How to Play the Kings Cup Drinking Game
Kings Cup, sometimes known as Ring of Fire, involves assigning pre-determined rules to each card in a deck. Players take turns drawing cards and must drink according to the card they draw. Kings Cup is a great drinking game with friends and at parties.
Players: 3+ players
Required Supplies: Deck of Playing Cards, One Large Cup
Setup:
Start by placing a large empty cup in the centre of your table. This is the Kings Cup. Take the deck of cards and spread them upside down around the cup. The cards should form a ring around the cup which is referred to as the Ring of Fire. Each player should start the game by pouring a bit of their drink into the Kings Cup.
Next up, you need to come up with a rule that you’ll associate with each card. Grab a piece of paper and write down “Ace, One, Two, Three….” etc, all the way up to King. Work as a group to come up with eleven rules and write one rule or each card from Ace up to Jack. The final two rules are always the same for the Queen and King cards. If a player draws a Queen card they must add some of their own drink into the King’s Cup in the centre of the table. If a player draws a King card they must drink whatever is in the King’s Cup. Below are some of my other favourite rules to help get you started with the other cards. Feel free to substitute any of your own rules in.
The Pioneer’s “Kings Cup” List:
- Ace – Waterfall: Everybody starts drinking their drink at the same time. Whoever drew the card can stop drinking whenever they want. Everybody in the circle must continue drinking as long as the person to their right is still drinking.
- Two – Give away two drinks. Give two drinks to anyone else in the circle.
- Three – Take three. Whoever drew the card takes three drinks of their drink.
- Four – Whores: Girls take a drink.
- Five – Categories: The player who drew the card picks a category. For example, “brands of vehicles”. Everyone in the circle name brands of cars, like Hyundai, Honda, Ford, etc. First person that can’t name a unique category loses and drinks.
- Six – Dicks: Guys take a drink.
- Seven – Sevens: Each person counts upwards from one in a circle. When it comes time to say “seven”, clap instead. The direction reverses and the previous person says “eight”. This continues for any multiple of seven or any number with seven in it like 17 or 27.
- Eight – Mate: Whoever picked the card chooses a drinking buddy. Whenever either drinking buddy has to drink for a cycle of turns, the other has to drink as well.
- Nine – Rhyme: The person that picked the card chooses a word. The next person in the circle has to choose a word that rhymes with the original word. The first person that can’t think of a rhyme loses and drinks.
- Ten – Never Have I Ever: Everyone holds up three fingers. The person who pulled the card says something they’ve never done. If anybody else in the circle has done this, they then lower a finger and take a drink. The first person to lower all three fingers loses and takes a drink.
- Jack – Thumbs: Whoever drew the card now has “thumbs”. At any point during the rest of the game they can place their thumb on the table. Everybody else in the group must then place their thumb on the table. The last person to do so takes a drink.
- Queen – Add some of your drink to the cup.
- King – Drink the Kings Cup.
Game Rules:
The first player starts by drawing a card from the ring of cards and places it face-up on the the table. They then follow the rule that is associated with the card. Once their turn is over the next person in the circle draws a card and follows the rules just like the first person. The game ends when all the cards are drawn from the ring of cards. Anytime that the circle is “broken” (a gap in cards from the ring) the person who drew the card must drink.
Alternate Rule (Mushroom):
Instead of playing with the ring of cards around the Kings Cup, instead play with an empty bottle in the middle. At the end of each person’s turn they must place their discarded card on top of the bottle. The next person who places a card on the bottle must place it with two of the card’s corners off of the other cards. Eventually the amount of cards will expand and become unstable. Whoever knocks the cards off the bottle must finish their drink.
Exploring the depths of a full mug of the good stuff and the vast possibilities of a new drinking game. The Pioneer is one of the original founders of the Drinking and Stuff website.