Drinking card games: the best games with a deck of cards

How to play Higher or Lower

1. Deal one card face up

   Everyone else watches. Aces are high (above Kings).

2. Guess the next card

   The player guesses whether the next card will be higher or lower. Right: keep going. Wrong: take one sip for every card in your run so far.

3. Pass after three

   After three right in a row you may pass the phone (or deck) to the next player, or keep going to pile the pressure on them.

4. Snap

   If the next card has the same rank, everyone else takes a sip. Our online version handles all of this for you.

How to play Horse Race

Take out the four aces: they are the horses. Lay 6 more cards face down in a column beside the track. Everyone bets a number of sips on a suit. Flip cards from the deck one at a time: each card moves the horse of its suit one step forward. When every horse has reached a row of the side column, flip that side card: the horse of its suit steps back one. The first ace to cross the finish wins, and its backers hand out their bets; everyone else takes the sips they bet.

How to play Pyramid

Deal 15 cards face down in a pyramid (5-4-3-2-1 rows) and give each player 4 cards to look at and memorise, then turn them face down. Flip the pyramid one card at a time from the bottom row. Anyone holding a card of that rank can make another player take sips: 1 sip on the bottom row, 2 on the next, up to 5 at the top. The target can call a bluff: if you can’t show the card, you take double. Pyramid is also the middle stage of Ride the Bus.

How to play Screw the Dealer

The dealer holds the deck. The player on their left guesses the rank of the top card. If wrong, the dealer says “higher” or “lower” and they guess again. Right first time: the dealer takes 4 sips; right second time: 2 sips. Wrong twice: the guesser takes sips equal to the difference between their guess and the card. After three wrong guessers in a row, the deal passes on. Flip each used card face up in rows so everyone can count what’s gone.

More fun drinking card games with playing cards

• Kings Cup: the classic ring of cards where every rank has a rule. Also called Ring of Fire or Circle of Death.
• Kings Cup Extreme: dares and a hot seat on every card.
• Ride the Bus: four guessing rounds, a pyramid and the dreaded bus ride.
• Drunk UNO: house rules that turn UNO into a drinking game.
• Waterfall rounds: in many card games an Ace means everyone drinks in a chain; you can’t stop until the person before you stops.
• Irish Poker: the four questions from Ride the Bus (red or black, higher or lower, inside or outside, suit), played as a standalone game.

Card drinking games for 2

Higher or Lower and Screw the Dealer both work well for two players: take turns guessing. Kings Cup has a two-player rule set where every card becomes a duel. For more head-to-head games see drinking games for 2.

Drinking card games variations

No deck? No problem

Every card game on this site shuffles a real 52-card deck on your phone. Just pass the phone instead of the cards.

Card games without alcohol

Switch the online games to No alcohol: sips become penalty points and the lowest score wins.

Big groups

With more than 8 players, use two decks for Pyramid and Screw the Dealer, or split into two tables.

Tips for a good game

• Use a cheap deck: drinks get spilled.
• Agree on aces high or low before starting (we play aces high).
• Lay used cards face up in rows so everyone can see what has gone.

Drinking card games: FAQ