UP AND DOWN THE RIVER CARD GAME RULES

up and down the river rules title

OBJECTIVE OF UP AND DOWN THE RIVER: Don’t get alcohol poisoning!

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 6+ Players

NUMBER OF CARDS: two 52 card decks 

RANK OF CARDS:  K (high), Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A

OTHER MATERIALS: Beer

TYPE OF GAME: Drinking Card Game

AUDIENCE: Adult

INTRODUCTION TO UP AND DOWN THE RIVER

Up and Down the River is another name for the trick-taking card game Oh Hell! It also refers to a communal drinking game which is described below, which, unlike Oh Hell, does not have a trump card at all.

HOW TO PLAY

  1. Players sit in a circle and pick a dealer, the dealer also participates in the game.
  2. The dealer deals each player four cards, face-up. The cards dealt are kept in front of each player.
  3. The dealer keeps the remaining cards of the deck. The dealer starts the game by flipping over the top card of the deck. This is going ‘up the river.’ If a player has a card of the same rank, they must take a drink. Suit does not matter and there is no trump suit. If a person has more than one card in hand that matches they must take a drink for all the cards that do.
  4.  The dealer flips over the next card. The same rules repeat, except if a player has a matching card they take two drinks… then three.. then four.
  5. After the fourth card is flipped, the dealer begins to move ‘down the river,’ by flipping a single card ontop of the fourth. Players who have matching cards give four drinks away to other players in any combination. Four drinks to one player, two to two players, etc. Players give drinks per matching card.
  6. The dealer continues on going down the river by dealing another card, in which players must give three drinks if they have a matching card. This continues until players give only one drink.
  7. At the end of the game, the cards are collected by the dealer and shuffled thoroughly.
  8. The dealer counts, starting from 1 to 13, where Ace=1 and King=13. The dealer flips over cards while counting. If the rank of the card matches the number the dealer announces, everyone must take that number of drinks.
  9. Cards are reshuffled and re-dealt. Play the game until players are sick of the game or sick off the booze.

If you enjoy this game, check out our other drinking card game rules for Ride the Bus and King’s Cup!

REFERENCES:

http://www.drinksmixer.com/games/38/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Hell

Nakoa Davis
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