Celebrating New Year’s with a big party? To host an amazing New Year’s Eve Party, there are a few different elements to consider: A theme, a good playlist, alcohol, finger foods, and, of course, games. Even better if you can combine the alcohol and games to play some New Year’s Eve party drinking games! These 20 games below range from classic drinking games to more New Year’s Eve-themed drinking games that everyone will absolutely have fun playing. Ready to play these games?
1. KING’S CUP
Let’s start off with a classic drinking card game you’ve likely played at a college party. In King’s Cup, also called Ring of Fire, set up a cup on a table and surround it with a ring of cards. Players take turns removing one card from the ring. The value of the card they pick up corresponds to a specific rule, as illustrated above. As you play, make sure to never break the ring of cards! If you do, you’ll need to finish your drink or take a shot.
2. DRUNK UNO
Uno is a super fun family card game you’re likely already very familiar with. To turn Uno into a not-so-family-friendly card game, add a drinking rule. If you are skipped, reversed, or have to draw cards at any point, you need to drink!
3. RIDE THE BUS
Ride the Bus is one of our favorite drinking games to play at any party, including a New Year’s Eve party! In this high-stakes guessing card game, players must go through four guessing rounds, in which they must guess:
- Red or black
- Higher or lower
- Inside or outside
- Suit
A wrong guess equals a drink! Then, once players have four cards, it’s time for the pyramid section of the game, in which players must match their cards with a card on the pyramid, according to the value of the card. And whoever has the most cards left in their hand is the loser, who must then go through another guessing round.
4. DRUNK GO FISH
Drunk Go Fish is one of the funniest card games you can play. In this drinking game, play Go Fish as normal, with players asking other players for specific cards in order to collect all four suits of a card. However, add the rule that if a player says, “Go fish,” and you must draw a card, you must also take a drink.
5. NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION TRIVIA
Here’s a fun New Year’s resolution game that’ll get everyone excited for the new year. All players must write a list of real and fake resolutions. Then, read them out one by one. All other players must guess which resolutions are real and which are fake. Whoever guesses wrong must take a drink!
6. CELEBRITY GOSSIP
This New Year’s Eve party drinking game does require a bit of preparation beforehand, but the effort will be well worth it. Before the party, go over and write down some of the main celebrity headlines of the year. Then, for the game, share the headlines, one at a time, and have the players guess who the headline is about! Any wrong guesses equal a drink.
7. SPOTIFY SHUFFLE
This is a great game to play for music lovers. Create a Spotify playlist of the big music hits of the year. Give each player or team a piece of paper and a pen to write their guesses. Then, play only the first 5 or 10 seconds of each song. All players must drink for a specific number of seconds, according to how many answers they get wrong.
8. NEVER HAVE I EVER: NEW YEAR’S EDITION
Want to play a round of Never Have I Ever with your friends this New Year’s Eve? But instead of doing a classic Never Have I Ever, make it so that players say something they haven’t done in the past year. For example:
- This year, never have I ever gone on a date.
- This year, never have I ever been to a house party.
- This year, never have I ever gone skydiving.
- This year, never have I ever left the country.
As with the standard game, those who have, drink. Here are some Never Have I Ever ideas if you’d like something to get you started.
9. TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: NEW YEAR’S EDITION
A similar game we love to play is Two Truths and a Lie. In this game, players must share two truths and a lie about their year. All other players must guess the lie. But to play the New Year’s drinking version of this game, players who guess wrong must take a drink.
10. DRUNK JENGA
Did you know you can easily turn Jenga into a drinking game? To play Drunk Jenga, you’ll need to write drinking rules on all the Jenga blocks. Rules can include:
- Take two sips
- Give two sips
- Take a shot
- Girls drink
- Boys drink
Players must pull a Jenga block from the tower as normal and follow the instructions before placing the block on the top of the tower to continue the game. Whoever causes the tower to topple must finish their drink!
