Preview: Get To Know Your Friends Through Drinking Problems

Do you all agree on which is the best streaming service? Whose life would make the best TV show? Ask and answer a wide variety of questions in this mix of icebreaker party game and drinking game. But beware of the challenging problems quizzes!

Currently on Kickstarter, Drinking Problems is a casual party game with a drinking element. But can it be enjoyed without alcohol?

Gameplay

The main deck is shuffled. Players take turns drawing from the main deck and resolving the card they drew. There is a range of card types. Some might have the entire group vote on something, such as voting on whose life would make the best tv show, or the group might have to try to guess a certain fact about the player who drew the card. There are also solo challenges where the active player might have to do an impression of someone or guess a fact about another player. Typically, the result of the card will cause someone to take a drink (more about the drinking aspect of the game in our review section).

There is a special type of card in the main deck that when you draw it you must tackle a problems quiz card. You have another player draw a card from the problems quiz deck, and you then have 45 seconds to answer all five questions on that card. You may skip any of the questions but must take one drink for each one you skip. The first player to complete three problems quiz cards wins the game.

Review

Drinking Problems has a range of really fun questions and challenges from charades to interesting or fun questions, and the different types of cards add a lot of variety. The problems quiz cards are especially a lot of fun, trying to face the timer to answer the five questions as quickly as possible — it’s pretty easy to have your brain freeze at a key moment. This combination of different question styles is where Drinking Problems shines and makes for a fun party game that’s equal parts a silly good time and a good getting-to-know-you icebreaker.

The rules are very simple. In fact, they’re all listed on the back of the game’s box in three sentences. That makes it easy to pick up and play. You could also easily play this game standing, in line or at a party, making it portable and a good fit for a wide variety of locations.

As the title suggests, the game is definitely geared toward drinking. Still, players could certainly house rule that, replacing it with something non-alcoholic just for fun (strong lemonade for example) or even some physical challenge such as push-ups to get the same ambiance that the game is going for. The presentation, though, is definitely still drinking-focused, which may be an issue depending on the game group. If you do enjoy the drinking angle, it will certainly increase the craziness of your answers as the game progresses.

There is a little clunkiness with the win condition. The box says there are 20 cards in the main deck that will have you draw problems quiz cards (our prototype was missing a few), and it is complete luck of the draw if and when you will be prompted to tackle a problems quiz, so you might legitimately never even have a chance to win. As the player count is 2-10, at the higher player counts you could conceivably end up with a situation where no one can win. However, this is also one of those games where winning is very much not the point. Having a good time, getting to know each other a little better, and having a laugh is where this game thrives, so the win condition is a lot less important than it would be elsewhere.

If you enjoy these light, getting-to-know-you games, Drinking Problem brings an adult approach to the genre without a lot of inappropriate questions or vulgar humor, and the problems quiz cards are particularly fun. Check it out on Kickstarter and judge for yourself how it will land with your game group.

Pros: Can be enjoyed without drinking, problems quiz cards are a lot of fun, wide range of question types

Cons: Drinking theme might be a problem for some players, win condition doesn’t always work well

Disclosure: this is a paid preview based on our evaluation of an unpublished prototype of this game, which is subject to change prior to publication.