As a matter of fact now that I think of it – these games are a direct competitor of the bartender for your hard earned cash…I don’t actually know anyone who says “hey…let’s not go to that bar…let’s go to this bar because they have those tabletop arcade games!” One of the companies that makes the more popular countertop arcades is JVL who claims to have over 145 games available for their mini arcade machines. Don’t think you’ll just pick one up for your house either…these things aren’t cheap as used ones range from $1500-$2000 a piece and a new one will set you back anywhere from $3500-$4000! Maybe that’s why we play them at the bar…

3. Foosball

You can spend countless hours practicing your pull-shot or push-shot only to get beaten by a drunkard at the local poolhall who wins by nothing but sheer luck and a nasty spin-holy-shit-crazy-shot. Technically this spin-shot is considered illegal in foosball, but good luck trying to explain that to the guy who just ricocheted one off of 5 men and 3 walls into your goal.

A few things to note when playing Foosball in a bar:

• There’s no such thing as a “dead ball” – Finger usage is allowed.
• Time outs are not allowed…take a drink between goals
• Balls frequently leave the table…in this event, just drop it back in and say something about how “this isn’t basketball!”
• The whole “both teams have to touch the ball before a point can be scored” thing doesn’t apply. In fact it’s common to see a lot of taunting by the team that just scored the 1-hit point.
• No matter what you say – spinning is legal. It’s actually a skill – and setting up for your next pull-shot takes too long for most people and will generally just piss them off.

For the real rules clicky.

2. Golden Tee Golf

Literally the ultimate bar game. Over the years I have seen variations of this video game in many bars, restaurants and arcades. A visit to the manufacturers web site (Incredible Technologies) says that there are over 20,000 tournament games in the United States. It claims to be the most successful coin-operated video game in history…I’d like to see the numbers for that because pac-man was the shit.

It was first created in 1990 and was called “Golden Tee Golf” – it was a 2-D golf game. It was successful because it was simple, fun, and had that white trackball that you could spin over a billion miles an hour if you had enough to drink. The 3-D version that you’re likely familiar with came out in 1995 and was creatively called “Golden Tee 3D”.

In 2005 Golden Tee Live was released which tied together thousands of drunk Golden Tee’ers in online competitions for money. The company claims that over $223,000 in prize money is currently awarded each month. They award prizes to a maximum number of winners in three divisions: 75 Gold winners, 500 Silver winners, and 4000 Bronze winners. A new player starts in the Bronze division and moves up if they win in a tournament.

This is just the opposite of the horrible countertop arcade games that reward you with nothing except isolating yourself in front of a tiny touch screen…it links you up with other drunks and actually awards you money! If you play GT you can go to their website and check out your stats, current contests, download wallpapers, buddy icons, and the likes.

1. Beer Pong

Well this was a no-brainer. While the above games are bar games, this is the ultimate beer game. For those of you who have unfortunately never played, Beer Pong is a drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in one of several cups of beer on the other end. The game typically consists of two two-player teams, one on each side of a table, and a number of cups set up on each side. There are no official rules for frat-party bpong, although there are some claimed official rules for this not-so-official game. Usually there are six, ten or 15 plastic cups arranged in a triangle on each side. The number of players on a team can vary as well, from one to three or more.

When a ball lands in a cup, the defending team must consume that cup’s beer. The game is won by eliminating all the other team’s cups before one’s own cups are eliminated. The losing team must then consume all the beer remaining in the winning team’s cups.[1] The order of play varies – both players on one team shoot followed by both players on the other team, or players on opposite teams can alternate back and forth.

There are tables specifically made for beer pong, an actual World Series of Beer Pong, and actual official cups and balls to use.

If you’d like to buy a table or design a custom table check out bingbongtables.com and if you’d like to learn more about the game and community and maybe pick up some tshirts, cups, and balls then check out bpong.com.

I had a hard time narrowing it down to just 5 because there’s so many freakin things and everything seems so much fun with beer involved…so I went ahead and added some close calls…

Close calls:
Beer Bowling – Bowl while you drink…a lot.
Air Hockey – although usually found in non-drinking establishments.
Pick a Color – Deck of Phase 10 cards…pick the upcoming color and drink if you get it wrong. This works very quickly.

Ok so there’s like 400 I’d like to list but I’m gonna stop already. Hope you enjoyed it!