OVERVIEW of the True American Drinking Game:
True American Drinking Game from the TV Show New Girl… For only the most patriotic among you…
Players take turns trying to win moves in order to navigate the tables, chairs, and cushions which are your only escape from the molten lava floor. At the center of the game is a castle made of a bottle of alcohol and many beers.
As players traverse the game area, they remove beers and drink them. Once all of the beers have been removed, the first player to reach the bottle of alcohol, finish their beer, and take a swig from bottle, wins the game.
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The Castle
The Castle is made up of one bottle of liquor and many cans of beer (you decide how many based on the number of players). The liquor is the King and sits in the middle of the Castle. The cans of beer are the Pawns and the Soldiers of the Secret Order. The Pawns are lined up in four lines radiating outward from the King. These lines of Pawns also signify the barriers between each zone. The game ends when all of the Pawns have been removed and a player drinks from the King.
The Zones
There are four zones, each with five spaces where a player can stand. The center space in each zone is the only space where the Pawns can be taken and thus it is the closest space to the Castle. There are a total of four of these spaces. The spaces at the beginning and end of the zones are the farthest away from the Castle. Remember, the floor is molten lava! Touching it means instant death!
Setup
Before the game starts, determine how many beers total should be consumed and setup the Castle with those beers as the Pawns. Using the lines of Pawns as barriers between the zones; designate each zone, making sure to have 5 spaces in each zone as described above.
Picking Teams
Teams are optional. If playing with teams everyone counts down from 3 and holds their right hand to their head with 0-5 showing. The person with 1 less than yourself is your partner. If you don’t have one… Too bad!
Starting the Game
After setup is complete, players may have a shotgun contest to determine who has the first turn. If no player wisher to shotgun a beer, play rock-paper- scissors instead.This person is then the President. The President is in charge of making sure the game runs smoothly and all players must obey their rulings – a vice-president may be appointed to assist with administration.he President can then add or change/modify rules as they see fit throughout their reign as President. Once the President changes, the rules are back to the original starting rules and the new President can add or change/modify rules as they see fit. To start the game, the winner of this contest yells “One, two three, JFK” at which point all other players yell “FDR”, and grabs a pawn and get off the floor.
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Gameplay
Players move around the game area in a clockwise direction. The player whose turn it is always moves one space; however, the other players must “win” their moves. This player has three ways to provide the other players with a way to win their move.
– The Count: All players yell “One, two, three” and then hold a number of fingers, between one and five, against their foreheads. Anyone holding a number that no one else has chosen wins. Winners may move one spot. If you chose the same name as the player who’s turn it is, however many people have that number, that’s how many drinks the player must take.
– Complete a Quote: The player may slowly speak a quote from history or famous culture. Any other player that is able to jump in and complete the quote in tandem wins. Winners may move two spots. If you get it wrong, the player(s) take 2 swigs of their drink.
– Something in Common: The player may yell out two people, places, or things. Any other player that can reply with what these two things have in common wins. Winners may move three spots. Incorrect answers, the player takes 3 swigs of their drink.
– Anything The President Decides To Add: The President can add a new game to add to the mix as well. It’s only valid for the current game of TA, unless you decide to add it again in a later game.
Players must always have a beer in their hand and may not have more than three at any one time. Players may only take a Pawn from the Castle when they are in one of the four center spaces.
The player who is the President changes once they have been President twice through the course. The group votes for a new President (but cannot be the current Vice-President). The new President can elect a new Vice- President to help keep order within the game (your team mate if playing teams).
If there is a dispute between any player then the President can call for a settlement by shouting “Cabinet Meeting”; during which players may stand on the floor. All players must stand around in a circle and on the count of 3 from the must hold a number of fingers, between one and five, against their forehead, all players with the same number of fingers must kiss.
Winning
After all Pawns have been removed, the King is vulnerable. The first player to land on one of the centre spaces, finish their beer and take a swig from the King, wins the game! Or if all players from the opposing team(s) are all dead and haven’t re-entered the game.
Losing
If you are caught without a beer or with only an empty beer, you lose. If you step in molten lava, you lose. To enter back into the game, drink one full beer or remove an item of clothing (Clinton rules or not) and start on a space that the other players decide (current President has the final decision if players cannot decide).
Bathroom Breaks
“Wings of the Eagle” rule which allows you a bathroom break (flying over the lava) at the cost of going back one space. The game continues on without you. You must show “Wings of an Eagle” by shouting Wings of an Eagle and flapping your arms up and down like a bird before you leave your spot and all the way to the bathroom and back. When you return (if playing Clinton Rules) you lose an item of clothing.
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Other Rules
- When a player finishes their beer, they yell “All trash belongs…” and all other players yell “in the junk yard!” at which point empty cans are thrown into a designated receptacle. If they miss the shot they lose an item of clothing (if playing with Clinton rules)
- A player may yell “JFK” at any time at which point everyone must yell “FDR” and finish their beer.
- Piggyback at every opportunity
- Harriet Tubman Rule: If a player is caught using their phone during gameplay, they much use a towel to travel underneath the table, like the underground railroad.
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Clinton Rules
(Optional – The Original President Decides Before The Game Starts)
You pick your own intern (your team mate) and start the game by yelling “1,2,3 JFK!” and everyone else shouts “FDR!” as per normal.
In Clinton rules, the “president” is Bill Clinton and the following can happen when it is the presidents turn
- The Count: if a player puts up the same number as the president they have to remove an article of clothing (this can be throughout the entire game).
