Tag Archives: drinking game

“Klegoff” — Fraternity Drinking Game

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/18/13
Primary Language: English

The informant describes a drinking game by the name of “Klegoff” that his fraternity plays once a semester.  The informant explains that he first learned this game and tradition once he had joined his fraternity his sophomore year of college.  This game has sentimental value for him because it represents a bonding brotherhood event and an integral part of what it means to be in his fraternity.

A “klegoff” is a keg race with typically one team versus another or three teams in a sort of free-for-all.  The game involves everyone dressing up in the most ridiculous, funny costumes and having a keg race.  Each team tries to finish their keg first, while also trying to steal the tap of the other teams’ keg in order to slow down the other teams ability to drink.  The informant considers it one of the most loved brotherhood events in the house because everyone has a chance to be aggressive, but in a non-malicious way.  The informant also explains that the game is a good pregame to a party.  After “klegoff” finishes with one team winning the entire fraternity goes outside the house and gathers in a circle and sings a traditional fraternity song called “Raiders.” Afterwards all members shake hands and hug it out to make sure there are no hard feelings.

This description of the drinking game “klegoff” makes evident how important drinking games, which involve the whole fraternity at once, are to the brotherhood and bonding the members have.  It is through these games that stories, great successes and triumphs are made.  It also displays the large role that drinking has in the relationships between fraternity brothers.  It is central to their bonding.

Drinking Game: King’s Cup

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 15, 2013
Primary Language: English

Contextual Data: I asked a friend of mine if there was any particular drinking game that she enjoyed playing, and she mentioned this game “Kings” or “King’s Cup.” I’d heard of the game once before, and I asked her if she could explain to me how it was played and why she enjoyed it so much. The following is an exact transcript of her response.  

“Um, okay, so… Kings is like a great game to play with like a whole bunch of people, because, well, you’re drinking, you’re all sitting in a circle, maybe you don’t really know everyone. So first you get a deck of cards, and you—everyone has cups, and of course, various alcohols, so whatever everyone is drinking, um… Maybe different pops or whatever or, like, mixed drinks. So you put one cup in the center of the deck of cards that you lay out in a circle in, like, kind of a fan around the center cup. And… Basically everyone just goes around and picks up a card when it’s their turn. So… I guess like… There’s rules, basically, that correspond with each card. I guess I can go over the rules.

“So when you get an Ace, um… I, I mean all the rules involve drinking. So every time you pick a card, something on that card is going to tell you an instruction on what you have to drink, how you have to drink it, um, who’s going to get stuck drinking, basically. And the point of the King’s cup is that as you go on, people are pouring, like, different things like their drink into that specific cup. And, um… it gets grosser and grosser, and at the end, the person who loses is gonna have to chug that disgusting, like, gross cup. Um, so…

