I thought I’d post some documentation and mechanics to get everyone psyched up for DRUNK JEOPARDY.
I started with Jeopardy, mostly because of the popularity of Watson. I kept the questions intact, and for the purposes of prototyping and because I’m not that bright, I chose to use the currently airing Teen Tournament. This archive site helped a lot, as Jeopardy is not available online to watch (because it’s syndicated.) So that will be our game board.
Can Jeopardy be made into a drinking game? One that engages a group of people mentally AND physically, while socially drinking? Because I’m not much of a gamer, the impetus for this was to do something I would play, as a pre-game drinking activity before hitting the clubs. I wanted to bring fellowship (see Costikyan) and physicality to the game. Since I’m not a strict gamer, I think I responded most to the Huizinga reading, with Frobenius quoted that play was cosmic. We created a unique environment of festivity and intoxication.
THE RULES.
• 3-5 players. The fewer players, the more exercises and drinks per person.
• Questions go in order that they were asked on the show, which is random for us. Each player gets one question and then a punishment/reward. If the player answers correctly, he/she drinks. If incorrect, there’s a physical challenge.
• Each of the 2 game boards is divided into five horizontal levels, with the top level generally considered easiest. For our purposes these levels 1-5 equal the count for beverage consumption as a reward. A 5-count can also be exchanged for a shot or chugging a beer. The 1-5 also equates to the number of reps for the physical challenges.
• Like reward drinking, the physical challenges are self moderated and can vary in intensity. A few suggestions are: pushups, traveling lunges, jumping jacks, bicycles, crunches, chair dips. We added weights and did some bicep curls and down-and-ups (see Tami, right.) Pushups seemed to be the most active, while jumping jacks were quite a bit easier.
• Daily Doubles (Several game elements are endogenous to Jeopardy.) are always a bet of a shot or a 5-rep physical challenge. There are 3 of these on the board.
• Final Jeopardy. Each player writes down his/her answer on a post-it. The bet is a shot, a run around the block, then smoke crack. Generally, it is best to do all three regardless of getting the answer correct.
• Finally, you’re ready to go to the club! You’re a bit wasted, you got your muscles pumped for the ladies/gentlemen, and you have a handful of factoids to sprinkle into casual conversation. Consider yourself well-rounded.
Findings:
• It’s easy to let the game slow, but it’s more fun if you keep to a question time limit and keep moving forward, despite physical challenges and other game distractions.
• Unless you are really clueless, you will probably get fu*ked up playing this game. You don’t have to drink a lot when you count 1-5, or trade a 5-count for a shot (though I repeatedly did just that).
• Jeopardy has a lot of Americanisms in it. During THREE separate game tests, international contestants complained about the bias.
• I would play this again. It’s perfect for the beach, before you go to the clubs. Get pumped up mentally and physically, then drunkenly bring your A-game.
• Questions got tougher as we got drunker.
• Nerds wind up drinking the most and getting the stupidest, while dummies get the fittest/hottest and take all the girls/guys. Everyone wins!
Next Step: Build a quick and dirty Drunk Jeopardy smartphone app.