True American is the legendary drinking game played in New Girl, but the rules can be a little hard to follow and unrealistic for college. It’s probably supposed to be played in a space larger than a dorm room, but this version is reimagined to work in a nine-foot by fifteen-foot box.

Objective:

The main goal of the game is to be the first player to reach the King of the Castle (liquor), once all of the Soldiers of the Secret Order (beer) have been removed. This player and his/her team then wins the game.

Set Up:

There are four zones, each with as many spaces as you can realistically fit in the room. I marked tiles with different colored Sticky Notes instead of using furniture. At the end of each zone there is a space where you go to pick up another beer from the Castle. The zones don’t need to represent anything in particular, but you and your friends can always make any modifications. For example, you can assign each mini “game” (which will be explained later) to a zone and only that game can be played in the zone. At the middle of the zones there is the Castle. This is a chair or table with a bottle of liquor (King of the Castle) surrounded by the appropriate number of beers (Soldiers of the Secret Order) for the number of people playing.

Starting the Game:

You can pick teams (optional) by putting a random number of fingers up against their forehead. Whoever matches numbers become a team and everyone else can form teams as needed.

Next, to determine who goes first, instead of a shotgun tipoff, play a round of rock, paper, scissors and the winner yells, "One, two, three four... JFK!" everyone else responds with "FDR!" grabs a beer and runs to a spot of their choosing. After the tipoff, anything that is not a space is lava.

Taking Turns:

For each player's turn, the player chooses a "mini game" to play with the rest of the group playing. Some of these options are new rules and some are original. You can only grab another beer when you advance to the spots that are touching the Castle.

The Count. Similar to choosing teams, everyone puts a random number of fingers to their forehead. People that match numbers drink and move forward one space.

Complete a Quote. The player who's turn it is says the first part of a quote and who ever finishes it correctly drinks and advances one space. ("The only thing we have to fear is..." "Fear itself!)

Something in Common. Each player, in order, says a word that relates to the word said by the player before. The words do not have to relate to the original word. The person who can't think of a word loses. Everyone else drinks and advances one space while the person who lost moves back one. (America... flag... banner... poster)

Nixon Never Have I Ever. This is just like your typical game of Never Have I Ever, but backwards. Everyone holds of three fingers and the players go around saying, "Never have I ever..." and finishing the sentence with something that they have done. The reason for this is everything in True American is a lie so these statements must also be lies. Any players that have not done whatever is mentioned, drink and put a finger down. First person to have put all fingers down ends the round. Winners drink and advance one and the player who lost moves back one.

Song Lyrics. Everyone must sing whatever song is playing and the first person to mess up drinks and moves back one spot.

Winning:

The game is complete when all the Soldiers of the Secret Order are gone and the first player to reach a space touching the castle drinks from the King of the Castle and won the game.

Other Rules:

Everything in True American is a lie.

Everything that isn't a space is molten lava. If you step into the lava, you lose. If you have to step off your space and into the lava, you can have temporary immunity, but when you return you have to take move space backward.

You can lose by stepping in the lava, not having a beer, or having an empty beer. To get back in the game you must drink a whole beer (or at least a few sips).

Players must always have at least one beer in their hand, but no more than three.

The tiles that mark the spaces are small and can really only hold one person, so if multiple people end up on the same spot, they must fight for the spot by trying to get the other player into the lava and, therefore, losing.

At any point in the game, a player may yell "JFK!" Everyone else responds with "FDR!" and finishes their beer.

Have fun and drink responsibly!