The 25 best movie drinking games to PLAY RESPONSIBLY. A weird new creature turns up. It's no wonder the film's become a cult classic and spurned on so many drinking games.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or 'Bacon's Law' is a parlour game based on the 'six degrees of separation' concept, which posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. Movie buffs challenge each other to find the shortest path between an arbitrary actor and prolific actor Kevin Bacon. It rests on the assumption that anyone involved in the Hollywood film industry can be linked through their film roles to Bacon within six steps. In 2007, Bacon started a charitable organization called SixDegrees.org. In 2020, Bacon started a podcast called The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon.^[1]

History[edit]

In a January 1994 interview with Premiere magazine Kevin Bacon mentioned while discussing the film The River Wild that 'he had worked with everybody in Hollywood or someone who's worked with them.'^[2] Following this, a lengthy newsgroup thread which was headed 'Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe' appeared.^[3] Four Albright College students, including Brian Turtle, claim to have invented the game that became known as 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'^[2] after watching two movies featuring Bacon back to back, Footloose and The Air Up There. During the second they began to speculate on how many movies Bacon had been in and the number of people with whom he had worked.^[4] In the interview, Brian Turtle explained how 'it became one of our stupid party tricks I guess. People would throw names at us and we'd connect them to Kevin Bacon.'

They wrote a letter to talk show host Jon Stewart, telling him that 'Kevin Bacon was the center of the entertainment universe' and explaining the game.^[5] They appeared on The Jon Stewart Show and The Howard Stern Show with Bacon to explain the game. Bacon admitted that he initially disliked the game because he believed it was ridiculing him, but he eventually came to enjoy it. The three inventors released a book, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (ISBN9780452278448), with an introduction written by Bacon.^[5] A board game based on the concept was released by Endless Games.

Bacon also appeared in a commercial for the Visacheck card that parodied the game. In the commercial, Bacon wants to write a check to buy a book, but the clerk asks for his ID, which he does not have. He leaves and returns with a group of people, then says to the clerk, 'Okay, I was in a movie with an extra, Eunice, whose hairdresser, Wayne, attended Sunday school with Father O'Neill, who plays racquetball with Dr. Sanjay, who recently removed the appendix of Kim, who dumped you sophomore year. So you see, we're practically brothers.'^[6] In a similar vein, Dave Barry, in a column describing the unexpected complications that emerged when he attempted to find out the precise wording of the Lone Ranger's catchphrase, connected the Lone Ranger to Kevin Bacon in the following way: the Lone Ranger was the Green Hornet's great-uncle; the Green Hornet and O. J. Simpson both hung out with people named Kato; Simpson and Robert Wagner co-starred in The Towering Inferno; Wagner and Bacon co-starred in Wild Things.^[7]

The concept was also presented in an episode of the TV show Mad About You dated November 19, 1996, in which a character expressed the opinion that every actor is only three degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Bacon spoofed the concept himself in a cameo he performed for the independent film We Married Margo.^[8] Playing himself in a 2003 episode of Will and Grace, Bacon connects himself to Val Kilmer through Tom Cruise and jokes 'Hey, that was a short one!'.^[9] The headline of The Onion, a satirical newspaper, on October 30, 2002, was 'Kevin Bacon Linked To Al-Qaeda'.^[10] Bacon provides the voice-over commentary for the NY Skyride attraction at the Empire State Building in New York City. At several points throughout the commentary, Bacon alludes to his connections to Hollywood stars via other actors with whom he has worked.

Turner Classic Movies’ annual 31 Days of Oscar festival sometimes utilizes a promotional tactic called “360 Degrees of Oscar” (based on Bacon’s theoretical game) where TCM takes a significant actor, actress, director, or producer, and evolves its entire festival around him/her (the first and last films in the festival feature his/her works). It has been used as recently as 2020.

In 2009, Bacon narrated a National Geographic Channel show 'The Human Family Tree'^[11] – a program which describes the efforts of that organization's Genographic Project to establish the genetic interconnectedness of all humans. In 2011, James Franco made reference to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon while hosting the 83rd Academy Awards. In the summer of 2012, Google began to offer the ability to find an actor's Bacon number on its main page, by searching for the actor's name preceded by the phrase 'bacon number'.EE began a UK television advertising campaign on November 3, 2012, based on the Six Degrees concept, where Kevin Bacon illustrates his connections and draws attention to how the EE 4G network allows similar connectivity.^[12]

The most highly connected nodes of the Internet have been referred to as 'the 'Kevin Bacons' of the Web,' inasmuch as they enable most users to navigate to most sites in 19 clicks or less.^[13][14] In 'Weird Al' Yankovic's song 'Lame Claim to Fame,' one of the lines is, 'I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Kevin Bacon.'

