Can you think back?
That first time you booted up the console and watched the screen light up in the colors of Mario Kart. Maybe the Nintendo 64 version — a few blows into the game cartridge before slamming that bad by into the system and booting things up.
Or maybe on 2003’s Mario Kart: Double Dash for the GameCube where you first took up the “kart.”
The memorable and often addicting video game series has spawned a number of game modes and variations over the years. But it wasn’t until someone grabbed a couple beers from the fridge, turned on the television and devised the perfect blend of drinking and gaming.
Enter: beerio kart.
Uniting two of our favorite things into one fast-paced drinking game, beerio kart is the type of activity when you want to sit down with a friend or two, crush a couple of cold beverages, and get lost in the magic of Koopa Troopa beach.
This guide will help to breakdown the rules, tips, tricks, and everything in between to master how to play beerio kart with your friends.
Now it’s time to select our players and review how to play Beerio Kart.
Beerio Kart Rules
While you may have guessed that the game is titled after smashing the two main pieces of the game together, let’s get down into the nitty-gritty to review the rules for this Mario Kart drinking game.
Premise
The high-level premise of this game is to finish your beer during a round (or rounds) of Mario Kart while simultaneously driving your character’s kart, motorcycle, stroller, scooter, etc through the track.
Rule 1 – You cannot open your beer until the race starts.
This is done to ensure everyone starts or has the opportunity to start drinking at the same time.
Rule 2 – You cannot drink at all while you are driving.
In other words, “no drinking and driving” during the race. You must be at a complete stop while you are chugging your malty beverage and once you are ready to take a break from your drink, you may return driving and begin accelerating your kart.
Rule 3 – You must finish your beer by the end of the race.
That means to be crowned the champion of Beerio Kart against your competitors, you must finish your beer by the time you cross the checkered flag at the end of the final lap. If there is any liquid left in your glass, the winner will be determined by the next person to successfully complete the challenge.
Beerio Kart Variations
We thought it would be useful to review some of the variations and rule tweaks you can potentially employ after you have played a round or two of Beerio Kart. If you have any more tips or extra rules, feel free to drop a comment and we can include it in our next update!
1) Mario Kart Cup Version
The Mario Kat that we know and love generally involves playing four races in a “cup”, also known as Grand Prix. These races will test your skills over the course of four distinct tracks so you better bring your A-game when it comes to The Grand Prix Beerio Kart extravaganza.
Since you will be required to race in four different races, you may want to switch up the one beer / one race rule to maintain some ability to play the game. Here is a breakdown of some potential variations:
- 1 beer for 4 races – better for stronger beer
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- Must finish your beer by the end of the fourth and final race.
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- 2 beers for 4 races – better for medium bodied beer
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- Must finish your first beer by the end of the second race and your final beer by the end of the fourth race.
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- 4 beers 4 races – better for lighter beers
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- This is for good ol’ light beer chuggin. We need you to put down one beer during each race.
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2) Shotgun Version
In this Beerio Kart variation, instead of drinking your beer through the mouth opening, you must at some point in the race, open up the beer can “shotgun” style and finish it all in one go before returning to the track.
3) No Drinking On the First Lap
A common strategy for playing any Mario Kart drinking game is to immediately drink all or mostly all of your drink at the very beginning of the race. Then you only have to worry about driving for the next X amount of laps.
This flips that strategy on its head by requiring drinking after passing the finish line after lap one, meaning you may only have lap 2 and 3 to slow down to a complete stop, open your beer, and start drinking.
4) Item Drinking
We know that Mario Kart can be filled with all sort of dastardly items flying backwards and forwards and upwards and downwards. You can have some fun with these items by adding different rules for each item or groups of items. For a list of the items commonly found, check this out.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Blue Shell – You must take a shot at the end of the match
- Banana – You must scream the word “BANANA”
- Lighting Bolt – You must put your controller down and spin around one time
5) Winner Awarding Challenges
After you have crowned your first winner, you can up the ante a bit by allowing them to select a player to complete a challenge or task for the group. While this Beerio Kart idea is a bit more open ended than the others, it can allow to to get creative when it comes down to winning that pivotal final race.
Pro-Tip: Beerio Kart can be played virtually too! As long as everyone has access to the game, you can all start the same race and see how well you are do. Just make sure to log onto a FaceTime or Zoom call to share the fun together! If you are looking for other virtual happy hour ideas, check out our guide to happy hour themes to mix things up!
Well, who wants to play some Beerio Kart???
We hope you are no equipped with the know-how to play this great game with a few of your friends. While we do not condone excessive drinking, sharing a few beers down at Mario Circuit or Yoshi Falls is just the kind of thing we love to do to kick off another great happy hour!
If we missed anything, please make sure to tell us and we will make this post even better. We are constantly updating our content with updates, new ideas, and tips — so we welcome the suggestions! You can also bookmark this post should you ever need to show someone the rules real quickly to the Beerio Kart drinking game and give them a brief but full look at the way to win.
So, are we ready to start those engines?!?!
