Step 1: Pick a Game
Choose literally any game you want. Though any game can be turned into a drinking game, some games are definitely a lot better suited for it. In general, you should try to pick a game that:
Most of your group has played before (this will make Steps 2-4 a lot easier)
Is easy to learn/play (especially if everyone is planning to drink a lot)
Has a short playtime (try to pick something that takes less than an hour)
Has a clear win/end condition (although you can still choose a more open-ended game like Minecraft or Animal Crossing, they can be trickier to work with)
I also suggest you choose a multiplayer game that can scale up to your social group. However if you pick something with a low player count, you can still get everyone involved by having rules that get spectators to drink (e.g. At the start of each game, each spectator chooses who they think is going to win. If they’re right, they can assign a drink to anyone. If they’re wrong, they have to drink).
Step 2: Choose Who Drinks
For most drinking games, there are four kinds of rules for deciding who drinks:
Winner Drinks - Whenever you do something positive in the game, you have to drink.
Loser Drinks - Whenever you do something negative in the game, you have to drink.
Assigned Drinks - Whenever something special happens in the game, you choose someone else to drink.
Everyone Drinks - Whenever something special happens in the game, everyone drinks. You can also narrow it down so that everyone in a subset of the group drinks (e.g. All men drink).
Feel free to mix-and-match these rules together depending on the type of game you want. As a good starting point, try to have at least one of each type of rule in your game so that everyone ends up drinking at least a bit. You can also combine them together if you think it will be more fun (e.g. Whenever you win, you and someone else have to drink).
Step 3: Decide How Much You Want to Drink
How much do you want people to drink? If you want people to drink a lot, you can either have a lot of rules that make people drink or have rules based around common actions in the game (e.g. Whenever you roll a 7 in Settlers of Catan). If you only want people to drink a bit, you can have less drinking rules or base them on uncommon/infrequent actions (e.g. Whenever someone lands on Free Parking in Monopoly).
Step 4: Add a Twist!
This step is entirely optional, but it can be fun to add in some silly or wild rules to keep the game interesting. One of the best examples I can think of is for Mario Kart DUI, where you aren’t allowed to drink while moving, but you must finish your whole drink before crossing the finish line. Twists usually work best if they are based around the themes of the game, or on inside jokes from your social group.
