True American Rules - Kai Version
Screenshot via Netflix.
Author’s Note:
This is not UX related per say, I modified the game rules that someone had published online in order to make the game more interactive (holding the attention span of people drinking) as well as more competitive so that a victory would feel like victory. Please feel free to share this with your friends but please be responsible when drinking. I am only posting this because so many of my friends have asked for them and it would be easier to point people to a website.
AGAIN — I am not advising you to play the below, you can modify your rules at will, this is only meant to be played by a group of friends (6 works best but we last played with 10 and it still worked) who are staying at the place where it is played, DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE, do not over-consume (it’s just a game), and please drink responsibly.
Enjoy and feel free to leave any comments about how you and your friends improved it!
Kai version of True American
Baseline Rules (found online at https://www.trueamericanrules.com/, my modifications below)
So, it's 50% drinking game, 50% life-size Candy Land. -Jess
Well, it's more like 75 drinking, 20 Candy Land, and by the way the floor is molten lava. -Schmidt
It's actually 90% drinking and then it's got a loose Candy Land-like structure to it. -Winston
The following rules will allow you to play an actual game of True American. These rules do not always reflect what happened on the New Girl episode "Normal".
In Summary
Players take turns trying to win moves in order to navigate the tables, chairs, and cushions which are your only escape from the molten lava floor. At the center of the game is a castle made of a bottle of alcohol and many beers. As players traverse the game area, they remove beers and drink them. Once all of the beers have been removed, the first player to reach the bottle of alcohol, finish their beer, and take a swig from bottle, wins the game.
The Castle
The Castle is made up of one bottle of liquor and many cans of beer (you decide how many based on the number of players). The liquor is the King and sits in the middle of the Castle. The cans of beer are the Pawns and the Soldiers of the Secret Order. The Pawns are lined up in four lines radiating outward from the King. These lines of Pawns also signify the barriers between each zone. The game ends when all of the Pawns have been removed and a player drinks from the King.
The Zones
There are four zones, each with five spaces where a player can stand. The center space in each zone is the only space where the Pawns can be taken and thus it is the closest space to the Castle. There are a total of four of these spaces. The spaces at the beginning and end of the zones are the farthest away from the Castle.
Setup
Before the game starts, determine how many beers total should be consumed and setup the Castle with those beers as the Pawns. Using the lines of Pawns as barriers between the zones; designate each zone, making sure to have 5 spaces in each zone as described above. Teams are optional.
WARNING Use caution when setting up your area of play. Alcohol and obstacles can be a dangerous combination. Play at your own risk.
Starting the Game
After setup is complete, players may have a shotgun contest to determine who has the first turn. If no player wishes to shotgun a beer, play rock-paper-scissors instead. To start the game, the winner of this contest yells "One, two three, JFK!" at which point all other players yell "FDR", grab a Pawn from the Castle, and retreat to any space.
Gameplay
WARNING Consuming alcohol can be dangerous and drinking games often promote significant consumption. Know your limits. Drink responsibly and legally.
Players move around the game area in a clockwise direction. The player whose turn it is always moves one space; however, the other players must "win" their moves. This player has three ways to provide the other players with a way to win their move.
The Count: All players yell "One, two, three" and then hold a number of fingers, between one and five, against their foreheads. Anyone holding a number that no one else has chosen wins. Winners may move one spot.
Complete a Quote: The player may slowly speak a quote from history or pop culture. Any other player that is able to jump in and complete the quote in tandem wins. Winners may move two spots. **Can be a song verse
Something in Common: The player may yell out two people, places, or things. Any other player that can reply with what these two things have in common wins. Winners may move three spots. **must be what the first player intended the commonality to be
Players must always have a beer in their hand and may not have more than two at any one time. Players may only take a Pawn from the Castle when they are in one of the four center spaces.
Winning
After all Pawns have been removed, the King is vulnerable. The first player to land on one of the center spaces, finish their beer **complete the party task** and take a swig from the King, wins the game!
Losing
If you are caught without a beer or with only an empty beer, you lose. If you step in molten lava, you lose. To enter back into the game, drink one full beer and start on a space that the other players decide.
