Synopsis of Medieval Drinking Games class:

Names: Guillaume de Pyrenees (mka Sam Wallace)

Address: 664 Tabby Linch Road
Moreland, GA 30259
Home group: Shire of Talmere
Event:
Date of class:
Phone: 770-253-0549
Email: guillaume@ATT.net
Synopsis:
That’s right! Drinking games! Norse, Roman, whatever we can work in. Games of
endurance, dexterity, and mental ability: plenty of fun for your next revel.
You must be 21 years of age in order to take this class (bring your ID)! Drinks are not
provided as part of the class
Class notes:
This class, as the subject matter would imply, is appropriate for adults only. Students
should bring their own beverages if they wish to participate in the “hands on” portion of
the class. Drinking games can be broken down roughly into three categories: those
involving dexterity, endurance, and mental challenge.

While this is a “fun” class, it should be remembered that these games were actually
played, and that it took some research to find out about them. To make that point, a
couple of ringers have been thrown into the mix: Tiger, Chicken, Worm, Board and the
Chinese Basic Dice Game. Both are non-medieval and the students should be made
aware of them as an encouragement to do some research of their own.
 Medieval Drinking
Games
As taught by Guillaume de Pyrenees

General Notes:
The consumption of alcoholic
beverages predates the medieval
period by some thousands of years.
As with the consumption of food, it
seems it is not enough to simply drink
and be done with. Instead, we add
elements of ceremony or
entertainment to our drink. Drinking
games are recorded in quite a variety
of times and cultures, in as many
forms as these cultures had beverages.
Undoubtedly, many were never written down, but given those that were, it can be
assumed that their study can only enrich our understanding of the peoples of medieval
Europe.

Drinking games can be grouped into three main categories: those that emphasize
endurance, those that are based on dexterity, and those that test the competitors’
respective mental abilities.

Games of Endurance:
The most basic of all drinking games is that which pits one imbiber against another or
several others, matching each other drink for drink until only one was left upright. An
example of this can be found in Arrow-Odd’s Saga. One simple implementation of this
was to roll a pair of dice and drink that many cups before passing the dice.

In Bavaria and Bohemia, drinking guilds staged contests regarded as sporting events.
One popular game was a drinking race against the hourglass. The winner was the fellow
who could down the most steins in the allotted time while neatly placing the empties
around him in heaps. First prize was, naturally, more beer.

In Bavaria, disputes were sometimes settled with this simple procedure: the contesting
parties sat down to drink beer for three hours without rising from their seat. If, for any
reason, they were to get up, they were instantly disqualified. At the end of the three
hours, the steadiest contestant was declared the winner by the attending Burgermeister,
sheriff, and bailiffs.

In one Norse saga, Thor was challenged to a drinking contest by the giant king, Útgarða-
Loki, and could not empty a horn which was filled not with mead but was connected to
the ocean.
Games of Dexterity:

A Bavarian contest dictated that each time the contestants had consumed a gallon of
beer they would have to thread a needle with twine while standing on one leg. The
winner would be the last man able to accomplish this task.

Kottabos (κότταβος) was a game of skill

popular for a long time at ancient Greek
symposia (drinking parties). The game is played
by flinging wine at statuettes. Like all games in
which the element of chance found a place, it
was regarded as more or less ominous of the
future success of the players, especially in
matters of love - and the excitement was
sometimes further augmented by some object of
value being staked on the event.

Rules of play
The object of the player was to cast a portion of
wine left in his drinking cup in such a way that,
without breaking bulk in its passage through the
air, towards a bronze “lamp stand” with a tiny
statuette on top with outstretched arms delicately holding a small disc called a plastinx.
Halfway down the stand was a larger disc called the manes. To be successful the player
had to knock off the plastinx is such a way that it would fall to the manes and make a bell
like sound. Both the wine thrown and the noise made were called latax (λάταξ). The
thrower, in the ordinary form of the game, was expected to retain the recumbent position
that was usual at table, and, in flinging the cottabus, to make use of his right hand only.

