Friends Drinking Game

Pick a few episodes of the sitcom and agree on the rules before you press play. Take a small sip whenever one of the show’s typical moments happens – from coffee at Central Perk to Chandler’s next sarcastic remark. The list works with every season and gives nothing away about the plot.

All you need is a screen, the show and a drink each. Ideally, squeeze together on the couch – fitting for this show.

One sip when …

• the friends sit on the orange couch at Central Perk.
• Gunther is behind the counter.
• Chandler covers an awkward moment with a sarcastic joke.
• Joey steals food or defends his own.
• Joey greets a woman with his famous pickup line.
• Ross talks about dinosaurs or his job at the museum.
• Monica cleans, tidies up or turns something into a competition.
• Phoebe tells a strange story from her past.
• someone barges into one of the apartments without knocking.
• Joey talks about an audition or a new role.
• the studio audience gasps or cheers out loud.

Two sips when …

• Phoebe grabs her guitar and sings one of her songs.
• Janice shows up and you hear her laugh.
• Monica and Ross bicker like siblings.
• a guest star makes an appearance.
• Ross and Rachel exchange longing looks.

Finish your glass (or three sips) when …

• two of the friends kiss.
• the episode is set on Thanksgiving (once, at the start).

Variations

• Light version: only use the two- and three-sip rules. From the one-sip list, keep just the couch and Chandler’s jokes.
• Alcohol-free version: play with coffee like at Central Perk, iced tea or lemonade – or collect points instead of drinking. Whoever is ahead at the end picks the next episode.
• One character each: everyone takes one of the six main characters and only drinks for their rules.
• Guess the title: every episode title follows the pattern “The One Where …”. Whoever guesses the title before the credits hands out two sips.

Tips

An episode runs just over 20 minutes. Episodes with lots of Joey or Chandler add up – drop the most frequent rules for those. For the Thanksgiving episodes, a small snack table is worth it.