Kai Modifications
You can play teams or not -- if you play teams there can be a more strategic approach to who can get to the king
There should be a task at the king’s table that’s hard (maybe from the debate? Or current events)
The king task - we will have a deck of cards each with a question and task written on them - the person who gets to the vulnerable king (no pawns left in that row of soldiers) must draw a card - answer the question correctly or perform the task to win the game. The task should be something hard and the question should be topical. See below of the questions and tasks I wrote for this past round the week before the election 2020.
If someone is on the space you move to, you share that space with them. No out-right pushing into the lava but if you do fall in the lava you have to finish your drink before you are allowed to return. Be careful.
Soldiers of the secret order
Some of the cans will have a secret task taped to the bottom of them. (cut playing cards into 4 and wrote a secret order task on one of the fourths. The tape wouldn’t stick so we bent the card to stay in the bottom of the can). They must complete that task before their next turn or forfeit their next turn. -- Tailor this to the participants (example: make Ris stick out her tongue without saying the word tongue)
If you pull yourself you have to gargle your beer every time you drink until you get back to the castle.
Two way to play teams *Optional rule
1. When I move you move (your teammate moves the same # of spaces)
2. Or at your turn you can choose to only ask your teammate a question/to finish a quote/ do the numbers game and your teammate gets one attempt to get it right. If they are wrong then the first person that shouts out the answer gets to move those spaces. If they are right you both get to move the allotted spaces.
If no one gets it (finishes the quote or answers the question), the person whos turn it is has to move back 1 space (this is the only time someone can have 3 beers, if they move back a space back to the castle, but they must be down to one before they get back to the castle)
If there is an odd number that person chooses a teammate each turn
If you win, you pass your spaces to your pony
When /if you get back to the original space where you started you can choose a specific pawn to award to any player of your choosing.
Bring my longboard to get to the bathroom since the floor is lava - call out something for a br break maybe? (I have played with a shopping cart as the boat to the bathroom and a towel you had to scoot as well)
WARNING - THIS CAN BE DANGEROUS. We had people sit and scoot on my longboard and even that was a struggle. So I suggest the towel or blanket route or getting rid of this rule.
So there is a troth rule. If you don’t want to drink beer then you have a cooler nearby with alternative canned beverages. So you get to the castle, pick up a beer and look at the bottom to see if there was a secret order card, and then you can ask whomever is closest to the troth to trade the beer for whatever you choose.
Throw empties into new jersey (trash bin) *Optional rule but either way have a trash bin nearby
you have to scream Kobe when you shoot
if you make it you can pass out a drink (put towels around the bin)
If you miss - your team as to chug for 5 Mississippis
Go pro - true American intro packages video interview everyone as a true American athlete *Optional rule
Time lapse the entire night
Have the victor give a press conference at the end
Supplies
Duct tape
Deck with dares/questions for under the king and secret order fourths
Paper and marker for secret order
Beer - know your group and adjust accordingly. We last played 5 beers per person because we had 10 people and time between turns was longer. I think the sweet spot has yet to be found because it depends on your friends and their tolerances. I think between 4 and 6 may be a good range but BE RESPONSIBLE and adjust that accordingly.
Alcohol for the king
Go pro - charged *optional to timelapse the game
Trash bag
Extra pillows and blankets for spots
King Questions (have at least 5 king cards, each card will have a dare paired with a question, the player can choose which they want to do) Know your audience and try to make questions bi-partisan.
What side of the stage was Trump standing on in last nights debate?
stage right our left
Who was our 13th president?
millard fillmore
What was the first permanent English settlement?
Jamestown
Who nominated RBG to the supreme court?
Clinton
The 1969 ______ Uprising was the start of the LBGTQ rights movement.
Stonewall
Dare
Post “Trump’s my Daddy” to your facebook and leave it up for the remainder of the night
Give a 3 minute speech about how LJ is the best volleyball player there is and live stream it.
Do the WAP dance and live stream it. (You need 4 of the movements semi correct)
Do 50 push ups while singing the star spangled banner and live stream it
Venmo every other player $8