“When you pull the cards—So you get an Ace. And if someone gets an Ace, um…it’s called ‘Waterfall,’ so the person who gets the card can, um, start drinking—whatever time they want—they start to drink whatever drink they have in their cup, and they can stop at any time, and—Oh! Everyone’s drinking at the same time. So everyone, um, in the circle of friends or whoever, starts drinking at the same time that person does, and then they can stop whenever they want, the next person can stop whenever they want, and that means the person next to them gets to stop whenever they want. So, basically, everyone’s getting screwed. Like, everyone’s getting plastered. Um, the second rule—a Two means You, so when it gets to Two, you have to drink. Three means Me, um, so—Oh wait. No. Two means You, so when you pick a Two you can designate someone that has to—so you like point to a person that you…has to take a drink. Three means Me, so when you pick that, um, you yourself have to drink. Four… Drinking games are sexist so Four means Whores, and all the women, um, in the group have to drink. That annoys me [Laughs]. As a side note. Um…Five means Jive. It’s like a really fun one. Um…Every—The person who picks it has to do a dance move, and the next person—in the circle—has to add on to it. And everyone’s probably drunk, so you have to keep building on to those dance moves, and if someone messes up, like the sequence, they have to drink. Um…It’s always fun to watch drunk people try and dance. And…Six means Dicks. More sexism. The men have to drink. Um…Yeah [Laughs]. That’s problematic. Then Seven is Heaven. Um…Everyone—the person who gets the card reaches up and puts both hands up to…touch the sky [Mimes putting both hands straight up in the air]. And the last person to notice and put their hands up has to drink. So if you’re not paying attention or, like, you’re just drunk or like, ‘What’s Seven mean?’ you get screwed and you have to drink. Um…Eight means Mate. So this is where you can pick someone and for the rest of the game when you have to drink—so when you are the last one to do the Seven Heaven thing or something that person has to drink too. And that’s a really good way to… Whatever. Either get back at someone or flirt with someone or whatever. Um, lets see. That was Eight—Eight means Mate. Nine is Rhyme. So…Someone—The person who draws the Nine thinks of a word and then everyone else after them has to, um, think of a rhyme to that word. And if they…The last person to either repeat the—something that someone’s already said or not be able to think of one has to drink. Um, Ten is Catagories. It’s like a similar idea, I guess. Um, so you pick a category, like ‘types of cereal’ or like… I don’t—Anything, really. It…In a party situation people usually pick something like…More vulgar. So ‘types of sexual positions’ or something and just like…Yeah. Interesting ways of getting people talking. And the last person—like the same thing with the rhyme—the last person to either mess up, not be able to think of one, or something else that someone’s already said has to drink. And then Eleven…Oh. No. There’s no Eleven in cards [Laughs]. Jack. Um, people play it differently, I guess. Like, there’s different rules, but when I play it, it just means, like, Jack means Back. I think other people play, like, Jack means, like, ‘Never Have I Ever’ or something. But that’s like a little aggressive to me…I don’t know. Um, Jack to Back is easier. So the person to the…Um, right of where you’re sitting when you pick the Jack has to drink. And… Queen is Question Master. So when the person draws the Queen, um, they kind of, like, don’t tell anyone. They might just say, like, ‘Oh, I got the Queen. I’m Question Master.’ But maybe no one notices and so that person, um, whenever they ask questions from that point—‘till someone else draws a Queen—they’re the Question Master, and if you answer—if someone playing answers the question that they’re asking, um, you have to drink. So, you can really mess with people because you just ask them, like, ‘Hey, is there anymore, like, in that cup or anything?’ If they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah! I can see some—Aww, you made me drink, like [Laughs], fuck you.’ Um [Laughs]. And…The King is like the whole point of the game—the King’s Cup. So when you get a King, you get to pick a rule for the game, like—same thing with the Queen, until someone else gets the King. And, um…The… So you might make a rule, like, ‘No swearing.’ And everyone’s drunk, so that’s pretty hard. [Laughs.] So if you do swear you have to drink. And then—or any kind of rule, basically. There’s like a few common ones, like…Again, like to mess with people, like…Whatever. There’s like…Yeah. Um, and then for the last King, whoever draws the last King, um—we kind of keep track—has to drink the King’s Cup and the game’s over…And they’re clearly messed [Laughs].”

– End Transcript –

When I asked my friend why she thought people played this particular game, she mentioned that it’s somewhat different from other drinking games, like Beer Pong or Flip Cup, because it doesn’t require any sort of “athletic” skill, it’s a game that could be played with large groups of people, and it’s a game that moves fairly quickly. She also mentioned that it’s a good game to get people talking and socializing. She said that she first learned to play it in college, and that it is particularly fun to play with people who have never played before, because when you first learn, it’s difficult to keep track of the rules, and so the “newbies” end up getting drunk very quickly. In that sense, it also seems to be a kind of initiation ritual in the drinking culture that’s often so prominent in the college social setting.

Her answer was fairly thorough and seemed to provide an insightful reason as to way the game is passed on — in particular that it is about getting drunk quickly (which is usually the reason people play these games) and that it does seem like a very good game to play to get people to start speaking and socializing with one another, which is certainly part of its appeal.

