Sunday’s Drinking Game – Jiuling

Originally, my aim was to think of something that went along with the 2008 Summer Games. However, when I was searching for Chinese alcoholic beverages, I came upon this article about Chinese Drinking Game(s) which is named Jiuling (Jiu means alcoholic drink, and I assume Ling is game).

Dice are rolled and contestants have to guess number of spots. Those who make an incorrect guess pay a forfeit by taking a cup of drink.

Naturally, this is very close to other, western variations of this pasttime. However, more variants follow:

A person beats a drum or gong behind the scenes, the other people sitting around the table will quickly pass a flower from one to another. When the drummer stops, whoever has the flower will drink and even give a simple performance according to the rules.

It stands to reason that, after a while, and with a few bottles consumed, the gong-hitter will probably miss a beat or two, or someone will try to eat the flower. Such things tend to happen.

Two people stretch out fingers at the same time while shouting out a number from 2 to 20. If one shouts out a number that is equal to the total number of fingers extended, then he will win, while the person shouts a number that is less, will lose the game and has to take a drink as a punishment.

Also, after a while, they start poking each other’s eyes yelling “guess how many fingers I’m using”.

As for the drink itself, Maotai is always a good choice. If memory serves me right, it is distilled from a type of grain calledSorghum, similar to Whiskey, but is in fact is closer to Tequila, or Rum in its texture. Otherwise, rice wine is always welcomed, and if you have no actual Chinese drink, a large dose of alcohol in your tea will do the trick.