Card drinking games are some of the easiest party games to set up: grab a standard deck, pick a game, and start playing. Some are mostly luck, some involve actual strategy, and others exist mainly to make one person regret drawing the wrong card.
This guide rounds up the best card drinking games on CollegeWares, with quick descriptions so you can find the right game without opening ten tabs.
BEST CARD DRINKING GAMES
- King's Cup — best all-around party card game
- Ride the Bus — best for guessing and chaos
- Presidents — best for actual card-game strategy
- Horse Race — best for a group betting game
- Pyramid — best for bluffing and matching cards
- Bullshit — best for calling out liars
- Higher or Lower — easiest card game to teach
- Drunk Poker — best if your group already knows poker
King's Cup
King's Cup gives every card rank its own rule, from Waterfall and Categories to Question Master. It works especially well with groups because almost every draw creates a new mini-game or table rule.
Ride the Bus
Ride the Bus starts with four guessing rounds — Red or Black, Higher or Lower, Inside or Outside, and Suit — before moving into a card pyramid. Whoever ends with the worst hand gets stuck riding the bus.
Presidents
Presidents, also called President & Asshole, is a climbing card game where players race to empty their hands. Finishing order creates a hierarchy for the next round, including the President at the top and the Asshole at the bottom.
Horse Race
Horse Race turns the four Aces into racing horses. Players choose a suit, place drink bets, and watch cards from the deck move the matching horses down the track.
Pyramid
Pyramid uses a face-down card pyramid and matching cards from each player's hand. Depending on the version, it can involve bluffing, calling people out, and increasingly valuable rows.
Bullshit
Bullshit adds drinking rules to the classic bluffing card game. Players discard cards face down, claim what they played, and hope nobody calls bullshit at the right time.
Higher or Lower
Higher or Lower is about as simple as card drinking games get: guess whether the next card will be higher or lower than the current one. Easy to teach, quick to play, and brutal when probability decides to stop cooperating.
Drunk Poker
Drunk Poker adds drinking penalties or rewards to a normal poker format. It works best for groups that already know basic poker and want an actual card game instead of pure luck.
Which Card Drinking Game Should You Play?
For a big group, start with King's Cup or Ride the Bus. If your group actually likes card strategy, play Presidents or Bullshit. If everyone wants to watch one shared event instead of waiting for turns, Horse Race is hard to screw up. For the fastest possible card setup, play Higher or Lower.
For more options by setting or group size, see our group drinking games, party drinking games, college drinking games, or browse the full drinking games library.