Bacon numbers[edit]

The Bacon number of an actor is the number of degrees of separation he or she has from Bacon, as defined by the game. This is an application of the Erdős number concept to the Hollywood movie industry. The higher the Bacon number, the greater the separation from Kevin Bacon the actor is.

The computation of a Bacon number for actor X is a 'shortest path' algorithm, applied to the co-stardom network:

• Kevin Bacon himself has a Bacon number of 0.
• Those actors who have worked directly with Kevin Bacon have a Bacon number of 1.
• If the lowest Bacon number of any actor with whom X has appeared in any movie is N, X's Bacon number is N+1.

Examples[edit]

Elvis Presley:

• Elvis Presley was in Change of Habit (1969) with Edward Asner
• Edward Asner was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon

Therefore, Asner has a Bacon number of 1, and Presley (who never appeared in a film with Bacon) has a Bacon number of 2.

Ian McKellen:

• Ian McKellen was in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy
• McAvoy and Fassbender were in X-Men: First Class (2011) with Kevin Bacon

Therefore, McAvoy and Fassbender have Bacon numbers of 1, and McKellen has a Bacon number of 2.

Because some people have both a finite Bacon and a finite Erdős number because of acting and publications, there are a rare few who have a finite Erdős–Bacon number, which is defined as the sum of a person's independent Erdős and Bacon numbers.

Center of the Hollywood Universe[edit]

While at the University of Virginia, Brett Tjaden created the Oracle of Bacon.^[15] A previous version of this computer program used information on some 800,000 people from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), while the current implementation uses data drawn from Wikipedia. The algorithm calculates 'how good a center'^[16] an individual IMDb personality is, i.e. a weighted average of the degree of separation of all the people that link to that particular person. The site returns an average personality number, e.g. for Clint Eastwood, it returns an average 'Clint Eastwood Number.' From there the Oracle site posits 'The Center of the Hollywood Universe' as being the person with the lowest average personality number. Kevin Bacon, as it turns out, is not the 'Center of the Hollywood Universe' (i.e. the most linkable actor). In fact, Bacon does not even make the top 100 list of average personality numbers.^[17] While he is not the most linkable actor, this still signifies being a better center than more than 99% of the people who have ever appeared in a film. Since each actor's average personality number can change with each new film made, the center can and does shift. 'Centers' have included Rod Steiger, Donald Sutherland, Eric Roberts, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Lee and Harvey Keitel.

A 2020 study from Cardiff University also used further measures to determine the center of the movie universe.^[18] These included degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality, which were implemented using the NetworkX Python Library. The study also looked at movies released in different decades and found that, between 2000 and 2020, the most central actors included Angelina Jolie, Brahmanandam, Samuel L. Chronos fotofuze mac fotofuze for mac download. Jackson, and Ben Kingsley.

Photography book[edit]

Inspired by the game, the British photographer Andy Gotts tried to reach Kevin Bacon through photographic links instead of film links.

Gotts wrote to 300 actors asking to take their pictures, and received permission only from Joss Ackland. Ackland then suggested that Gotts photograph Greta Scacchi, with whom he had appeared in the film White Mischief. Gotts proceeded from there, asking each actor to refer him to one or more friends or colleagues. Eventually, Christian Slater referred him to Bacon. Gotts' photograph of Bacon completed the project, eight years after it began. Gotts published the photos in a book, Degrees (ISBN0-9546843-6-2), with text by Alan Bates, Pierce Brosnan, and Bacon.^[19]

See also[edit]

• Morphy Number, connections via chess games to Paul Morphy
• Shusaku number, equivalent in the Go world with Honinbo Shusaku

References[edit]

