PartyDeck Rules & Party Safety
How a round works, how sips are counted, and the rules that keep the night fun for everyone.
Official PartyDeck Rules
Every game runs better with rules everyone agreed to before the first card. This page is the complete rulebook for PartyDeck: how a round works, how the sip system is counted, what each intensity level means, the standard house rules that fix most table disputes, and the safety guidelines that separate a great night from a cautionary one. Read it once, play it forever.
The design principle behind every rule below is the same: the game should challenge the group's courage and comedy, never anyone's health or dignity. Where a rule protects a player, it outranks every other rule on the page.
How a PartyDeck Round Works
Enter your players
Type the first name of everyone playing, from two players up to twelve. Names must be unique; nicknames are encouraged and are legally binding for the whole game. The deck uses these names to address cards at real people, which is why the game lands instead of floating.
Choose an intensity
Warm-up, Party or Wild. The level decides the tone of all ten cards, and you can restart at a new level at any time. The recommendation from ten thousand parties: start at Warm-up regardless of how confident the room feels.
Draw ten cards
The deck is shuffled and dealt ten cards at a time. Read each card out loud, exactly as written, and do what it says. When the table agrees the card is complete, tap done and the next card is drawn. A full deck takes about fifteen minutes.
End the deck, then choose again
After the tenth card the deck is complete and the end screen appears. The group can replay the same level, move up or down an intensity, or stop and talk to each other like people. All of these are correct endings.
The Four Card Types
Every PartyDeck card belongs to one of four types, and knowing the difference ends most rule arguments before they start.
Dares. The card names a player from your list and dares them to do something. The player may accept, or pass for one sip. A dare is complete when the table says it is, and the table is generous by design.
Sips. The card states a condition; anyone it applies to takes one sip. Conditions are read honestly, and nobody polices anyone else's honesty. A sip is one mouthful, see the sip system below.
Group votes. The card poses a question and the table votes by pointing on three. The named winners or losers follow the card's instruction. Ties mean everyone drinks, which is the only democratic outcome available.
Trivia. The card asks a question with a real answer. Correct answers escape; wrong answers and silence take a sip. If the table disputes an answer, the phone is checked once and its ruling is final.
The Sip System
A standard sip is one normal mouthful of whatever is in your glass. Not half a glass, not a shot. The deck never asks anyone to chug, to take shots, or to drink anything they have not chosen for themselves. When a card says take a sip, one mouthful settles the debt completely. Doubles are two mouthfuls, and nothing in the standard deck goes beyond three.
The substitution rule outranks everything: any drink counts as any sip. Water, soda, juice, an empty gesture with an empty glass. A player can also convert any sip into a five-burpee penalty, which certain fitness-minded tables adopt wholesale. The game measures participation, not alcohol content.
The pass rule is equally absolute: any player may pass on any card, any time, no justification required. A pass costs nothing, carries no penalty and no commentary rights for the rest of the table. The first time a group watches their most competitive member pass without consequence is the moment the room relaxes, and relaxed rooms are where these games actually work.
The Three Intensity Levels
Warm-up is the icebreaker deck: light trivia, gentle group votes, and condition sips that anyone can admit to. It exists to get everyone talking and to calibrate the room's humor. Play it first even if everyone insists they are ready for more; the deck you play at card three sets the tone for the night.
Party is the standard deck: louder dares, spicier votes, trivia that gets argued with, and the occasional card designed to embarrass exactly one person. This is the level for most tables and most of the night, and it assumes everyone knows at least each other's names.
Wild is the confessions deck: bold dares, romantic and embarrassing revelations, and group votes the morning after which nobody will deny. Wild stays suggestive, never explicit, and it is reserved for groups that genuinely want it, which is why the level is chosen rather than automatic. Moving to Wild is a group decision; moving back down is a one-person decision.
On this website, the spiciest Wild cards are deliberately kept out of the publicly indexed pages. The full, unfiltered deck lives in the Traknard app, where age gates and personal settings can do their job properly.
Standard House Rules
These five house rules resolve ninety percent of drinking game disputes. Adopt them at the start, in this order of importance.
- The veto. The table can strike any card with a simple majority before it is played. No reasons required, no appeals process.
- No pointing penalties. Pointing at another player outside a formal vote costs one sip. It keeps votes honest and tempers civil.
- The phone is the referee. Disputed trivia, disputed counts, disputed anything: the answer on the screen is final and the debate is over.
- One rule addition per deck. The group may add exactly one house rule per deck. Cap accumulating chaos before it caps you.
- The host closes. Whoever's name is on the last card deals the next deck, or declares the night over. Someone must hold the power and it should rotate.
Safety Guidelines: Read Before You Deal
PartyDeck is for adults 21 and over, and the following guidelines are not suggestions. Excessive drinking is dangerous for your health, and the difference between a story and an incident is almost always planning.
- Never drink and drive. Arrange the ride home before the first card, not after the last one. The designated driver plays fully and drinks nothing stronger than soda; the game is identical.
- Eat before you play. A fed table drinks slower, argues better, and remembers the night fondly.
- Water on the table, always. One glass of water per player, refilled as needed. Dehydration is why hangovers are worse than they need to be.
- Know the pass rule and honor it. Anyone may pass on any card. Nobody comments on a pass. This rule protects everyone, including the people who never use it.
- Medication and health come first. Anyone on medication that interacts with alcohol, anyone pregnant or trying to be, and anyone who simply should not drink tonight plays the sober version and has just as much fun.
- Stop before the floor. When someone has had enough, the deck ends. The host ends it. There is no negotiation and no score to protect.
That is the whole rulebook. When you are ready, deal a deck, or level up your table with the full library of no-equipment games and the complete card game rules. Drink responsibly, look after your people, and may your group votes be merciful.
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