While there is undoubtedly a good supply of drinking games these days, you might be getting a little bored of some of those old favorites. Yes, everyone enjoys Beer Ball and King’s Cup, but there are some amazing Korean drinking games out there!
Korean culture has celebrated drinking games for a long time, and you can find many different games to play. If you don’t know any Korean drinking games, don’t worry; we’ll be outlining some of our favorites below.
10 Unique & Amazing Korean Drinking Games
Now, without further ado, let’s delve into this list of the 10 unique and amazing drinking games the Koreans play.
1. The Babo Game
Babo means “fool” in Korean, which probably gives you an idea of what this game is all about. This fun game is ideal for a larger group but can be played with a few people just as easily. One player will lead by holding between one to five fingers behind their back to start the game.
The player next to them will guess how many fingers they have up. If they guess correctly, then both players will have to drink. However, if they guess incorrectly, they don’t, and the player next to them will take their turn to guess.
Once players have drunk, the next player will take their turn, holding their fingers behind the back, and the game continues. There are many different ways to play Babo; some rules impose a time limit, meaning players have to guess quickly, or they will have to take a penalty drink and lose their turn.
2. The Sense Game
Keeping with our number game theme, we have the Sense game. This drinking game is particularly popular with younger drinkers. The game is again quite simple and well suited to larger groups.
Players need to shout out a number between 1 and the number of people playing. If two or more players say the same number, they need to take a drink. All players must shout their numbers at the same time.
To help with this, you can have one player do a countdown. However, if one player does shout out their number too late, they will need to take a penalty drink! Their number also won’t count either.
3. The Image Game
The Image game is very similar to the Most Likely To, which was one of our favorite online drinking games. Players take turns asking the group a question. You can ask pretty much anything you want. Some popular ideas are things like “who’s the most popular” or “who’s the smartest” to give you an idea.
Then each player points to who they think fit the answer best. The player with the most votes will then have to take a drink. If two (or more) players get equal votes, they will all need to drink.
You can add a few custom rules to make this game even more fun! One fun rule is that every player must drink shots equal to the number of votes they get. This way, more players will likely end up drinking each round.
4. The Submarine
To play Submarine, you will need a few things, namely tall glasses, and some small shot glasses. Like all our favorite drinking games, you’ll need plenty of alcohol as well. The game is quite simple and has some rather interesting and unique gameplay.
Have the first player place the shot glass inside the tall glass. Then pour some alcohol into the glass. They can pour as much as they like before passing the glass to the next player.
Each player, in their turn, will need to pour at least a drop into the glass. However, the player who sinks the shot glass will “Submarine” and therefore need to drink all the alcohol in the glass as a penalty.
The Submarine is a unique drinking game and can be quite strategic if played carefully. There are also a number of different rules you can use. One fun twist to the game is to have two glasses in play simultaneously, starting at either end of the group.
5. Baskin Robbins Game
Also known as 31 in some circles, this game combines two unlikely things maths and drinking! So, yes, this game will likely get harder the more you drink. One player starts by saying a number, and the next player adds to it.
This continues with all players adding to the total till one player hits 31. Players can’t go over 31, so if the player before you gets to a total of 30, you’ll be drinking on your turn. When you’ve taken your penalty drink, you’ll start a new chain by saying a number.
Baskin Robbins is a fun drinking game with a nice strategic element. It’s not uncommon for people to start targeting specific players to make them drink repeatedly. You can add a new twist to the game by changing the target number or limiting how many numbers people can be added on each turn.
6. The Chopsticks Game
Chopsticks is similar to the Image game but with a few differences. Each player should have two chopsticks laid out in front of them. One player will start by asking the group a question. Questions can vary but should be things like “who is the best looking” or “who is the messiest” you get the idea.
Players vote on who best fits the question by pointing at them with their chopsticks. The player who receives the most votes will take a penalty drink and place one of their chopsticks in the middle.
However, they will then get to ask the next question. If they vote with the majority on their question, they will get to recover their chopstick from the middle. The chopsticks effectively act like lives in this game; if a player loses both their chopsticks, they are out of the game.
If there is no majority in votes, or the vote is equally split between players, then no one loses a chopstick, but everyone will need to take a penalty drink. If you enjoy games like Never Have I Ever, give Chopsticks a try.
7. The I Love You Game
Now, this is not a game for the faint-hearted! If you enjoy games like Cards Against Humanity or Truth or Dare, you’ll enjoy I Love You! The idea is simple, start by pouring each player a drink; the stronger, the better.
On your turn, you must talk to the player on your immediate left. You must say “I love you” and then any other word or combination of words you want. The goal is to make the other players laugh.
If anyone laughs, they must drink; if the player you’re facing laughs, they become the next player to say, “I love you.” If you don’t manage to make the first player laugh, you can try again by looking at the player on your right.
If you don’t manage to make either player laugh, you’ll take an extra penalty drink, and the next player takes their turn. I Love You can often get quite embarrassing and lewd, which is part of the fun!
8. Three-Six-Nine
It’s another number game, but this one doesn’t require any mathematics. It’s best played with a large group and is simple, fast-paced fun! Players count up from one, but if a number ends in three, six, or nine, you instead clap.
Yes, this means that you’ll be clapping through the entire round for the 30s, 60s, and 90s! When one player slips up and says the number instead of clapping, they will need to take a penalty drink!
The number also resets back to zero again. It might sound easy, but the game gets harder the longer it goes on, especially if players are getting a little tipsy. You can even make it more difficult by counting backward from 100.
9. The Bottlecap Game
To play this game, you’ll need a bottle of Soju. Soju is pretty much the alcoholic beverage of choice in Korea. Soju bottles will almost always have a metal bottlecap. This cap will have a metal tie at the end, which is an important part of the game.
Have one player loosely undo the bottlecap and open the tie so it can be flicked. The aim of the game is to have each player flick the tie with one finger. If a player causes the bottlecap to fly off the top, they must pour themselves a shot and drink.
Return the bottlecap to the bottle and then carry on. The game continues till the bottle of Soju is empty. You can play this game with other alcoholic beverages, but if the bottle doesn’t have a tie you can flick, you may need to place something under it like a napkin or handkerchief.
10. King
You’ll need some playing cards to play this game, and it only works for four players. Take a King, Ace, Two, and Three card, and then shuffle them. Deal each player a card facedown. The player who gets the King will reveal it to the other players.
The King will then get to impose five challenges on the other players. They can ask players to do anything they like! However, they must say by number; for example, they can say player two must tell player three a secret.
The other players can refuse to do a challenge; however, if they do, they must take a penalty drink. After all five challenges have been asked, the cards are returned and redrawn so someone else may become King.
Summary
So, that is ten amazing Korean drinking games you can play right now! Some might be similar in some respects to well-known Western drinking games, but many have their own unique characteristics and twists.
