How to Play the Card Game Drunk Driver

Cards and drinking seem to go together, but learning the rules of those drinking games from drunken buddies or people who want to get you drunk may not be the best idea. Instead, here's a primer for the card game drunk driver. It is a screw-your-neighbor kind of game designed to end up with someone who is intoxicated. For people who prefer to resist the temptation of alcohol, it is always legitimate to let those who abstain and your designated driver drink water or other non-alcoholic beverage.

Things You'll Need

• Deck of cards
• Table
• Several beverages for everyone playing
• Designated driver

Instructions

1. Gather around a large table or find a place on the floor large enough for all your friends and four rows of cards. Make sure that everyone has a beverage and a spare.

2. Shuffle the cards. Deal out four rows of cards with four cards in each row. Cards should be face down. Then pass out the remaining cards one at a time, clockwise around the table until the deck has been dealt.

3. Beginning with the card in the upper left hand corner, flip one card. The first row of cards are all take cards. That means that persons with this card in their hand may take a drink to burn the card out of their hand. The object of the game is to be left with as few cards as possible in your hand. One the first card, those wishing to burn a card take one drink, on the second card they take two and so forth up to the fourth and final card in the row.

4. Flip over the first card in the second row. This row is for giving drinks. Players with a card in their hand that matches the number of this card may force another player to drink. The player should also hand the card to the person who was forced to drink, increasing the size of their hand. Again, move to the right down the row, with each card increasing the number of drinks given, to four at the end of the row.

5. Gang up on your friends to create the drunk driver. The loser is the drunk driver.

6. Take drinks in the third row and give drinks in the fourth row as described previously. Once all the cards have been flipped over, players should count the number of cards left in their hands. The player with the most cards left is the loser. Keep track of the difference between the number of cards the loser and the next lowest finisher had. The dealer, unless he was the loser, should collect and shuffle the cards. If the dealer was loser, the person to the dealer's left should shuffle the cards.

7. Flip over the first card on the deck and the loser takes that many drinks. For each card that he lost by, the loser gets another card. For example, if the loser had 10 cards and the next lowest play had five, the loser will have to drink the face value of five cards. Face cards count as ten drinks and two more cards. Numbered cards are that many drinks from ace as one to ten. it is possible to go through the entire deck.

Tips & Warnings

• Early in the game, pay attention to those who are giving drinks to you. Get your revenge by giving them drinks on row four.

• This game often results in intoxication. If you have a drinking problem or don't know when to say you've had enough, do not play this game.