1. ^'Kevin Bacon's best friend definitely wants to murder him in exclusive trailer for his new podcast'. EW.com. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
2. ^ ^abTeotonio, Isabel (September 13, 2012). 'Google adds Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to search engine'. Toronto Star. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
3. ^Ruthven, Alexander (April 7, 1994). 'Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe'. rec.arts.movies. Google groups. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
4. ^Interview with inventors in the college's magazine, The Albright Reporter, Spring 1999
5. ^ ^abFass, Craig; Turtle, Brian; Ginelli, Mike (1996). Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. New York City: Plume. ISBN978-0-452-27844-8.
6. ^'VISA CHECK CARD The Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon'. YouTube. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
7. ^Dave Barry, Boogers Are My Beat (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003), 101.
8. ^'We Married Margo'. J.D. Shapiro's Official Website.
9. ^Will and Grace, Season 5 episode 2 'Bacon and Eggs'
10. ^'The Onion, Volume 38, Issue 40'. theonion.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
11. ^'The Human Family Tree'. National Geographic Channel.
12. ^'EE debuts multi-million pound marketing launch campaign starring Kevin Bacon'. The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi London. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
13. ^Stromberg, Joseph (February 18, 2013). 'Any Two Pages on the Web Are Connected By 19 Clicks or Less'. Smithsonian. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
14. ^Albert-László Barabási (February 18, 2013). 'Discussion: Network science'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 371 (1987): 20120375. doi:10.1098/rsta.2012.0375. PMID23419844.
15. ^oracleofbacon.org
16. ^Reynolds, Patrick. 'How good a center an actor is?'. The Oracle of Bacon.
17. ^Reynolds, Patrick. '1000 best centers'. The Oracle of Bacon.
18. ^Lewis, R. 'Who is the Centre of the Movie Universe? Using Python and NetworkX to Analyse the Social Network of Movie Stars', arXiv:2002.11103, Feb 2020
19. ^'Andy Gotts' Degrees Exhibition'. Clooney Studio. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007.

External links[edit]

• The Oracle of Bacon computes the Bacon number of any actor or actress from Wikipedia data. A previous implementation used IMDB data.
• Six Degrees of James A. Conrad A how-to demonstration for those wishing to compile their own 'degrees of' list by a Hollywood author who is three degrees of Bacon.
• Cinema FreeNet Movie Connector finds links between stars, but can also use directors and producers.
• Filmlovr.com browse the extensive film library to find films to connect via their actors aka determine the Bacon number.
• Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg suggests that Bacon connects to many actors because he acts in many different kinds of roles and films.

Sure, college is supposed to be about expanding your mind and working towards the degree that will someday help to land you a job. However, for most college kids, partying is also a cornerstone of the college experience. Sitting around drinking with your friends can get pretty boring. This is why we need drinking games to liven the experience up.
There are some drinking games that are fairly ubiquitous and some others that aren’t as well-known. Here’s a list of the absolute best college drinking games. Some are old classics, and some are new, but they’re all perfect for livening up a Friday night.

Our Pick:

Drink-A-Palooza

Drink-A-Palooza is a board game that combines many of the games on our list into one package. Since party goers all have different strengths (some might be terrible at beer pong, but great at quarters and so forth) this game allows everyone to a chance to shine.

Drink-A-Palooza also helps a get together not become stale, since the drinking challenges are constantly changing. Drinking games included here are beer pong, quarters, make a rule, kings cup, flip cup, socials, waterfalls,high / low, steal a bottle, drunk tank, booze your turn, and pour in drink cup.

This is an easy way to get all the classics in one box.

Need some other ideas? We have you covered with a list of classic drinking games as well as some creative picks we bet you’ve never come across before:

Beer Pong

Beer pong is practically a right of passage for all college kids. There have been tons of variations on beer pong throughout the years, and different groups of friends might have slightly different rules. However, here is the most basic set of guidelines for a classic game of beer pong.

First, you’re going to need a ping-pong table (we recommend a dedicated painted beer pong table and a pack of ping-pong balls (plan ahead and you can stock up for practically nothing). You’ll also need a package of 16-oz plastic cups; the classic Red Solo cups are perfect. You will need to set up two formations of 10 cups on either end of the ping-pong table. The cups should form a triangle, similar to how balls are racked at the beginning of a game of pool. Fill each cup with roughly three to four ounces of beer.

You can play beer pong in teams of one or two players. Each team stands on either side of the table. The goal is to toss a ping-pong ball into one of the cups on the opposing team’s side. You can toss the ball directly into a cup, and the opposing team is not permitted to try to swat the ball away. Or, for an easier shot, you can bounce the ball when you toss it, but in this scenario, the opposing team is permitted to try to swat the ball away.

When a ball lands in a cup, a member of the opposing team has to drink it. Each team should be permitted three attempts each turn. Keep a cup of clean water nearby to wash the ball between tosses. The team that clears the opposing side first is the winner.

Drunk Jenga

Drunk Jenga is the classic board game, modified to be the perfect drinking game for any group of friends. To begin, you’ll need to grab a pen or a Sharpie marker and a box of Jenga blocks. Write different rules on a bunch of tiles. Rules can vary wildly. An example of some rules might be, “take two drinks,” “make someone else drink” or “don’t speak for the rest of the game.” Be creative.

