Corpus Christi Caller-Times Ricardo Baca, media critic

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Friday, March 16, 2001

One shot, two shots, three shots, floor

Drinking games challenge the intellect and pave the road to debauchery during Spring Break

It's always heartwarming when you see a group of kids sitting in a circle practicing their 123s or ABCs, sloppily mispronouncing but carefully meandering from letter to number to letter. Most of the time, those who are alphabet-deficient are preschoolers, but once a year every year, even college students have an excuse to ruin our tried-and-true alphabet and destroy our proven numerical system.
   Spring Break is upon us, and college students everywhere will change their alphabet to that of: Alcohol, Beaches, Concerts and Drinking games during the next week. Irresponsibility is inevitable, as is debauchery, and drinking games often pave the jutted road to a memorable (if your lucky) Spring Break.
   Sometimes the games are as simple as reciting numbers or plucking from the alphabet, but being under the influence doesn't help - especially since alcohol producers have upped the proofage in their bottles and made inebriation easily obtainable.
   When you're drinking shots of Everclear (a lethal mind-erasing product of 90 percent grain alcohol) or Bacardi 151 (named for its astounding 151-proof - or 75.5 percent alcohol level), it doesn't take much to feel it. But even still, our buzz-obsessed culture has invented countless drinking games to help us reach uncanny levels of tipsy, trashed and tethered.
   For many, drinking as part of the social experience didn't cut it; they had to make drinking the actual experience itself. These aren't for the faint of heart - or liver, notice. Most drinking games force you to think as you drink, and since alcohol rarely increases mental productivity, the two are not really compatible.
   Some games require smarts while other lesser games are straightforwardly inane tributes to the loss of self- and bodily-control. Either way, if your party needs to be jumpstarted or you're hanging with newfound friends on the beach this weekend, here are a few games sure to bedazzle and befuddle.
   As always: party safely, take a cab or designate a driver to remain sober for the evening, and remember - Texas' drinking age is 21.

?If you have a hotel:
   Previously I had no idea there were so many drinking games associated with the entertainment media, but even on Sunday, thousands of people sit down to drinking games around such shows as "The X-Files" and "South Park."
   That's right. With the trash-talking fourth graders from "South Park," people drink when: Kenny dies. Chef sings. Cartman says he's not fat, "just big-boned." Someone farts. You gather?
   With Mulder, Scully and company, people drink when: The theme music plays. Scully is abducted. Aliens appear onscreen. Someone is found dead, sacrificial style. Etc...
   The craze transfers to film, with the obvious "Dazed and Confused" (drink every time a character says "man") and the not-so-obvious "Shawshank Redemption." But since most drinking games happen on a whim without planned TV viewing (and in many cases nowhere near a TV), most people stick to other varieties.

?With entertainment-savvy company:
   The name game is a favorite among players on the Internet, and it's proven to be a great getting-to-know-you game. So next time you're wandering the beach and stumble upon somebody else's bonfire, remember these rules and get in on the action.
   Sitting in a circle, someone starts by saying the name of a well-known person; the next person says a name that starts with the first letter of the previously mentioned person's last name. Example: Tom Cruise,Carmen Electra, Ernest Hemingway.
   But when someone says a name where the first and last name starts with the same letter (Marilyn Monroe) or the person has a one-word name (Madonna), the direction reverses. Example: Tom Cruise, Carol Channing (reverse), Cher (reverse), Captain Crunch (reverse), Chris O'Donnell.
   If a player can't think of a name immediately, then he or she must drink until a name comes to mind. Opt for beer for this game rather than liquor, because sometimes the brain cogs get stuck and the mind gets cloudy, and 5 percent alcohol is nicer to your system than the brutal wrath of Rumple Minze.

?If you have net access:
   The realm of gaming possibilities is endless if you have access to the Internet. At barnonedrinks.com, which hosts more than 7,000 drink recipes, you can learn about games such as Drink or Dare (an adult version of the timeless childhood game Truth or Dare), Shot Chess (where shot glasses are your pawns and bishops and you shoot your captured pieces) or Beeropoly, where a sip of beer equals $100 of your play money.
   Have a wide collection of drinking games e-mailed to your inbox at www.barmeister.com/games.html. BarMeister features quirky games such as Britney's Beers (set to Britney Spears songs and videos) and the Kid Rock Game, that suggests its participants drink at each uttered obscenity on Rock's CD "Devil Without a Cause."

?If you can count:
   A lot of drinking games deal with counting, but none are better than Zigzag, which actually requires skill and brainpower.
   Again you're sitting in a circle, and your group starts counting clockwise. First person: "1." Second person: "2." And so on. But when the number is divisible by 7 or has a 7 in it, the player says "zig" instead of the number and the direction changes.
   To add to the confusion, when the number is divisible by 11, the player says "zag" and the direction switches again. Sounds complicated, but when you're sober it's not. Of course, with each mistake comes a drink. Example: 1-2-3-4-5-6-zig (switch direction)-8-9-10-zag (switch)-12-13-zig (switch)-15-16-zig (switch)-18-19-20-zig (switch)-zag (switch)-23 ...
   And if you're still mourning the loss of brain cells from the previous night, make yourself feel better by telling yourself that you were sharpening your multiplication tables and your knowledge of basic division.
   And you didn't believe your second grade teacher when she told you division had a practical use in the real world.

Pop culture and media critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 886-3688 or by e-mail at bacar@caller.com

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