Kings Cup: Official Rules

Draw cards, follow the rule for each card, and avoid drawing the fourth King.

Any number of players from 3 to 20 sit in a circle around a table. Place an empty cup in the center. Shuffle the deck and spread the cards face down in an unbroken ring around the cup, each card touching the next. Every player has their own drink.

Rule 1. The draw

Rule 1.1. The youngest player of legal drinking age draws first. Play passes to the left.

Rule 1.2. On your turn, draw one card from the ring, turn it face up so every player can see it, and announce the card's rule. The rule takes effect at once.

Rule 1.3. A player who draws a card so that a gap opens in the ring has broken the ring, and drinks.

Rule 2. The cards

Rule 2.1. Ace: Waterfall. Every player begins drinking at the same time. The player who drew the card may stop whenever they like. Each other player may stop only after the player to their right has stopped.

Rule 2.2. Two: You. Choose a player. That player drinks.

Rule 2.3. Three: Me. You drink.

Rule 2.4. Four: Floor. Every player touches the floor. The last to do so drinks.

Rule 2.5. Five: Thumb Master. You are the Thumb Master until the next Five is drawn. At any time, you may quietly place your thumb on the edge of the table. Every other player must do the same. The last to do so drinks.

Rule 2.6. Six: Social. Every player drinks.

Rule 2.7. Seven: Heaven. Every player points straight up. The last to do so drinks.

Rule 2.8. Eight: Mate. Choose a mate. Until the next Eight is drawn, whenever you drink, your mate drinks.

Rule 2.9. Nine: Rhyme. Say a word. Going left, each player says a word that rhymes with it. The first player who repeats a word or cannot think of one drinks.

Rule 2.10. Ten: Categories. Name a category, such as "breakfast cereals." Going left, each player names something in it. The first player who repeats an answer or cannot think of one drinks.

Rule 2.11. Jack: Make a Rule. Make a rule that applies for the rest of the game. A Jack rule may not change the rule for any card or conflict with Provision 2.8. A later Jack rule may cancel an earlier one.

Rule 2.12. Queen: Question Master. You are the Question Master until the next Queen is drawn. Any player who answers a question you ask drinks. A player who answers with "Who, me?" has answered a question.

Rule 2.13. King: King's Cup. Pour some of your own drink into the center cup. How much is up to you, and will be remembered. When the fourth King is drawn, the game ends (Rule 3).

Rule 3. The fourth King

Rule 3.1. The player who draws the fourth King drinks the King's Cup, all of it. The game ends.

• Ring of Fire, with a can. Instead of an empty cup, a closed can sits in the center, and each King's card is slid under its tab. The player who opens the can ends the game. Commissioner's Discretion. The Commission notes that this replaces the King's Cup with a sealed can, which it supports, and turns the game into a test of who can break a can's seal with a playing card, which it does not understand.
• Five: Guys; Six: Girls. In place of Thumb Master and Social, Five makes some players drink and Six makes the others. Commissioner's Discretion. The Commission does not divide the table into categories of people, but the table may.
• Jack: Never Have I Ever. Jack starts a round of Never Have I Ever instead of a new rule. Approved. Use the official rules for Never Have I Ever, for one round.
• Crude or insulting card names. Some tables rename cards with slurs or crude terms. Prohibited. The Commission does not print them and does not recognize them.
• The waterfall ends at a count of five. The Official counts aloud, and everyone may stop at five. Approved.
• Splitting the King's Cup. The player who drew the fourth King may nominate a partner to drink half. Approved. The partner may decline, and usually does.

Can the drawer of an Ace stop drinking immediately? Yes. Rule 2.1 permits the drawer to stop whenever they like, including at once. The rest of the table stops in order behind them. The Commission is aware that this makes the Ace a matter of character, and that the table will remember.

A player answers the Question Master by asking a question back. Has the player answered? No. A question is not an answer. The Question Master may ask again.

Who drinks the King's Cup? The player who draws the fourth King. See the full ruling in Part 6.

• Breaking the ring. Penalty: one drink. Signal: the Official draws a circle in the air, then cuts through it with one hand.
• Last to the floor, the thumb or Heaven. Penalty: one drink. Signal: the Official points at the player, then at the floor, the table or the ceiling, as applicable.
• Answering the Question Master. Penalty: one drink. Signal: the Official touches a finger to their lips.
• Waterfall. Signal: the Official raises one hand and wiggles the fingers downward.
• The fourth King. Signal: the Official forms a crown above their head with both hands, then points at the cup. The game is over.

Kings Cup is played under many names, including Ring of Fire and Circle of Death, and no two tables agree on what every card means. The Commission has heard more appeals about Kings Cup than about any other card game.

Archive No. 1544 concerns a waterfall that lasted until the player who drew the Ace forgot he was in one. It remains the longest on record, and the Commission does not encourage attempts on it.

Play with any non-alcoholic drink. The King's Cup becomes a mixture of sodas, juices and sparkling water, which the Commission considers an equal test of character.