Don’t feel like getting out the Sharpie? You can buy pre-made tower games with instructions already printed on each block.

Set up the Jenga game and play as normal. Whenever a player pulls a block with a rule, they must abide by it. When the tower collapses, the person responsible for the collapse must finish their drink. This is a drinking game where players are encouraged to add their unique rules to the game.

Quarters

If you don’t have a lot of space to work with, Quarters is an easy game that requires nothing more than a glass and a quarter. Players sit around a table with the glass centered in the middle of the table. Each player places the quarter on the edge of the table in front of them and attempts to flip the quarter into the glass. If the player succeeds, he or she can order whomever they please to drink. They can also implement rules such as “no first names” or “no one can say ‘drink.'” If a player violates this rule, they have to drink. These rules are in place until someone new successfully lands the quarter in the glass, at which point they become the new rule-maker.

Chandelier

Chandelier is essentially a tabletop version of beer pong. It’s perfect for those living in dorms or small apartments. To play, you’ll need 16-ounce plastic cups and some ping-pong balls. Players sit around a table, each with their plastic cup of beer, placed at the edge of the table so that there is a circle of cups around the perimeter of the table. One full cup of beer should be placed in the center of the table.

To play, players attempt to bounce the ball into someone else’s cup. If they are successful, that person has to drink their beer. If the ball lands in the center cup, everyone has to drink, and the person who threw the ball has to drink the middle cup as well. When a player misses, whoever catches the ball gets to go next.

Avalanche

To play Avalanche, you’ll need a die and one glass. Each player sits around a table with their glass or cup of alcohol. To play a turn, a player begins by filling the “game glass” with either a small or large amount of their drink. They then roll the die. They do the following depending on what number they receive:

1: The player does nothing; they pass the glass and the die to the next player
2: The player adds more alcohol to the game glass and passes it to the next player, along with the die
3: The player must drink the contents of the game glass
4: The player yells “floor!” Everyone must either point downward or drop to the ground. Whoever does this last or fails to do it must drink the contents of their glass
5: The player can make anyone of their choosing drink the glass
6: Same rules as when a player rolls a 1. However, many groups choose to substitute an original rule of their choosing for a six play

Some groups choose to play by these simple rules. In other scenarios, some like to play Avalanche elimination-style, with players being removed from the game after three consecutive drinks.

Up & Down the River

Up & Down the River is played with two decks of cards. To begin, one player is appointed the dealer. The dealer provides each player with four cards, which are placed face-up in front of them. The dealer then draws a card from the deck and whoever has the card must take a drink. If they have multiples of that card, they must take as many drinks as they have cards. The dealer repeats this; however, with each new round, the amount of drinks one has to take for the card doubles.

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After the fourth round, the dealer draws a fifth card, laying it on top of the previous card. Any player who has that combination of cards may give away four total drinks. They could tell one player to drink four times, or tell four players to each drink once. The dealer can lay a third card over the first two and players with a combination of those three cards may give away a total of eight drinks. After this, the game can be started again with a new dealer.

Flip Cup

Flip cup is played by dividing your group into two teams, with equal players on each team. You will need some 16-ounce plastic cups. To start, each team stands on opposing sides of a table, facing each other. Each player gets one cup filled with beer. On the count of three, the first two opposing players drink their beer. When they finish, they place their empty cup on the edge of the table. They then have to flip their cup without touching the sides of the cup. Players should flip the cup by flicking the rim of it with their thumb and forefinger.

The cup should land top-up on the table. After the first player is successful, the next player on their team can take their turn. Whichever team finishes first is the winning team.

King’s Cup

To set up King’s Cup, set an empty plastic cup or glass in the center of a table. Spread a deck of cards with the jokers removed around the glass, forming a circle of cards.

Players gather around the table, each with their drink. To begin, the first player draws a card. Each different card has its rules. However, one important thing to remember about King’s Cup is that the rules are fluid. Many groups have their set of rules for different cards. A sample set of rules is as follows:

Ace: Everyone must drink until the player who drew the card stops drinking. It is up to the player as to whether or not everyone finishes their glass or just takes a few sips
2: The player can tell any other player to drink
3: The player must take a drink themselves
4: All female players must drink
5: All male players must drink
6: Everyone must touch the floor. The last player to do so must drink
7: Everyone must point towards the sky. The last player to do so must take a drink
8: The player selects another player who has to drink every time they do. This lasts until someone new draws an eight
9: The player says a word. Going around the table, each player must say a word that rhymes with it. The first player to fail to do so in a quick manner must drink
10: If a player draws a 10, they say something that they have never done. If other players have never done it either, they don’t have to drink. However, any player who has done the thing in question must drink
Jack: The player makes a rule that must be followed for the rest of the game
Queen: The queen is a wild card. Groups are encouraged to create their unique rule for the queen
King: When a player draws a kind, they pour half of their drink into the center cup. When the final king is drawn, that player must drink the entire cup

