How to Play BARPIG
including Drinking Rules & FAQs
Below you’ll find our Quickplay explanation, detailed Gameplay explanation, followed by our infamous Drinking Rules (Alcohol NOT included NOR required!) and a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Quickplay Explanation
(This section is under construction. Please check back again soon)
Each pack of BARPIG contains:
Game Setup
– 1 –

Shuffle and place the Character Cards and Item cards in the middle of the table.
This creates the “Character Deck” and “the Market”.
– 2 –
Each player takes:
- One Character Card
- One Item Card
(with a number in the top-left corner) - A Bar Tab Card
- A Level Card
– 3 –
Each player prepares their play area:
– Item Cards –
You’re Now Ready to play BARPIG! 🎉
Gameplay
The First Player to reach Level 5 Wins!
– For game with 6-7 Players, we recommend making the winning level 4 to reduce playing time back to around 1 hour. – Similarly, if you wish to have a shorter game with 4-5 players, making the winning level 4 will give you a play time of 20-30 minutes. |
Gameplay takes place in two alternating rounds:
The Challenge Round, followed by the Market Round
– Challenge Round –
All players, except whichever player gained a level in the previous Challenge round, roll the Dice.
Re-roll to break ties.

Be creative with these challenges – They call upon you to use the space around you, your fellow players and your own imagination!
This is also what makes every game of BARPIG unique. You’ll never get bored playing this over and over again with your friends!



Whoever loses the challenge, will lose a number of
“Drink” points and “Sober” points:
= Do you have an item you can use to help you? =
Note regarding 3 Player games: Every time any player loses a Sober point, they must also change Character: Place your former Character card, face down, on the bottom of the Character card deck. Then draw the top Character card from the deck and place this back on your play area, keeping your Level, Drinks, and Sober Points as they were. Play then continues. |
If a player reaches -4 Sober points…
If a player reaches 0 Drinks on their bar tab…
– Market Round –
This is when you can retrieve more items, or recover Drink points…
ONCE per Market Round, either “Buy” or “Recharge” from the Market:
Buying from the Market:
Recharging from the Market:
Remember!
After Market Round is complete, play returns to another Challenge Round, and then Market Round, and so on…
Until the first player reaches Level 5 and Wins!
Quickplay Rules
Detailed Rules – Game Setup | Detailed Rules – Gameplay
Drinking Rules | FAQs
Gameplay Explanation (detailed)
Use these instructions as “Walk and Talk” – Read these together out loud with your fellow players.
It’ll have you playing BARPIG within 5 minutes!
Game setup
KEEP YOUR ITEM CARD SECRET!
Using the Bar Tab
Your Bar Tab tracks the number of Drinks you have available during the game. Drinks act as a resource when acquiring Items.
Using the Level Card
The Level Card tracks player progression towards winning as well as Damage (“Sober points”) taken.
The Goal in BARPIG is to be the First Player to reach Level 5.
Using Item Cards

There’s a hand limit of 6 Item cards per player.
Step 3: Setting up the Market and Character decks
Whenever a player changes Character, they place the old Character card face down on the bottom of the Character deck and take the top card as their new Character. This ensure Character cards are rotated evenly during the game.
You’re Now Ready to play BARPIG! 🎉
Gameplay
The First Player to reach Level 5 Wins!
– For game with 6-7 Players, we recommend making the winning level 4 to reduce playing time back to around 1 hour. – Similarly, if you wish to have a shorter game with 4-5 players, making the winning level 4 will give you a play time of 20-30 minutes. |
Gameplay takes place in two alternating rounds:
The Challenge Round, followed by the Market Round
The Challenge Round

All players, except whichever player gained a level in the previous Challenge round, roll the Dice.
Re-roll highest rolled ties to determine a final winner.



Note regarding 3 Player games: Every time any player loses a Sober point, they must also change Character: Place your former Character card, face down, on the bottom of the Character card deck. Then draw the top Character card from the deck and place this back on your play area, keeping your Level, Drinks, and Sober Points as they were. Play then continues. |
If you lose -4 Sober points, you’re “Blackout Drunk”
Now, a question for the player(s) that lost:
How did that feel? Want to get revenge? 😈
This is why Items are so important and valuable.
So now you want to know how to get more Items!?
The Market Round
After the Challenge round is concluded and points have been lost, play continues into the Market Round.
The Market Round is your opportunity to gain more Item cards for later use, or if necessary to restore Drink points you may have lost.
You can only do one of these two things once each market round:
Buy from the Market
Recharging from the Market
What about Items with no Drink Point value?
Once everyone has either Bought or Recharged during the Market round, play continues with the next Challenge round and then the next Market round, and so on…
Until any player is the first to reach Level 5 (or the group’s decided winning level). That player is then crowned Piggy Supreme! 👑
Quickplay Rules
Detailed Rules – Game Setup | Detailed Rules – Gameplay
Drinking Rules | FAQs
Drinking Rules
IMPORTANT: You don’t need booze to have fun with BARPIG! We’ve had just as many laughs sipping a cup of tea or downing a glass of Coke. Therefore, the cardinal rule when playing BARPIG with the Drinking Rules is…
🥤☕🍺 Alchohol Not Included Nor Required 🍺☕🥤
GAMEPLAY
During the Challenge round, whenever you lose Drink points, take that many ‘drinks’ (eg: sips) from your beverage. If you gain Drink points, you get to choose another player to take that many ‘drinks’.
During Market Round, you may buy one item, taking it blindly from the market and then ‘paying’ for it by taking ‘drinks’ from your beverage.
There is no recharging during the market round. Recharging is now done by getting another drink once your glass is empty!
Enjoy, stay responsible, and always remember…
🥤☕🍺 Alchohol Not Included Nor Required 🍺☕🥤
Quickplay Rules
Detailed Rules – Game Setup | Detailed Rules – Gameplay
Drinking Rules | FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
We often get asked questions regarding our rules and gameplay. Once we start getting more of the same questions, we’ll list them here along with our best advice as to how resolve the issue.
Can I use a Reflective Shield of Childish Insult against an Obnoxious Drunken Goblin?
We’ve all been in this D&D campaign…
However, in this case a Reflective Shield can only help you against losing your Drinks. We think of this as the “Last Breath” resolution. You still have to discard all your other Item cards, but can choose who should lose the Drink points instead of you.
Maybe look at whoever threw you that Goblin real hard…
Can I win by using an item?
Absolutely! Winning can be done in any way you and your players agree. We intended you to be able to use the ‘Cloak of Douchebaggery’, or the ‘Elixer of BarTop Spills’, or any combination of items to steal another player’s turn and get that winning level. That’s why it’s important to keep getting items.
Is there any way to reduce game time?
Certainly. BARPIG’s mechanics are very robust and can be hacked as much as a you like. Likewise, for shorter games simply make the winning level Level 4 or Level 3. This also depends on the group size playing.
Use the table below to adjust the winning level according to your desired average game duration:
Winning Level | 4-5 Players | 6-7 Players |
Level 3 | 0:20 – 0:30 | 0:30 – 0:45 |
Level 4 | 0:30 – 0:45 | 0:45 – 1:00 |
Level 5 | 0:45 – 1:00 | 1:00 – 1:20 |
Is BARPIG available in other languages?
At this moment it’s not economical (yet!) for us to print BARPIG in other languages besides English. However, we do have several Language Translation Cheat Sheets you can download, print and place on the table alongside your game of BARPIG. This is a great reference for first time players to understand the game. You can find our community created Translation Cheat Sheets here.
Quickplay Rules
Detailed Rules – Game Setup | Detaied Rules – Gameplay
Drinking Rules | FAQs