Drinking games are essential for every great house party or get-together. But most drinking games only cater for large groups, and the rest usually require cards.
There’s no need to skip the games though if you’ve only got a few people and your mates have forgotten to bring the pack of cards (that you definitely did not forget to ask for)!
We’ve put together a list of the 10 best drinking games for small groups. So fill your glasses and let’s get the party started!
Don’t forget to check out our list of the 10 best party drinks that you need to try!
And remember, please drink responsibly!
Shot Roulette
Booziest Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
Shot roulette is a great drinking game for small groups. You barely need anything to set it up, it’s really simple to play and involves plenty of drinking. It’s a good one to play later in the night, as shots on an empty stomach can be risky!
What You’ll Need: Ideally, you should get a shot roulette game set. Then you’ll just need to have a few different types of drinks to fill your glasses with. But if you’ve not got a set, you can make do with the following:
- 15 shots glasses
- A few different types of drinks to fill the glasses
- A roulette wheel
Number of Players: Minimum 2 people
How to Play
- Prepare the shots. You can pick any drinks you want. Some good ideas are beer, wine, vodka and water. Vodka and water make a good combo because you don’t know which you’ve got until the last minute! Cola and dark rum are also a good idea for the element of surprise!
- Place the shot glasses around the roulette wheel.
- Take it in turns to spin and then take the shot. Simple!
Check out this great value shot roulette set on Amazon.
Picolo
Best Mobile Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
Picolo is the perfect drinking game for small groups and it’s really easy to set up.
It’s great because it takes all the thinking out of drinking games, you can just let the app do the work. And it’s a good one to play either at home or in a bar as you don’t need anything other than your phone!
What You’ll Need:
- Just your drinks and a phone!
Number of players: Minimum 2 people
How to Play
- Download the Picolo app
- Choose a free version or upgrade to the premium version
- Enter each players name, bonus points for creative nicknames!
- Then just answer the questions and follow the instructions
Hesitation
Controversial Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
Hesitation is a great drinking game for small groups and doesn’t require anything except your drinks! So you can play it as easily at a house party as you can on your night out.
Things can get a bit awkward though, depending on who you’re playing with. It’s great for a bit of drama and perfect for getting the gossip on the group! Hesitation works best with players that know each other fairly well so don’t play this one with a group of people you’ve only just met.
What You’ll Need:
- Just your drinks!
How Long Does it Last? Anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes works best
Number of Players: 5 – 10 people
How to Play:
- Get all the players to sit or stand in a circle
- One player starts by pointing to another player and asking them a question
- The other player has to reply by pointing and asking another player a question immediately
- If they hesitate, they have to take a drink and answer the question they were originally asked
- They can then start off the game again
- The best questions to ask are ones that are a bit controversial, and that everyone is dying to know the answer to!
- And the key to avoiding having to answer an awful question is to always have a question in mind to say next if you get asked!
Beer Pong
Best Team Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
The classic frat party drinking game! It’s everyone’s favourite and is great for all group sizes and you don’t need any cards! This drinking game is great for teams, after all, everyone loves a bit of friendly competition. Especially after a few drinks!
What you’ll need:
- 10 pint sized plastic cups filled with your drink of choice
- A large table at least a few meters long preferably
- Ping pong ball
- Two teams
- Arrange your 5 cups each in a pyramid shape at each end of the table
- Try and throw the ping pong ball into the other teams cups
- If it lands in a cup, the other team has to drink that cup and then remove it from the table
- You can either bounce the ball into the cups, or try and throw it straight in. But if you miss and it goes too far, and the other team catches it, you have to drink one of your own cups.
- The team that drinks the least cups wins!
You can pick up this beer pong set for really cheap on Amazon.
Drunk Jenga
Creative Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
Drunk jenga is the best drinking game to play at the start of any small party. It’s just a great twist on a classic game!
It’s also a great ice breaker drinking game for small groups, and you don’t have to put much thought in whilst you’re playing! The only thing is that it just requires a bit of preparation before you can start playing.
What You’ll Need:
- Jenga blocks coloured in three different colours
- Or jenga blocks with different truths or dares written on them
- Set up the Jenga Blocks in a stack
- Each player takes it in turn to remove a block from the stack (but you can’t choose the ones at the top!)
