Festive Irish-Themed Games You Can Play During Your St. Paddy’s Day Party
Especially at a St. Patrick’s Day party, you kind of have to throw a couple Irish-Themed Games to achieve that perfect Celtic setting. A lot of these games even include the best Irish lingo that can’t not be blurted out at, of course, the appropriate time. Below is a list of the many choices of games you can play with your friends at a St. Paddy’s Day Party. Because of the festive holiday, this does include drinking games, so, of course, please drink responsibly.
Fobber Me Shupshaw!
Your St Paddy’s Day Party doesn’t necessarily have to consist of decorations, hor d’oeuvres, and your beer in a cooler if that’s not your style. That could simply mean going to a pub, as the Irish call it, or two with one of your good friends. Even with the Irish-themed games that can be played. With this bar-style game, inspired by irishslang.info, each player sits at the bar and take turns drinking four beverages each, be it tall glasses or shots.
After which they begin arguing about sports, or other debatable subjects (be careful with talking about politics). The more the arguments get more heated, the more you drink. After ten rounds, if one of you is babbling utter nonsense, the other must yell the phrase, “Fobber Me Shupshaw,” and the loser “is forced to pick up the tab for the evening. In the event of a Vomit Forfeit or Blackout Foul, a tie is declared. Exciting!”
Shot Potato/McPotato
Who could fit the classic game of Hot Potato? in the tradition of leprechauns being included in Irish-themed games, the shortest person in the circle is chosen as the Lucky Charm DJ, and they control the music. Sit in a circle, and start tossing the potato around. When the music stops, the person holding the potato takes a shot. No one gets eliminated, they just keep drinking, even if they just fumble the potato when it comes to them
Irish Hour
This is one of the many Irish-themed games that can go with the get-together at your place, or out at the pubs, and better for day drinking. Everyone takes a shot of beer, every minute after the hour, and repeats it for 60 minutes. Soon enough, you’ll be the equivalent of 4-5 beers in, so I strongly advise you to stay away from stronger liquor as this game could be a disaster waiting to happen.
Who’s the Leprechaun?
Looking for some leprechaun games? Try this Irish-themed twist on the game of tag. Choose one player to be “it” and send them out of the room. The rest of the party picks someone to be the leprechaun. Play some Celtic tunes and have the leprechaun choose an Irish move and everyone must follow along and do the same move. Bring the “it” player back to the room. They will observe the dancing and try to guess which player is the leprechaun. In the middle of the player’s observation, the leprechaun should randomly change the dance moves. It is up to the rest of the party to follow the leprechaun to quickly change their dance moves as they do. When the guessing player correctly identifies the leprechaun, they get to choose the next person to be sent out of the room as the guesser.
U2 Celtic Chuggers
As a musician, I can appreciate this next game dedicated to one of the most popular Irish artists Bono. It’s a beautiful day…to drink nonstop! If you don’t want to get wasted without the U2 frontman put on a shuffle of any live showings of the band and drink whenever:
- Bono gets political
- the shots are in black and white
- hear, “It’s a musical journey”
- see a person of color
- hear a swear word
- see the whole band in the shot
- Bono flubs the lyrics
- Edge says something.
Quart O’ Quarters
This is a very simple game and can be quick to get you a little tipsy depending on how many rounds are being played, as with most boozy Irish-themed games. First, fill a few cupfuls of green beer or booze for however many are playing the game. Such booze may include Guinness, Murphy’s, Bulmers, or whatever the party prefers. Then, spin a quarter on the table. The objective is to drink as much of what’s in the cup as possible before the quarter stops spinning. Whoever chugs the most “wins” the match. The loser can either take a shot of Jameson or clean up the vomit that may follow after a few rounds.
Lucky Charms
With that same quarter, make it a little more interesting by mixing literally all the juice and booze until you can smell it from a mile away. You could even bring the cereal into the mix. The shortest player goes first, calling the flipped coin in the air. If the player calls correctly, then nothing happens and the coin is passed to another player. Loser has to chug the drink.
Irish Beer Pong
This, like many other drinking games, can easily add its own Irish-themed twist to it. We all know the game of beer pong, place a triangle of cups at both ends of a ping pong table and try to dunk a ping pong ball in as many on the opposite side as you can. If the ball hits the cup, the person at that end chugs it. Of course, one may add what they can and can’t do to get the point, such as swatting the ball, fingering, or blowing it. Switch American craft beer for any of the Irish classics.
Wearing of the Green
This next game is all the more reason to advise your Saint Paddy’s day party guests to come dressed in green. Gather everyone in a circle and hand one player a white t-shirt and set a timer. If you want to get really festive, put on some Irish rock music, or even a jig. The player with the shirt must put it on and take it off as quickly as possible and then pass it to the person on her left. That player also must put on the shirt, take it off and pass it on. When the timer goes off, or the music stops, the player who is caught wearing the white shirt is out. The game then continues like this until only one player is left.