Annotation: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.game.card&feature=also_installed#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwNCwiY29tLmdhbWUuY2FyZCJd
Interestingly enough, the game was made into an app for the Android, for those that don’t have a deck of cards handy. Different versions of the app do offer different sets of rules, which underscores that there are many variations to the game. It’s also interesting to note that the app exists under the name “Waterfall Drinking Game” and that an alternative name is “Ring of Fire,” which both emphasize that it is ultimately a game about getting drunk, which again, is why people usually play such games.

The Tour de Franzia

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 18th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: French

“The Tour de Franzia” is a spinoff of “Le Tour de France”. In the informant’s words: “You bike with a bag of Franzia and see where the night takes you”. Franzia is a cheap wine that usually comes in a box, produced by The Wine Group. The idea is to get drunk off wine while biking and to have an adventure.

The informant first heard about The Tour de Franzia from a female friend at his old college. They were sitting in a dorm with a group of other students “taking shots of Sobieseski and listening to Cake”, and she was telling him about how she broke her wrist. She and her family would go to their summer house on Cape Cod every year, and all the adults and older kids would do the Tour de Franzia. It was a rural tradition. But the last time, she had broken her wrist. The informant claims that he would love to try the Tour de Franzia, despite the girl’s broken wrist account. The informant enjoys drinking alcohol and trying new things for fun, and he thinks that this tradition sounds like a blast.

The Tour de Franzia is a rural tradition, probably because there are less clubs and bars in rural areas, unlike Los Angeles, so the locals have to be more creative with their nighttime adventures and drinking. Furthermore, the tradition centers around bringing people, adults and older kids, together. It is a fun group activity. I feel like smaller towns celebrate connections between family and friends because they share common ties to a place.In contrast, Los Angeles is full of immigrants from both in and out of the country, and there aren’t big familial connections to be celebrated.  However, the tradition has been appropriated by college students, such as the informant. This is because college students enjoy drinking, especially when it is cheap, and going on fun/dangerous adventures. I don’t think I would try this particular tradition, but I would be willing to lend a helmet to someone who would. It is an interesting combination of a material brand, Franzia wine, and a folk tradition.

 

The Little Green Men

Nationality: Caucasian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/21/12
Primary Language: English

Informant Bio

My informant is a 19 year old college freshman studying theater at an academy in Hollywood, California. This student is deeply involved in the active social aspect of life as a theater student – frequently attending wrap parties, after parties, and general Friday night parties to blow off steam after a week of classes. Because the academy is not a traditional college or university, the student body contains a wide range of student ages, from teens just out of high school, to men and women in their late thirties.

My informant was observed playing the game detailed below. He was not the only underage student there.

The Game

“Two is you, three is me, four is whores, five is drive, six is dicks, seven is heaven, eight is mate, nine is rhyme, ten is thumb master…”

There are many variations of the rules of the game known as King’s Cup. It’s a party game, played by young people, often in their teens or mid-twenties. In this case the game I observed was being played by a group of four students. The game involved a can of beer placed in the center of the table with a deck of cards fanned out around the can. Each student also held a cup of their own filled with beer. The students took turns choosing cards from the circle – each card had a special action associated with it. For instance, if a player draw a “7,” they would quickly drop the card to the table and point both fingers in the air (toward heaven). The last player in the circle to follow suit and point at heaven would take a drink from their cup.

At one point my informant drew a jack. He was told to make a rule (that the other players must follow until another jack is drawn from the deck) and he decided on the “little green man” rule. To demonstrate, he pointed his fingers like a gun and “shot” at the top of cup of beer. He explained to me that this killed his “little green man.” By establishing this rule, now whenever any player needed to take a drink, they would first need to kill the little green man sitting on the rim of their cup.

