Kings

Rules

Waterfall

Everyone starts drinking at the same time. The player who drew the ace can stop whenever they like. The player on their left can stop only once they've stopped, and so on around the circle — nobody on your left can stop drinking until you do.

You

Point at another player. They have to take two sips.

Me

You drew it — you drink. Three sips.

Floor

Everyone touches the floor as fast as they can. The last person to get there has to drink.

Guys

All the guys in the game have to drink.

Chicks

All the girls in the game have to drink.

Heaven

Everyone reaches for the sky. The last player to point up drinks.

Mate

Pick a drinking mate. From now on, whenever either of you drinks, you both drink. A new 8 means a new mate.

Rhyme

Say a word. The next player says a word that rhymes, and so on around the circle. First one to stall or repeat a word has to drink.

Never have I ever

Say something you've never done. Anyone who has done it has to drink. Good for uncovering dirt on your friends.

Question Master

You are the Question Master until a new Queen is drawn. If you ask someone a question and they answer instead of asking one back, they drink.

King's Cup

The first three Kings: pour some of your drink into the centre cup. The fourth King: you have to drink the whole cup. You also make a new rule for the rest of the game — break it and you drink.

What is Kings?

Kings — better known to most people as King's Cup, and to some as the Circle of Death — is the definitive circle-of-friends card game. Cards are fanned face-down around a cup in the middle of the table, and players take turns drawing one. Every card carries a rule, but the whole game bends around a single object: the cup. Three Kings fill it; the fourth empties it into one unlucky person.

What makes Kings different from every other card game is that dread in the centre of the table. As the Kings come out one by one, the cup grows into a murky blend of everyone's drinks, and each fresh card carries the small terror that it might be the last King. It's less about any individual rule and more about the slow build of who's going to cop the cup.

How to play

Set up. Sit in a circle and put an empty cup in the middle. Tap the deck to shuffle and deal the cards face-down in a ring (this browser version does it for you).
Take turns. Going clockwise, each player flips one card and does whatever the rule says — full rules for every card are listed above.
Mind the Kings. On the first three Kings, pour some of your drink into the centre cup.
The fourth King. Whoever draws it downs the cup and invents a new rule for the rest of the round.
Keep going until the deck runs out — or the cup claims a victim and everyone agrees that'll do.

Kings, King's Cup or Ring of Fire?

The game has picked up a different name in nearly every place it's been played. North Americans tend to say King's Cup, Brits lean towards Ring of Fire, and the more theatrical crowd call it the Circle of Death. The card meanings drift from house to house too — a 4 might be "floor," "girls drink" or "the ground" depending on who taught you. We've settled on one clean, widely-recognised set of rules here, but the King's new-rule card means your table can always drag it back towards the version you grew up with.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Kings and King's Cup?

There isn't one — they are two names for the same game. You'll also hear it called Circle of Death or Ring of Fire depending on where you grew up. The defining feature is the central cup: every King poured into it, and a nasty surprise waiting for whoever draws the last one.

What happens when you draw the fourth King?

The first three Kings each mean you tip a little of your own drink into the cup in the middle of the table. Draw the fourth and final King and you drink whatever has collected in there — which, by that point, is usually a grim cocktail of everyone's leftovers. You also get to invent a new house rule.

How many players do you need for Kings?

Three is workable, but Kings comes alive with four to eight people sitting in a circle. More than that and the turns come round slowly; fewer and the central cup never fills up fast enough to be frightening.

Can you play Kings without alcohol?

Yes. Every rule works exactly the same with water, juice or soft drinks — the cup in the middle just becomes a less threatening mixture. It's a solid party game on its own merits, drink or no drink.

Do the card rules ever change?

The core rules are fixed in this version, but the King card lets whoever draws it add a new rule for the rest of the game — hold your drink in your left hand, no first names, no swearing. Break a live rule and you drink.

More games to play in the browser

If you like Kings, try its close cousins Ring of Fire and Waterfall, or lighten the mood with Would You Rather. You can also browse all our games.