Top 9 Absolute Best Drinking Card Games Played With Regular Cards

There are tons of drinking card games out there, and all standard card games can be turned into drinking ones with just a bit of alcohol. But the truth is, there are only a few good drinking games played with a regular deck of cards, that never disappoint, and you can read details about them right below. After large-scale research and many years of experience, we came up with a top-tier list! 

However, if you’re looking for a pre-made drinking card game, the best idea you could have is Sip & Challenge.

1. King’s Cup;
2. F*ck the Dealer;
3. Ride the Bus;
4. Give & Take;
5. Up & Down the River;
6. President;
7. Killer;
8. Death Box;
9. Horse Race;

1. King’s Cup

4 to 10 players | Requires a deck of cards, an empty cup & alcohol.

King’s Cup, King, Ring of Fire, or whatever you decide to call it, starts with an empty cup placed in the middle, and a deck of cards spread around it. Everyone will take turns drawing one card, going clockwise, and performing actions depending on the card. Now, all rules rhyme with the card number. So, when you draw a two, it’s you: meaning you give a drink to someone of your choice. When it’s a four, means floor: everyone competes to touch the floor. The last player to do so, drinks. All these rules and more can be found in this video: King’s Cup. 

2. F*ck the Dealer

4 to 8 players | Requires one deck of cards & drinks of your choice.

Are you brave enough to be the dealer after reading the game name? Well, one of you becomes the dealer and must ask the first player to their left 3 questions. The first one is about guessing the suit of the following card, the second question is about guessing the value and the third one is about guessing if the next card will be higher or lower than the previous card. Depending on whether the player guesses correctly or not, it will be them or the dealer who drinks. More details on the drinking amount are explained here. 

3. Ride the Bus

4 to 8 players | Requires a standard deck of cards & beers for everyone.

Ride the Bus, as the extremely entertaining card game it is, consists of 3 playing phases. The first phase is about guessing the color of the card, higher or lower, in-between or outside, and the suit. The second phase is all about building a pyramid and drinking depending on the card row, while the third phase makes the player with the most cards in hand ride the bus. If you’re curious to know all about the gameplay, we recommend you watch how to play Ride the Bus.

4. Give & Take

3 to 8 players | Requires a standard deck of cards & drinks. 

This is kinda the regular-cards game version of Truth or Dare (or Truths Untold), and you’ll love it. Start by arranging 2 rows of 6 facedown cards on the table, and dealing everyone 4 cards. One row will represent the truths, while the other represents the dares. The game continues with one card from one of the rows being flipped over, and whoever has that card in their hand, must either complete the dare or tell the truth (depending on the card row), or drink for a few seconds. The place of the card defines seconds: could be 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 seconds. 

5. Up & Down the River

6 or more players | Requires two decks of cards & drinks for everyone.

To play Up & Down the River, the dealer deals everyone 4 cards and keeps the remaining deck for themselves. They start flipping cards from this deck over, going up the river. Everyone who has a matching rank, drinks: 1 drink for the first round, increasing to 4 drinks in the fourth round. Then, you go down the river, meaning, you will give out drinks (starting from 3, ending in 1)  if you have a matching card. Then, cards are reshuffled and the dealer flips them down while counting the cards out loud. If you wanna know how it ends, watch this. 

6. President

4 to 7 players | Requires one deck of standard cards & alcohol.

Probably known as President & Assholes too, but we decided to keep it innocent. One player is the dealer and distributes all cards equally to all players. The first player starts by playing a card or a set of cards in the center of the table. The next player can only play cards if they’re of higher rank, otherwise, they must pass. The first player to run out of cards becomes the President, while others end up as assholes. The president decides who will drink, and how much. Watch how to play President for more pieces of information! 

7. Killer

5 or more players | Requires one deck of cards & alcohol.

Here’s the thing: after you decide on who will be the dealer of the game, let them place 5 cards (or more, depending on the number of players) facedown on the table, 1 being red and 4 black. Players draw one card each, and whoever has the red card is the killer.  All players close their eyes, and the killer must double tap each, to ‘kill them’. Every victim must take a drink after they’re dead. On the other hand, if living players suspect someone, they can accuse them. If correct, the killer drinks. If not, the accuser drinks. 

8. Death Box

3 or more players | Requires a deck of cards & drinks. 

We like complicated ones too. Death Box is played with an arrangement of a 5×5 grid of cards. Now, the dealer looks at one card from the remaining deck, and you pick one card from the grid to tell if it’s lower or higher than the card the dealer has in hand. You must guess 3 correctly to pass your turn. If any time is incorrect, you start again. If it’s your 6th card, and it’s incorrect, you drink for 6 seconds. When the dealer runs out of cards, the grid gets condensed until there’s one card left. Well, if you get the last card incorrect, you’re screwed…

9. Horse Race

2 or more players | Requires a standard deck of cards & beers.

How about a horse race with Aces being your horses? Make a row of Aces on the table, followed up with another row, normal to them, with 8 facedown cards. The dealer turns over one card at a time. Whatever Ace that has the same suit as the flipped card, moves one step forward. If all horses reach one line, the next flipped suit moves one step backwards, and drinks as well. The first horse to reach the finish line wins. Ps. you can also bet drinks on who you think the winner will be. This video explains it all: How to play Horse Race.

Friendly advice: Consider spending some time alone and playing one of the amazing single-player card games.

Final Thoughts

It can get confusing out there trying to pick one out of the hundred drinking card games available online. Well, we brought it to the top 9, and after you read all the descriptions & details on the gameplay, and watch the recommended videos too, you’ll for sure come up with a few favorites to play.