My informant’s demonstration of the rule led to a dispute. Another player had heard the little green man rule played differently. In her version, the little green man should be taken carefully off the rim of the cup and set aside on the table, allowing the the player to drink, and then placed back onto the cup when the player finished drinking. My informant had never heard this variation, and claims he finds his version to be more fun because players can be very creative in deciding in what way to kill their little green man.

The rules to King’s Cup, and even the name of the game, varies wildly depending on the group one is playing with. The little green man rule is one example of how the game changes between groups. However, in both cases the little green man rule allows the player to act out the removal of an obstacle to drinking. A drinking game itself can have only one purpose – to aid in the intoxication of the players. As this is a game that is often played among groups of young adults, and in some cases including the game I witnessed, with students who are not yet legally old enough to consume alcohol, the little green man rule asserts the players ability to get drunk together and party in spite of the restrictions of parents, their academic institution, and the law. The little green man is an alien outsider who represents anyone or any institution who would put a stop to the dangerous and potentially illegal behavior, and must be removed before a drink may be taken.

J Cup

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25th, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish (limited)

Jew Cup, a.k.a. J Cup is a drinking game for four players, split into teams of two.

The source learned the game when he first came to USC. It was popular among the upperclassmen in the School of Theatre. He learned it from his older brother, who was a senior at USC when the source arrived. The exact origins of the game are unclear and contested, but it is agreed that it was invented by a group of guys who graduated in 2008. They lived in the so called “Raymond House”, which was a popular hang out for theatre students before the source came to USC. The game was passed down through the students in the BFA Acting program, but has started dying out. To the best of the source’s knowledge, J Cup has not been played on USC campus in at least two years, but may still be played by the originators elsewhere.

J Cup is an amalgamation of many popular drinking games, especially beer pong, and has complex rules. It is often referred to as “more of a drinking carnival than a drinking game.”

Set Up:

Like beer pong, J Cup is played on a table with cups and ping pong balls, but the set up is entirely different. In the center of the table is a large cup, filled with beer. This cup surrounded by smaller plastic cups, also filled with beer, in the shape of a Star of David, hence the game’s moniker: Jew Cup. On either side of the table there are two plastic cups (a total of four), filled with beer. On the ends of the table, each team has a wash cup filled with water for rinsing the ping pong balls, behind these each team has a crushed beer can on the very edge of the table.

Play:

The teams take shots to determine who goes first, the first team to sink a ball in any cup in the middle goes first. A winning team from the previous round always shoots first.

The teams then take turns trying to sink the ball in the center cups. If a ball lands in any of the cups making up the Star of David, the other team has to drink the content of that cup, and place it in a stack on the left side of the table. If both players on one team make shots, they get to throw again. If they make it into the same cup, they get the balls back, and the other team has to drink three cups. This is where the similarities with beer pong end.

If a player sinks a ball in the big, center cup, both teams run to the side of the table to their right, and play flip cup, another popular drinking game, with the cups on the sides. The team that loses flip cup must consume two cups from the Star of David, chosen by the winning team.

If a player sinks a ball in the opposing team’s wash cup, both team members must shotgun a beer. The rules for the crushed beer can behind the wash cup are complicated. Instead of trying to sink a ball in a cup, a player can attempt to knock the opposing team’s beer can off the table. If they succeed and the can hits the floor, the opposing team members must both take a shot of whiskey. If, however, a player hits the beer can, but the opposing team catches the can before it hits the floor, the throwing team must each take a shot of whiskey.

Play is continued until all of the cups in the Star of David have been consumed. The team with the fewest empty cups in their stack are declared the winners, and hold the table until they lose to a new team.

 

The game to me is interesting, because the name could be construed as anti-Semitic, but other than the Star of David in the center of the cup, the game has absolutely nothing to do with Jewish people. I think its more of a reflection of the kids who lived in the Raymond House, and their desire to have a unique house game, that would draw people to parties. It must have worked too, because School of Theatre alumni from that time often recall fond memories from parties at Raymond House.