Variations:
1) In the Κότταβος oδι oξυβάφων shallow saucers (oξύβαφα) were floated in a basin
or mixing-bowl filled with water; the object was to sink the saucers by throwing
the wine into them. The competitor who sank the greatest number was considered
victorious, and received the prize (κοττάβιον), which consisted of cakes or
sweetmeats.
2) Κότταβος κατακτός is not so easy to understand, although there is little doubt as
to the apparatus. This consisted of a oάβδος or bronze rod; a πλάστιγξ, a small
disk or basin, resembling a scale-pan; a larger disk (λεκανίς); and (in most cases)
a small bronze figure called μάνης.

In China, some wealthy individuals had archery targets in their courtyards. These were
of the variety that consist of a series of concentric circles. The animals of the zodiac were
placed in the various rings. Players took turns firing at the target. Whoever was born
under the sign of the animal whose ring was hit had to drink. Missed shots caused the
archer to take a drink. Play continued until no-one could hold a bow.
Games of Mental Skill:

Besides kottabos, also popular at symposia were skolia, drinking songs of a patriotic or
bawdy nature, which were also performed in a competitive manner with one symposiast
reciting the first part of a song and another expected to finish it. Symposiasts would also
compete in rhetorical contests, for which reason the term symposium has come to refer to
any event where multiple speeches are made.

Puzzle Jugs, fuddling cups, and pot crowns are variations on a theme. All required the
imbiber to in some way drink from a vessel designed to make
doing so difficult. The necks of most puzzle jugs are perforated
at intervals and have several spouts, therefore it is necessary to
close all apertures but one with the fingers and thumb before
being able to take a draught from the contents of the jug - which
aperture to leave open is the puzzle.

One jug of this variety, which is in the British Museum, carries

on it this verse:
“Here, gentlemen, come try your skill
I'll hold a wager if you will
That you don't drink this liquor all
Without you spill or let some fall.”

A fuddling cup consists of a series of mugs, the number

varying from three to six, joined together by the handles
interlacing each other and internally connected up one
with another by small holes. It will therefore be apparent
that if a drinker desires to empty the cups - he must
drain the lot if he empties one - he must not by any
means be a fuddler at the job or the contents will be
hopelessly spilt.

A Pot Crown, consists of a hollow ring-shaped base

from which rose four cups and four tubes, the latter meeting in the center, thus forming a
rudely-constructed crown; at the apex of the
crown there was a single upright tube which was
internally connected with the four branch tubes,
which in turn were also internally connected
through the ring at the base to the bowl of each
cup. When the cups were filled with drink the
crown was gingerly placed on the head of the
belle of the village, who had previously been
seated in a chair. Admirers at once attempted to
exercise their skill in emptying the cups, the
endeavors of the undesirable ones being easily foiled by the maiden moving her head
ever so little until it came to the turn of the lucky one, when she remained as still as a
statue, giving him the desired opportunity of draining the contents of the vessel by
drawing the liquor up through the center tube which surmounted the crown, and thereby
winning the hand of the coy damsel.

Among the Norse, there are plenty of accounts of drinking games in the sagas. Drinking
was often done in pairs, with men trading insults and bragging in verse or playing riddles
with drinks being wagered for each answer. The general idea was that the players tried to
actually demonstrate a higher level of skill as the game progressed. Women were
typically paired with men, but whether they participated or were simply there as
companions for the men varied by the situation.

China: During a feast, playing finger-guessing games with excited shouts—much like
battle cries—was called a wine battle. The opposing guests, competing like two armies
facing each other on the battlefield, played finger-guessing and other drinking games,
such as thinking up new songs at the table, composing impromptu poems, singing in
unison, dancing, and the like. All of these became amusements that added excitement to
banquets.