- Complete a Quote, or Something in Common: If you respond with a wrong answer to the presidents question then you remove an article of clothing.
- Order of The President: You remove an item of clothing if the President tells you to. C’mon man! It’s for your country!
Additional Rule:
You can bribe the president to let you move an extra space on your turn if you remove an article of clothing (you would for example use this if you are running low on beer and need to advance to the castle more quickly).
If you get down to underwear you lose… To enter back into the game you must drink one full beer and you start where the other players decides (current President has the final decision if players cannot decide).
Enjoy Playing True American!
THE RULES IN BITE SIZE CHUNKS:
With images thanks to the guys over at WikiHow and all images below are used with Creative Common’s license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) in mind.
Step 1
Set up the “castle”. Put the table in the centre of the room and lay out your obstacle course.
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Step 2
Place bottle of liquor in middle of table. This is the King of the castle.
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Step 3
Align beer cans in four lines surrounding the liquor bottle. These are your “soldiers of the secret” order. Once all the soldiers are gone you may go after the King.
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Step 4
Create 4 zones.There should be four zones with five spaces. These spaces are where the players will stand. The center of each zone is where soldiers of the secret order (beers) can be taken. These are the only places where you can retrieve a pawn, so this should be the closest to the castle. Although, the center of the zones should be closest to the castle, the beginning and end of the zones are furthest away from castle. The five spaces making up the zones can be made from just about anything. Utilize pillow, blankets, furniture, chairs, or sheets of paper to create circular zones radiating from the castle. This is where the players will be standing, so make them an adequate size. The open floor is considered molten lava and should not be touched. Touching the molten lava results in losing the game.
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Step 5
Figure out how many beers should be used as pawns. Depending on the number of people playing, make sure you have enough beers for the soldiers. The Gods claim that you should have a minimum of 4 beers per player in the game.
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Step 6
Create Teams. This is completely optional… But a bit of competition is fun! If playing with teams everyone counts down from 3 and holds their right hand to their head with 0-5 showing. The person with 1 less than yourself is your partner. If you don’t have one… Too bad!
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Step 7
Figure out who will have the first turn. Shotgun!
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Step 8
Start the game by yelling “one, two, three, JFK”. The winner of the shotgun does this by yelling “one, two, three, JFK”. In turn, All other players respond with yelling “FDR”, grab a pawn from the castle, and rush to any space surrounding the zones… NOT THE FLOOR!
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Step 9
Rotate in a clockwise direction. No touching the floor… It’s lava! You’ll die!
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Step 10
Provide the others with a way to move by “the count”, “complete a quote”, or “something in common”. They can be provided with a way to move whether it is their turn or not by the following 3 ways:
– The Count: All players yell “One, two, three” and then hold a number of fingers, between one and five, against their foreheads. Anyone holding a number that no one else has chosen wins. Winners may move one spot. If you chose the same name as the player who’s turn it is, however many people have that number, that’s how many drinks the player must take.
– Complete a Quote: The player may slowly speak a quote from history or famous culture. Any other player that is able to jump in and complete the quote in tandem wins. Winners may move two spots. If you get it wrong, the player(s) take 2 swigs of their drink.
– Something in Common: The player may yell out two people, places, or things. Any other player that can reply with what these two things have in common wins. Winners may move three spots. Incorrect answers, the player takes 3 swigs of their drink.
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Step 11
Have a pawn (beer) in your hand at all times. Everyone should have a beer in their hand at all times. However, they may not have more than three in any one time. Having no beers or more than three in your hand will result in death.
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Step 12
Retrieve a pawn from the castle. You can take a pawn or beer from the castle only when at one of the 4 center spaces. This means that you should be standing at the center space of one of the zones to be able to grab a beer. Once you retrieve a pawn you must drink from the beer every time you move. EVERY TIME YOU MOVE!
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Step 13
Play until somebody wins. After all the pawns (beers) have been removed all that is left is the king (bottle of liquor). The first person to reach a center space of each zone and drink from the king wins the game.
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Step 14
Avoid losing along the way. If you are caught without a beer in your hand or with an empty beer you lose. Also, if you are step on the molten lava you lose.
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Step 15
Getting back into the game. Once you are out, there is only one way to get back in the game: open a new beer and finish that. You can drink as fast or slow as you’d like, but you cannot participate in gameplay until that beer is gone. Once you’ve finished the beer, an opponent chooses where your new starting position is, and the game is on again.
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Clinton Rules
(Optional – The Original President Decides Before The Game Starts)
You pick your own intern (your team mate) and start the game by yelling “1,2,3 JFK!” and everyone else shouts “FDR!” as per normal.
In Clinton rules, the “president” is Bill Clinton and the following can happen when it is the presidents turn
- The Count: if a player puts up the same number as the president they have to remove an article of clothing (this can be throughout the entire game).
- Complete a Quote, or Something in Common: If you respond with a wrong answer to the presidents question then you remove an article of clothing.
- Order of The President: You remove an item of clothing if the President tells you to. C’mon man! It’s for your country!
Additional Rule:
You can bribe the president to let you move an extra space on your turn if you remove an article of clothing (you would for example use this if you are running low on beer and need to advance to the castle more quickly).
If you get down to underwear you lose… To enter back into the game you must drink one full beer and you start where the other players decides (current President has the final decision if players cannot decide).
Enjoy Playing True American!