🔺 Pyramid Drinking Game

🕹️ How to play

1. How to play the pyramid drinking game in one line: Fifteen cards sit face down in a five-row pyramid. Flip them from the bottom row up; anyone holding the same rank makes someone else drink, and the number of sips equals the row number.
2. Start a game in 3 steps: 1) Pick the number of players (2–8, default 4). 2) Tap “Deal cards” — everyone gets 4 cards and the pyramid is laid out. 3) Tap the glowing card, then tap who drinks; the tally updates itself before the next card unlocks.
3. Quick mode vs bluff mode: Quick mode keeps every hand face up and finds the matches for you — perfect for a first game. Bluff mode passes the phone so each player memorizes their hand; anyone can claim a card, true or not, and a called claim must be proven by flipping a card from memory.
4. How the game ends: After the top card is played the results appear: whoever gave out the most is the Pyramid King, whoever drank the most is the Heavy Hitter, and bluff mode adds Best Liar and Eagle Eye. “Play again” keeps the same players and rules with a fresh shuffle.

📖 Rules & variants

Pyramid drinking game rules: one 52-card deck, no jokers, ranks only (suits don't matter). Each player gets 3 or 4 cards, then a 3-, 4- or 5-row pyramid is dealt (6, 10 or 15 cards); the rest is the draw pile. Cards are flipped bottom row first, left to right.

How many drinks per row: bottom-row cards are 1 sip, row 2 is 2 sips and so on — the top card is the most expensive. Holding two of the rank doubles it; several players with a match take turns in seat order. No single penalty goes above the cap (6 by default; 4 or 10 available), shown as “8 → capped at 6”.

Splitting and give/take rows: in quick mode a multi-sip match can be split between players, and the split must add up exactly. With the give/take house rule on, even rows (except the top) are take rows: whoever matches drinks instead.

Bluff mode — claims and calling a bluff: when a card flips, players claim it by tapping their name, honestly or not, then pick one person to drink. That person drinks, or calls the bluff: the claimer flips one of their face-down cards from memory. Right rank → the caller drinks double; wrong rank (even if the right card was in another slot) → the claimer drinks double, capped.

Strategy tips: in bluff mode the cheap bottom rows are the place to test who likes to call bluffs; memorize slot + rank together; before the top card, watch who hasn't bluffed yet. The final reveal shows every hand, marks successful bluffs and the unlucky “had it, flipped the wrong slot” moments.

Worked example: 3 players, 3 rows. 9♥ flips on row 1 — B and C each hold a 9 and each give A 1 sip. 7♣ flips — A holds two 7s, so 2 sips, split 1 to B and 1 to C. The top K♠ (row 3) matches only A, who gives C 3 sips. A gave 7 (Pyramid King), C took 6 (Heavy Hitter).

Not drinking? Switch the unit to points before dealing: every “drink N” becomes “+N points”. Many groups play the pyramid as one stage of Ride the Bus; the guessing and bus stages live on our Ride the Bus page, linked from the results screen.

❓ FAQ