Unusual Drinking Games

You probably know the song Roxanne by The Police. Released as a single in 1978, its probably the band's best-known song aside from Every Breath You Take, the stalker anthem that countless people have since mistaken for an appropriate wedding song.

Roxanne is also the name of a drinking game that's been popular at house parties for quite some time now. You don't need any cards, dice, or anything like that to play the Roxanne drinking game - all you need is a drink in your hand and the song queued up.

Here's how to play the Roxanne drinking game - be careful, though, because this is a hard-drinking game with a Sting in its tail! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

How to Play the Roxanne Drinking Game

First, divide everyone in the room into two teams. (Don't worry about making sure the teams are the same size - it doesn't really matter.) Most people put all the women in one team and all the men in the other, but you can do it a different way if you prefer.
Play the song Roxanne by The Police. It doesn't matter how you play it - use Spotify, YouTube, the CD if you've got it, whatever - but it needs to be loud enough for everyone to hear it.
Every time the word "Roxanne" is sung, one team (usually the girls) must take a drink.
Every time the words "put on the red light" are heard, the other team (usually the boys) must take a drink.
This continues until the song is over and everyone is nice and drunk.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY! Occasionally, some bright spark will decide that it's a good idea to play both sides of this game at once, drinking on both "Roxanne" and "put on the red light". This is NOT RECOMMENDED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM as you will basically be drinking non-stop for about three minutes.

To give you an idea of how much you'll end up drinking when you play this game, here are the lyrics to Roxanne in full (hat-tip to genius.com):

Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don't have to sell your body to the night
Roxanne, you don't have to wear that dress tonight
Walk the streets for money
You don't care if it's wrong or if it's right

Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light

(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
Oh

I loved you since I knew ya
I wouldn't talk down to ya
I have to tell you just how I feel
I won't share you with another boy
I know my mind is made up
So put away your make up
Told you once I won't tell you again it's a bad way

Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light

(Roxanne) You don't have to put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) You don't have to put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light
(Roxanne) Put on the red light

Enjoy!

Looking for a drinking game that doesn't involve listening to Sting? We've got a whole bunch of beer pong sets available to buy here at Beer-Pong.co.uk!

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Jenga Drinking Game

Jenga is a deceptively straightforward game that rewards a steady hand and nerves of steel. Players take it in turns to remove one wooden brick at a time from a tower that, to begin with, is stacked 18 bricks tall and 3 bricks wide; once a brick has been removed, it must then be placed on top of the tower, meaning that the structure gradually gets taller and less architecturally sound as the game wears on.

Play continues until someone knocks the tower over, at which point the culprit is eliminated from the game. The remaining players then rebuild the tower and start over until only one person remains.

As anyone who's ever played Jenga will tell you, this simple tabletop game frequently becomes as tense as a round of Russian roulette (and the longer the tower stays standing, the tenser things get). Throwing alcohol into the mix may help to calm your nerves, although a round of the Jenga drinking game tends not to last anywhere near as long as the regular, sober version. Jenga requires precision and steadiness, and booze isn't exactly known for sharpening either of these attributes!

That being said, the Jenga drinking game is still a tonne of clumsy, clattering fun - here are the rules in case you fancy getting the blocks out at your next party...

Jenga Drinking Game - Rules of Play

You will need:

1 x standard Jenga set (consisting of 54 rectangular wooden blocks)
At least 2 players (this version of the game works best with 3-4 people, but more can play if you want)
A steady supply of your favourite alcoholic beverage!

Got all that? Great - now let's play!

Start by building the Jenga tower. Place 3 bricks in a row with the long sides touching; then place another 3 bricks on top. Your second layer should be placed at a 90-degree angle to your first layer. Continue placing layer upon layer, alternating direction so that no two consecutive layers are facing in the same direction. You should end up with a tower that looks like this:

Jenga blocks

Image source: college.library on flickr

Pour everyone a drink. (Please drink responsibly - know your limits and stop when you feel you've had enough. Visit drinkaware.com for more information.)
Starting with the clumsiest person at the table - or the youngest player if you can't agree on who's the clumsiest - players take it in turns to remove a single block from the tower (the top 3 layers are off-limits!) and place it on top. When placing blocks on top of the tower, be sure to continue alternating brick direction from one layer to the next.

After you have successfully removed a brick from the Jenga tower, you may nominate another player to take a sip of their drink.
Play continues clockwise around the table until the tower topples over. When that happens, the players whose turn it was must immediately finish their drink.
When one round is over, simply rebuild the tower and start again! You don't have to eliminate the loser if they're keen to continue playing.

Optional Rules / Variants

There are lots of different ways to play Jenga, so if you want to make the Jenga drinking game a little more challenging, try adding some or all of the following rules:

On your turn, you MUST take the first brick you touch, even if you immediately realise that you've made a huge mistake. Alternatively, you may change your mind...but you must take a sip as payment for your mulligan.
Before the game begins, write a dare / forfeit on some or all of the bricks. (Don't write on Jenga bricks that don't belong to you!) When a player removes a brick from the tower, they must perform the forfeit written on that brick, if any. Example forfeits might include taking off an item of clothing or answering embarrassing questions from the other players. (You may wish to add an extra rule that allows people to swap these dares for a drinking penalty if they don't want to do them.)
Time limits! When it's another players turn, everyone else counts down from 10, out loud, in unison ("Ten! Nine! Eight!..."). If the countdown reaches zero during your turn, you must finish your drink and refill before finishing your move. Alternatively, if there are only two of you, you could incorporate a chess clock into your game like these two guys: