How to Play BARPIG, Drinking Rules & FAQs

How to Play BARPIG

including Drinking Rules & FAQs

Below you’ll find our Quickplay explanation.
Followed by our infamous Drinking Rules (Alcohol NOT included NOR required!)
Finally we have a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Quickplay Explanation

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 – if you take an Item card which doesn’t have a number, shuffle it back into the Market, and take another that does have a number on it)
  • 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? <=

REMEMBER! With Items…

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…

Slide your Character card completely off the Level card and follow the instructions on that card.

Typically, you will be returning to Level 1 (when playing with Original BARPIG Level Cards) OR you just lose 1 Level (when playing with BARPIG After Hours Level Cards).
In addition, you reset to 0 Sober Points, change Character card (place your old one on the bottom of the Character deck, take the top card).
Your Drink points REMAIN THE SAME.

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:

  1. State that you are “Buying”
  2. Take the top Item card – REMEMBER TO KEEP IT SECRET!
  3. Deduct the Drink value of that card (number in the top left) from your Bar tab.
    • If you don’t have enough Drinks in your Bar tab to pay for the card, you can’t keep it!
      You must discard the Item card, and your Market turn is over.
    • If you draw an Item card without a Drink value, it applies immediately. Follow the instructions on the card.

Recharging from the Market:

  1. State you are “Recharging”.
  2. Take the top card from the Market and place it face up in the Discard pile immediately.
  3. Add the Drink value of that item (number in the top left) to your Bar Tab.
    • If you draw an Item card without a Drink value, it applies immediately. Follow the instructions on the card.

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
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  🍺☕🥤

SETUP
Setup as per a normal game, but without the Bar Tab (placing your Character Card directly on top of the Level Card).
Now is a good time to decide with your fellow players what constitutes as a ‘drink’ (eg: a sip). 

SETUP
Setup as per a normal game, but without the Bar Tab (placing your Character Card directly on top of the Level Card).
Now is a good time to decide with your fellow players what constitutes as a ‘drink’ (eg: a sip). 

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
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 Level4-5 Players6-7 Players
Level 30:20 – 0:300:30 – 0:45
Level 40:30 – 0:450:45 – 1:00
Level 50:45 – 1:001:00 – 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
Drinking Rules | FAQs