Home > International Drinking Rules

There are a large number of variants on the rules but common ones are:

• Nobody may use the word "drink" or its cognates.
  • Other banned classes of words may include body parts (e.g. you may "imbibe two digits of beer", but you may not "drink two fingers of beer").
• Nobody may use another player's name.
  • Some versions of the rules allow the use of title and surname (e.g. "Mr. Smith", but not "John").
• Nobody may point at another player.
  • Some versions only disallow pointing with a finger - elbows are a popular alternative.
• A player is appointed the Thumb Master. If the Thumb Master places his or her thumb on the edge of the table, all other players must do the same surreptitiously. The last one to do so must drink.
  • The new Thumb Master may, at his or her discretion and without notifying the other players, choose a different body part (e.g. foot, forehead) to put on the table.

The penalty for breaking a rule is to drink two fingers of beer (or an equivalent). An extension of this (called Prisoner's Rules) is that those sitting directly next to the rule breaker must also drink the penalty.

Some versions of the Rules include "drinking with the clock" - you drink socially with the minute hand of the clock, and you drink penalties against the minute hand. So, if the minute hand of the clock is on the left side of the clock face, you drink socially (i.e. if you're thirsty) using your left hand, and you drink penalties (i.e. when you've broken one of the other Rules) using your right hand. Groups may appoint one player Old Father Time, who calls "Time!" when the minute hand changes sides (some variants state that the minute hand only changes sides when Old Father Time says it does).