- If your jenga locks have different truths or dares written on them, the player must perform the task
- If you’ve chosen three different colours, one corresponds to a truth, dare or shot that the rest of the players can choose
- Continue taking it in turns to remove the blocks until the stack falls. The loser must then down their drink.
Never Have I Ever
Classic Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
A classic ice breaker drinking game that’s perfect for smaller groups. You can be as daring as you want with this one and it’s great for getting to know the group. And it can reveal some pretty interesting things about people you already know quite well!
What You’ll Need:
- Just your drinks!
How Long Does it Last? Around 10-20 minutes depending on how large the group is.
Number of Players: 5-10 players works well, but preferably at least 4 people.
How to Play:
- Sit or stand in a circle
- Each player takes it in turn to say something that they have never done
- Every player who has done that thing must drink
- Each player has three lives, and lose a life each time they have to drink
- When all their lives are used up, they have to down their drink
- Then you can either start again or play something different!
Two Truths One Lie
Interesting Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
This is another great drinking game for small groups that’s perfect to play with people you don’t know very well yet.
It’s a chilled one to play at the start of your night and gives you a great chance to show off about any cool things you’ve done that people wouldn’t guess!
What You’ll Need:
- Again just your drinks!
How Long Does it Last? It depends on the size of the group. Around 20 minutes is good for this game. It normally takes a couple of minutes per person per round.
Number of Players: 3-8 works well usually but it can be played with 2 players.
How to Play:
- Each player must take it in turn to tell the group 3 things about themselves. With two being true and one being a lie.
- Each of the other players decides which they think is the lie.
- If the other player is wrong, they must have some of their drink.
- But if some players manage to guess correctly, the player must drink a sip for the number of people that guessed correctly.
Paranoia
Funny Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
This drinking game is great for small groups that know each other really well. It can be a really fun one to play and gets the drinks flowing at the start of the night!
What You’ll Need:
- Just your drinks!
How Long Does it Last? 10-15 minutes is ideal.
Number of Players: This drinking game works well for groups of around 5-10 players.
How to Play:
- Each player takes it in turn to ask (by whispering) to the person next to them a question of who is the most likely to do something.
- The player being asked then points to whoever they think is the most likely to do that thing.
- The player being pointed to can either choose to drink or if not, they can find out what question was asked.
Back to Back
Best Drinking Game for Small Groups that Know Each Other Well
This is an amazing drinking game to play that gets everyone involved and suits groups that know each other really well. It’s a fun one for the start of the night as it doesn’t involve too much drinking!
What You’ll Need:
- Just your drink!
How Long Does it Last? Around 3-5 minutes per round. 3-4 rounds works well.
Number of Players: 6-10 players works best.
How to Play:
- Two players stand back to back holding a full drink
- The other players should get in a circle around them and shout “most likely to” questions
- The two players in the middle can then drink if they think they are the most likely
- If they are the only one to drink, the next question is asked
- If neither players drink to the question, the players must both drink
- But if both players drink to the question, they both must drink again
- The round continues until one player finishes their drink, or no one can think of any other questions!
Roxanne
Best Quick Drinking Game for Small Groups Without Cards
This is a really fun drinking game for small groups that doesn’t require cards, or much else! It’s perfect for 80s parties but you can choose another song if you fancy. Jai Ho by the Pussycat Dolls or Shake it Off by Taylor Swift both work really well too!
What You’ll Need:
- Some music
- Plenty of drinks
How Long Does it Last: Exactly 3 minutes and 11 seconds!
Number of People: Around 5 or more works best
How to Play:
- Make sure every player has a full drink
- Play the song Roxanne by The Police
- Every time you hear the word “Roxanne” you must drink
- Every time you hear “put on the red light” you must drink
- Try and make it through the entire song!
- If you’re listening to Jai Ho, each player takes it in turn to drink when they hear “Jai Ho” and must continue to drink until they hear it again. Then the next player must start drinking. The same goes if you are playing with “Shake it Off” but when you hear “Shake”!
So there you go! The 10 best drinking games to play for small groups without cards!
Remember to check out our list of the 10 best party drinks that you need to try!
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