Cheers To The Governor

Cheers To The Governor is the perfect group for a group of friends that wants to have a good time without remembering a bunch of rules. Where most drinking games follow a set of rules, Cheers To The Governor is extremely loose. It is also perfect for the outdoors or a hot tub, as it requires no cards, balls or dice.

Players sit in a circle, each with their drink. The players, in a counterclockwise direction, begin counting aloud, each saying a number. The player who gets to 21 can institute any rule they choose. It’s a good idea to base rules around one specific number; for example, a player could make a rule that one specific player has to drink on the number eight or that all female players must drink on the number three. The count begins again with the new rule in place. The next person to have 21 makes a new rule of their own. However, it does not negate the prior rule. This simply continues until there is a long list of rules. When it becomes too complicated, or your group becomes bored with the set of rules, feel free to start from scratch. The more creative the rules, the better.

Three Man

To play Three Man, you’ll need a pair of dice. Players sit around a table or in a circle, each with their cup of beer or alcohol. One player is appointed as the “Three Man.” The Three Man rolls every time, with the other player rolling a die as well. What happens will be determined based on what the two die add up to. The rules are as follows:

7: The person to the right of the player takes a drink
11: The person to the right of the player takes a drink
9: Everyone drinks
A sum of 3: Three Man drinks
4 and an Ace: Everyone must touch the floor. The last player to do so drinks
Five and an Ace: Everyone must point to the ceiling. The last player to do so drinks
Doubles: When doubles are rolled, the player can make anyone drink, including the Three Man

Once every player in the circle has had a turn; a new Three Man is appointed.

Power Hour

Power Hour isn’t technically a game; however, it’s a favorite for college students who don’t feel like sitting around a table. To have a Power Hour, you will need to find a Power Hour mix. Many are available free on YouTube or can be downloaded. A Power Hour mix is typically an hour to two hours long and will contain many songs in 30 second increments. Whenever the song changes, everyone has to drink. Everyone is encouraged to dance to the songs in between drinks. This is a popular choice for those who are “pre-gaming” and want to get a slight buzz going before they head out to their destination for the evening.

Edward 40 Hands

This is perhaps the most extreme drinking game, but it’s an absolute blast. This game is played by a person having a 40-ounce bottle of beer duct taped to each hand. The individual may not have their hand freed until they finish the beer in the corresponding bottle.

Some groups choose to play with a timer set for a few hours. When the timer goes off, anyone who still has beer in their bottle has to either pour it over themselves or complete a dare.

Buffalo Club

Technically, Buffalo Club isn’t a drinking game. Well, it is, but it’s a game that never ends. A group of friends will declare a Buffalo Club. This means that every time they drink, they must be holding their drink in their left hand. They may hold their drink in their right hand without penalty, but they must never take a sip.

For the rest of their college careers – and perhaps their lives – all members of the Buffalo Club must follow this left-hand rule. If they are spotted drinking from their right hand at any time by another club member, they must finish their entire drink.

This requires some commitment. However, it’s a fun pact for friends to make. Many graduates will still honor the Buffalo Club rules when they get together in the years after college.

Beer Roulette

Beer roulette is a game of chance that will involve everyone getting a little messy. One player is appointed to take some as many cans of beer as there are players in another room. The player will vigorously shake one can of beer. That player brings the cans back into the room where the players have congregated and handed them out. Every player takes a can and opens it. Whoever gets sprayed has to chug their entire beer.

There are other variations on “roulette” style drinking games. For example, a circle of players could close their eyes while one player fills each glass with beer, except for one player, who receives something stronger. Everyone switches glasses, their eyes still closed, and then they chug. There are also spinning shot glass roulette boards available for purchase on Amazon or at novelty shops.

Blitzed Dice and Pre-Made Dice Games

If you want a dice drinking game that is simple and easy, invest in a pre-made set of dice made specifically for drinking games. The dice will have different instructions, depending on what side you roll. Examples of instructions might be to finish your drink or assign another player a dare. There are different pre-made dice games available for different types of parties, including football parties, bachelorette parties and more.