Eating Card Games

When College Drinking Grows Up

by Margie Pignataro © 2016 Gifts for Card Players

When I was in grad school, I never played drinking games. I took my drinking seriously and simply chugged boxed wine or gin and Squirt until I was buzzed. The idea was that we didn’t need games to get drunk: we weren’t fragile, shrinking violets desperate for courage and ego. We were bold theater people who used the excuse of drunkenness to get us to another dimension of socially scandalous behavior. Beer pong would only slow us down. Besides, theater people are awfully competitive as it is: no need to increase it whilst we are especially in a mood to be physical.

Now that I’m slightly older and my body no longer is as easy going about drunken escapades as it once was, I have given up drinking. In its place, I have food. But not in a gluttonous way. I don’t gorge at buffets or order take out every night, nor do I make the sumptuous desserts pornographically splayed across Pinterest and Tastemade.

I have made food a game. I deny and tease and then concede. Holidays are excuses for an olympic inspired event. But there’s no reason why food games should not exist (and there are many reasons why they should).

So for your next holiday party, or just any excuse for a party on a random Friday night, here are some card inspired eating games with recommended dishes that are most satisfying.

Redjack (as opposed to Blackjack)

Suggested food:

Food that is appetizer sized. The food can be used as chips, even with designated values. These I find most delicious:

Breakfast Crescent Dogs >> Click Here

Chicken and Waffle Sliders >> Click Here

Double Decker Taco Cupcakes >> Click Here

Play:

As in blackjack, the object is to reach 31. Each person is dealt one card up and two down. Aces are worth eleven, face cards ten, and everything else face value. Play rotates as in blackjack, with each person getting additional cards to reach 31. After that, if someone feels that they have gotten close to 31 (like 30), they say “knock”. Everyone else gets an additional card. If two people say knock, the person who says it first doesn’t take the additional card.

Whoever busts cannot eat. Anyone who reaches 31 eats twice. The person with the lowest number may eat.

Kingship

Suggested food:

This is a game best designed for an enormous amount of food that one desperately needs an excuse to eat in mass quantities. It can be something as simple as Twinkies, Oreos, and Walmart cupcakes, or it can be platters of sushi. Personally, I suggest pizza.

Play:

A deck of cards is spread face down on a table, traditionally around a platter of food to be consumed as part of the game. Each person in turn takes a card and everyone must do what the card means.

Below is a list of common card associations which I have adapted from drinkinggamezone.com:

Ace: Waterfall – Every player eats until they can’t anymore. The last person eating wins.

2: You – Whoever drew the card assigns someone to eat.

3: Me – Whoever drew the card eats

4: Floor – Everyone races to touch the floor, and the first person to do so eats.

5: Guys – All guys eat.

6: Chicks – All girls eat.

7: Heaven – All players point towards the sky, first player to do so eats.

8: Mate – Pick a person to feed.

9: Rhyme – Say a phrase, and everyone else must say phrases that rhyme. Everyone who can accomplish this eats.

10: Categories – Pick a category, and say something from that category (i.e. if “food” is the category, say something in that category). Whoever can, eats.

Jack: Never have I ever – the person who draws the card makes the statement: for example, “Never have I ever owned a dog”. Everyone who has owned a dog eats.

Queen: Story: the person who drew the card says the first line of a story. (“Mary had a little lamb that had schizophrenia.”). The next person must continue the story. Everyone eats after each continuing line and the last person who cannot continue the story does not eat.

King: Ruler – Make a rule that everyone must follow until the next King is drawn. (i.e. force everyone to eat after each turn)

Pokerface Poker

Food recommendation:

A sumptuous dessert, something that can be eaten by the spoonful. Some of the best experiences I’ve had with cakes at parties involved not cutting the cake, but handing out spoons and sharing. My recommendations:

Vanilla Chai Cheesecake >> Click Here

Bailey’s Irish Cream Bundt Cake >> Click Here

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake with Frangelico Ganache  >> Click Here

Play:

Everyone is dealt one card, which they don’t look at. Rather, they hold the card to their forehead. The object of the game is to have the highest card. Aces are the highest. Starting with the person to the left of the dealer, play goes around the room and each person decides either to play or fold. The only way to glean any information about your car is from the faces and body language of those around you. The person with the highest card wins and may eat.