Free drinking games · Rules + play online
Drinking games without cards
No deck, no cups, no table? No problem. These drinking games need nothing but a circle of friends and a drink each. Play the word games right here on your phone (Categories, Rhyme Time, Buzz and a Fuzzy Duck trainer), or pick from the classics below.
- 👥 3–20 players
- 🎒 Nothing but a drink each
Drinking games without cards: play online
Four circle games that need nothing but your voices: pick one above. The phone gives you a category, a word to rhyme, the numbers to buzz, or trains you for Fuzzy Duck.
Categories and Rhyme Time give you a fresh prompt every round (with optional 5- or 10-second turns). Buzz and Fuzzy Duck are pass-the-phone: get it wrong and you drink.
More games that need no cards
Most of these run on one phone: tap a game for rules and online play.
- Truth or Drink Answer honestly or take the sips. 180+ questions, three levels.
- Couples Deck Questions, memories and flirty dares for two. Nothing explicit.
- Spin the Bottle Spin with a swipe; whoever it lands on gets a truth, dare or sips.
- Drinking roulette wheel An editable wheel of sips, water, dares and free passes.
- Three Man Two dice and one unlucky Three Man. The rules apply themselves.
- Drunk Jenga Generate 54 block rules, print labels, or play online.
- Quarters Bounce a coin into a glass; make three, make a rule.
- Fuzzy Duck Fuzzy duck, ducky fuzz, “Does he?”: the tongue twister.
- Power Hour A beep every minute: change the song, take a sip.
- Drinking board game A 42-square board: roll, move, do the square.
- Drinko Drop the disc down the pegs; the slot decides.
- Drinking bingo Party, bar, wedding and bachelorette bingo cards.
- Bachelorette games A party deck about the bride, plus bingo and prosecco pong.
Drinking games without cards: quick rules
Fastest to start: Categories (name things in a category until someone freezes). Funniest: Fuzzy Duck. Longest-running: Buffalo, which lasts the whole night. Want a game master on your phone? The Party Deck mixes all of these into one deck.
Buffalo drinking game
Buffalo (also called Buffalo Club) is a rule, not a game: it runs all night in the background. You must always hold your drink in your non-dominant hand: right-handers drink with their left, left-handers with their right.
Catch someone drinking with their dominant hand and shout “Buffalo!”: they take 3 sips. Call it wrongly (they were using the correct hand) and you take the 3 sips yourself. Traditional Buffalo makes the caught player finish the whole drink; we don’t recommend that, and 3 sips keeps the game fun all night.
Buffalo house rules
- Say at the start who is left-handed. Nobody gets to “discover” it later.
- Holding counts too, not just drinking, if the group agrees before starting.
- Water glasses are exempt, so switching to water is always an escape.
Categories
Someone picks a category (cheeses, car brands, Disney films). Go round the circle, each person naming something in it. Freeze, repeat or name something wrong and you take 2 sips; the next person picks a new category. Use the Categories tab above for 100+ categories and an optional 5-second turn timer.
Rhyme Time
Like Categories, but everyone rhymes with the starting word: “cat”, “hat”, “bat”, “flat”… No repeats, no made-up words. The phone picks a word with plenty of rhymes in the Rhyme Time tab.
Fuzzy Duck
Go round the circle saying “fuzzy duck”. Anyone can say “Does he?” instead: the direction reverses and the phrase becomes “ducky fuzz” until someone says “Does he?” again. Mess it up and drink; mistakes tend to sound hilariously rude. Full rules and variants on the Fuzzy Duck page, and a reaction trainer in the tab above.
Buzz (and Fizz Buzz)
Count up round the circle, but say “buzz” instead of any number divisible by 7 or containing a 7 (7, 14, 17, 21, 27…). Get it wrong and take 2 sips; the count restarts at 1. For Fizz Buzz, say “fizz” for multiples of 3 as well, and “fizz buzz” when a number is both. Practise with the Buzz tab.
21 (the counting game)
Count to 21 round the circle, each player saying one, two or three numbers in a row. Whoever has to say “21” takes 2 sips and invents a rule for one number: “7 is now said as ‘banana’”, or “on 12 everyone touches their nose”. Start again at 1 with the new rule. After a few rounds, nobody can remember how to count.
Waterfall
One player starts drinking; the player to their left starts, then the next, round the circle. Nobody can stop until the person before them has stopped. The starter can stop whenever they like. Keep it to a sip or two each: with a big group the last player waits a long time, so let the starter be merciful. In Kings Cup, every Ace starts a waterfall.
Thumb Master, Question Master and other lasting rules
- Thumb Master: whenever you put your thumb on the table, everyone must follow; the last to notice drinks.
- Question Master: anyone who answers one of your questions takes a sip, until a new Question Master takes over.
- Heaven: point at the sky whenever you like; last to follow drinks.
- No names: nobody can say anyone’s first name. Slip up: a sip.
- Never have I ever: say something you’ve never done; everyone who has, drinks. Play it with hundreds of questions on our sister site TruthOrDare.fun.
- Most likely to: “Who’s most likely to…?” Everyone points on three; the most-pointed-at drinks. Hundreds of questions at MostLikelyTo.fun.
Medusa and Paranoia
Medusa: everyone looks down at the table. On “three”, everyone looks up at someone. If two people lock eyes, both shout “Medusa!” and take a sip. Quick, silly, perfect between longer games.
Paranoia: whisper a question to the person on your left (“Who here would survive a zombie apocalypse?”). They answer out loud with a name only. The named player can take 2 sips to hear the question.
Drinking games without cards variations
- No alcohol at all
- Every game here works with water or soft drinks; use penalty points or forfeits instead of sips.
- Road-trip edition
- Categories, Buzz and 21 all work in the car, for passengers only and with nothing but water or soft drinks.
- Online over video
- Share your screen with the big-screen button and play Categories or Rhyme Time over a video call.
Tips for a good game
- Explain the rules with one practice round before anyone drinks.
- Keep sips small: circle games move fast.
- Mix one lasting rule (Buffalo) with one quick game (Categories).
Play it safe: every game here works with sips of any drink, or none at all. Only adults of legal drinking age should drink alcohol, alternate with water, and never drink and drive. [How to drink responsibly](/drink-responsibly/)
Drinking games without cards: FAQ
What drinking games can you play without cards?
Buffalo, Categories, Rhyme Time, Fuzzy Duck, Buzz, 21, Waterfall, Medusa, Paranoia and Never Have I Ever need nothing but drinks. Our online games (Kings Cup, the Party Deck, Truth or Drink) also run on one phone.
How do you play Buffalo?
Always drink with your non-dominant hand. If someone catches you using your dominant hand, they shout “Buffalo!” and you take 3 sips. A wrong call makes the caller drink instead.
What is the easiest drinking game with no equipment?
Categories: pick a category and go round naming things until someone freezes or repeats. The phone game above picks the categories for you.
How do you play 21?
Count to 21 round the circle, saying one to three numbers each. Whoever says 21 drinks and makes a new rule for a number. Start again with the new rule.
What drinking games can you play in a big group without anything?
Waterfall, Buffalo, Categories, Medusa and Fuzzy Duck all scale well to 10–20 people. See drinking games for large groups.
More drinking games to try
- Fuzzy Duck Fuzzy duck, ducky fuzz, “Does he?”: the tongue twister.
- Truth or Drink Answer honestly or take the sips. 180+ questions, three levels.
- Spin the Bottle Spin with a swipe; whoever it lands on gets a truth, dare or sips.