Game On! 7 Esports Drinking Games

While nothing beats the thrill of attending an esports tournament in person, a booze-fueled watch party is the next best thing. If you regularly get together with fellow video game enthusiasts to watch your favorite teams compete, drinking games can take your gathering to the next level.

7. Down a Shot When Someone Drops an F-Bomb

Before we start looking at some game-specific drinking challenges, let’s keep things general. While it’s not particularly classy to curse during an esports tournament, there’s no guarantee everyone will mind their language. No matter whether it’s a player losing their cool during battle or an announcer dropping an ill-judged F-bomb, reach for a drink and knock one back when the air turns blue.

6. Down a Drink Before the Race is Over

As yet, racing games haven’t penetrated the world of professional esports like MMORPGs and first-person shooters. However, new initiatives like Traxion are changing that. If you and your friends are gathering to watch an online racing sim tournament, there are plenty of ways you can spice things up. You can look to the Mario Kart community for inspiration. Beerio Kart has been doing the rounds on college campuses for many years now. Everyone has to finish their drink before the first player makes their way over the finishing line.

5. Counter-Strike Drinking Games

Are you a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fan? Whether you’re coming together to watch the ESL Pro League or grand finals of the CS:GO Major Championship, you can bring a little fun to proceedings with drinking games. Use kills as your baseline for this game. If someone bites the dust after being mowed down by a rifle, take a single drink. If a player bites the bullet after being shot with a pistol, drink two. If someone’s unlucky enough to be killed with a melee weapon, brace yourself for three drinks. If you know who’s playing in advance, you can get an idea of how drunk you’ll end up by checking the latest CSGO stats at 1337PRO.com.

4. Call of Duty Drinking Games

If you’re watching a Call of Duty tournament, you can apply the same Counter-Strike drinking rules. Keen to mix things up a little? Write down the names of every player from both teams and get everyone at your watch party to pick a name at random. They’ll have to drink depending on the fortunes of their allotted player. If their player is gunned down by the enemy, they take a single drink. If they’re brought down by friendly fire or accidentally commit suicide, they’ll need to sink an entire cocktail or can of beer.

3. Dota 2 Drinking Games

Dota 2 is one of the most-watched esports around. Unsurprisingly, the sprawling Dota 2 community has come up with plenty of drinking games to spice up any watch party. Take a drink every time a particular hero is picked or a certain player deploys one of their go-to moves. Drink two if a tower is destroyed or someone purchases a big-ticket item.

2. Punch Bowl Medley

Punch bowls are a staple of any good party. With this game, you’re free to set your own rules. Start with a generous punch bowl, then add a soft mixer to get things started. Any time something unusual happens in the game you’re watching, add a measure of vodka, gin, or scotch. Watching a first-person shooter? Pour a shot anytime someone’s accidentally killed by a teammate. Has someone scored a pentakill? Dump the whole bottle in there. Once the game’s finished, everyone grabs a cup and has to sink a drink.

1. Pentakill Special

You’ll occasionally encounter the legendary pentakill in any 5v5 game. However, it’s slightly more common when watching titles like League of Legends. That being said, it doesn’t happen all that often, with star players like Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larrson and Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen only amassing a handful of pentakills between them. If your watch party is fortunate enough to see one of these ultra-rare moments happen in real-time, everyone has to chug an entire drink.