Tiger, Chicken, Worm, Board

2 players

banzi banzi chong (worm)

banzi banzi ji (chicken)
banzi banzi laohu (tiger)
banzi banzi ban (board)
banzi banzi
banzi banzi
BANZI BANZI *______*!

chicken eats worm

tiger eats chicken
board hits tiger
worm eats board

Much like Rock, Paper, Scissors, but with four choices. If players guess opposite pairs,
neither drink and they play again. If you miss a beat, drink.

Finger Guessing Game

Played in China and in Europe. Two people stretch out fingers at the same time while
shouting out a number from 2 to 20. Whoever shouts out a number equal to the total
number of fingers extended by both people wins, while the person who shouts a number
that is less loses and has to take a drink as a punishment.

Basic Dice Game (aka Bullshit):

This is a simple bidding and lying game and is pretty much the same thing as shown in
the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
1. Each player gets 5 dice in a cup.
2. Shake the dice and upend the cup on the table, hiding the dice.
3. Each player looks at their dice, hiding them from the others.
4. If a player has five different numbers, they lift their cup and shake again.
5. The loser of the last round (or some random person) starts the bidding. Bidding
continues clockwise from that person.
6. Each player bids on the (hidden) combined total of all the dice on the table. Bids are in
the form of “three fours”, “ten fives”, etc.
7. Each bid must be higher than the previous, i.e. “three fours” must be followed by at
least “four fours” or “three fives”.
8. Bidding continues until someone is convinced that the last bid was impossible. They
signify this by lifting their cup, revealing their dice. All other players must do the same,
and then the total is counted. If the total revealed is less than the bid, the bidder loses; if
not, the person who lifted their cup loses.

Most common variant: Dice which show “1” are wildcards, and they count towards the
overall total. The only exception to this is that if someone bids on ones, they lose their
wildcard status for the rest of that round.

Hanhanzhai jiupai - Wine Cards from the Studio of Inebriation

These are woodblock printed cards from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Each
card depicts a well-known incident involving the drinking of alcohol from the life of a
historical figure; most of these were known as great drinkers. The card designs are
rectangular in shape, with a thick black border. A horizontal area ruled off at the top
bears a numerical value, while the remainder of the card face bears a pictorial design with
a short text that narrates the scene pictured and sometimes provides other information
about the main figure, such as government offices held. Also included is an instruction or
instructions to the players. The cards would be placed in a pile face down on a table
around which the players were gathered. The first to play would be chosen by using dice
and counting from the host. This person would pick the top card, read the text and the
instructions, and the players would act accordingly. The instructions are all somehow
related to the narratives described through text and picture. For instance, one card depicts
He Zhizhang (b. 659 - c. 744), of the Tang dynasty. The accompanying inscription reads:
“He Zhizhang held the position of Director of the Palace Library. He called himself the
Crazy Guest of Siming. He once ran into Li Bo, took off his golden tortoise emblem [of
rank] and exchanged it for wine. Together, they were two of the Eight Immortals of
Drink. A poem by Du [Fu] says: 'When riding a horse he looked like one riding a boat.'
This was just his appearance when drunk.” The following line instructs, “Those who rode
horses, drink”; here, the penalized players are chosen by a point of similarity to He.”

The numerical values at the top of each card are similar to the markings that one finds on
playing cards of a more general type, used in games like poker, in which one builds a
hand with various combinations of cards, or games in which various suits or
denominations “take” others.
References:

Anon, Kjalnesingasaga

Anon, Thorsdrapa

Capano, Vince Long Ago in Bavaria, Beer Nexus

Kottabos, Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition

Introduction to Plzen, Frommer's, 2000-2007, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Monson-Fitzjohn, G. J., Drinking Vessels of Bygone Days

Rosenberg, Marian, Private Correspondence, 2007

Selby, Stephen, Chinese Archery

Skjaervoy, Olai, Private Correspondence, 2007

Taylor, Jefferey H. Semantic Social Games and the Game of Life in Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight and Arrow-Odd’s Saga, Medieval Forum, January 10, 2007

Wine and Chinese Culture, 2005

Wright, Suzanne, Private Correspondence - Woodblock-printed Playing Cards for

Drinking Games, 2007