Around the World

Around the

World

Also Known as...

Up The River Down the River, Irish Poker, Rounds, Chico High Low, Monkey Balls, North Carolina, John Theis, Charleston Special, Unlucky 'Sevens' Seven

Also Refers to...

Aound The River (A.K.A. Kings), Around the World (A.K.A. Flip Pong)

Players
3+

Equipment

Booze.

Intoxication Level

High

Setup

Around the world is a name for three distinctly different games. What we will call Around The World (1) is a card based drinking game that is actually a combination of other drinking games. The name can be used interchangably with Up The River Down The River as it is normally played, but to make things a bit confusing (Since the names and play of drinking games vary from country to country and town to town) Up The River Down the River is sometimes referred to just one part (Step 5) of this game. To Make matters worse, both are often referred to as Rounds, Chico High Low, Monkey Balls, North Carolina, John Theis, Charleston Special, Unlucky 'Sevens' Seven, and Irish Poker, all are played a variety of different ways. Irish Poker more often refers to the first three or four parts. So if this is not the version of Around The World you are looking for try Around The World (AKA Kings) or Around the World (AKA Flip Pong) or any of the above mentioned games.
With that out of the way, let's begin...
The dealer shuffles the deck (no jokers) Ace is high card by default but it can be low card if agreed upon by all players prior to game start.

Gameplay

Part 1. Red/Black - With no cards yet dealt, the dealer asks the player to their left "Red or Black?".
The dealer then Deals on card face up to the player.. If the player guessed correctly they "give a drink" to any other player, including the dealer (Order them to take a Drink). If the player Guessed wrong they must take a drink, drink once. Players keep their cards as they will need them for later rounds. The dealer continues this process with every player including himself last. Other players should be weary of cheating on the part of the deealer (Looking at the card before they guess).

Part 2. High/Low - With one card face up, the dealer asks the players, starting from the left "High or Low?" (Meaning - will the next card be higher or lower then their card showing). If the players Guess wrong they must take two drinks (drink twice) in this round. Players may also chose the option "same", where the card is predicted to be of the same value as the first card.

Part 3. In or Out - With two cards face up, the dealer asks the players, starting from the left "In or Out?" (Meaning - will the next card be inside or outside theirtwo cards showing). If the players Guess wrong they must take three drinks (drink three) in this round. Players may also chose the option "same", where the card is predicted to be of the same value as either of the the first two cards.

Part 4. Suit - With three cards face up, the dealer asks the players, starting from the left "Suit?" (Meaning - what suit will your next card be?). If the players Guess wrong they must four three drinks (drink four) in this round.

Part 5. Up and Down - The dealer then deals eight cards, face down, from the deck, placing them in two columns, the "give" column and the "take" column. The dealer then flips a card from the "take" column. If any of a player's four cards match the value of the revealed card, they must take one drink. If multiple cards in a player's possession match the revealed value, they are each counted separately. The dealer next then flips a card from the "give" column, If any of a player's four cards match the value of the revealed card, they give one drink. The next two cards are generally "two drinks respectively", then "four drinks", then "half a beer" or "half a glass". Players should agree on the values before the game (1,2,3,4 is common as well).

When a player gives multiple drinks, they may split them up between other players or give them all to one player at their discretion. Players are no allowed to split the "half a beer" card, but they obviously may give "half a beer" to one player and "half a beer" to another if they have two matches of that card.

(Variation F) Face Doubles

A face card may be considered double the normal amount of drinks (One drink is two, four drinks is eight).

(Variation O) Odd or Even

A fifth card can be added to the first round, "Odd or even or face (J,Q,K, or A) card ?"

(Variation P) Irish Poker (2)

Variation O results in 5 cards in front of each player. This allows the player with the best poker hand to give out 10 drinks, or all but the winner take 4 drinks, or the winner is immune to recieving drinks in the second round of that game. The poker hand is obvioulsy done between step 4 and step 5.

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