11. FLIP CUP
Flip Cup is a team drinking game that’ll get everyone tipsy pretty fast! In this simple game, divide everybody into two teams and line the teams up on a long table. Each player must have a drink in front of them. The first player from each team must chug their drink and then flip their cup by flicking the bottom of the cup and having it land upside down on the table. Once successfully flicked, the next person in the team can drink and flip, too. Continue the relay until there’s a winning team!
12. BEER PONG
One of the best games you can play at any party, including a New Year’s Eve party, is Beer Pong. You’re likely already very familiar with this game, but if you need a refresher, here are the basic rules:
- Two teams of two play against each other, trying to sink the other team’s cups by throwing a ping pong ball inside one of the 10 cups.
- Anytime a ball lands in a cup, the opposing team must drink the contents of the cup and remove the cup from play.
- The first team to remove all 10 cups of the opposing team wins!
13. SHOT COUNTDOWN
Shot Countdown is one of the simplest drinking games to play at a New Year’s Eve party. When the clock is about to strike midnight, prepare a tray of small watered-down shots. Then, everyone must take a shot every 5 minutes in the last hour of the year! That’s 12 shots a person!
14. FIREWORKS DRINKING GAME
Another fun and simple drinking game you’ve got to play for New Year’s Eve is the Fireworks Drinking Game. In this game, players must take a sip every time they hear or see fireworks! Simple as that.
15. WHO DID IT FIRST?
If you want to play one of the best New Year’s Eve party drinking games that involves getting to know what everyone has been up to this year, Who Did It First? is the perfect game to play. Talk about big moments, and ask who did it first. The person who did the event first this year drinks! Examples of events include:
- Who traveled first this year?
- Who had sex first this year?
- Who got drunk first this year?
- Who cried first this year?
- Who got a new job first this year?
16. NAME THAT YEAR
This is a fun trivia game you can play to test everyone’s knowledge. Before the party, prepare a list of iconic events and the year. Then, at the party, name the iconic events (without the year) and have everyone guess the year. If you guess wrong, you drink!
17. A PLUS B
One of our favorite ice breaker drinking games is A Plus B. In this game, everyone sits or stands in a circle. Then, one person closes their eyes, while the person on their right points at a random player who is to be A, and the person on their left points at a random player who is to be B. Once A and B are chosen, the person who closed their eyes can open their eyes and say one of the following:
- What A must do to B
- What B must do to A
- What A and B must do together
Then, A and B must do what they are told to do!
18. PIZZA BOX
Another favorite drinking game of ours that we recommend playing at your New Year’s Eve party is Pizza Box. On a pizza box or large piece of paper, use a marker to write everyone’s name and circle each of the names. Then, players take turns flipping a coin onto the pizza box. If the coin lands on someone’s name, that person must drink. If the coin lands on an empty space, the player must write a rule on the empty space.
Take turns flipping the coin and drinking!
19. MOST LIKELY
Most Likely is a fun game to play with both new and old friends. Players simply take turns asking a “Most Likely” question, such as:
- Who is most likely to get drunkest by midnight?
- Who is most likely to kiss someone at midnight?
- Who is most likely to go home first?
- Who is most likely to have a philosophical conversation with someone at 3 AM?
Once a “Most Likely” question is posed, everyone counts to 3 and points at the person they think the question best refers to. Players must count how many fingers they have pointed at them, and drink the corresponding number of sips.
20. MOVIE DRINKING GAMES
If you want to have a more chill New Year’s Eve with just a couple of friends while still having a few drinks, one of the best games to play at your little party is a movie drinking game. There’s a huge list of movies to choose from, and you simply drink or take a shot whenever something specific happens that you decide on beforehand. For example, a great movie to watch on New Year’s Eve is When Harry Met Sally. The rules you could incorporate include:
- Drink when someone mentions their relationship status
- Drink when someone references sex
- Drink when someone is on the phone
- Drink anytime someone says “Men and women can’t be friends.”
- Finish your drink when you’ll have what she’s having
- Take a shot when Harry and Sally finally admit they’re in love
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