Games - Buffalo

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Buffalo is a drinking game popular in Iceland, although it is played around the world. People who play the game refer to themselves as "Buffalos".

Rules

The rules are very simple, and involve which hand you may use to drink.

# You can hold your drink with either hand, but may only drink from it with your non-dominant hand. If any other Buffalo players spot you drinking with your dominant hand, they call Buffalo on you and you must finish your drink as quickly as possible. If you hesitate to finish your drink, the other players will usually proceed to make a ruckus chanting "Buffalo!" and banging on the table until you finish. # If you call a false Buffalo on somebody (call Buffalo when they are actually drinking with the proper hand), you are obligated to finish your own drink. Special care must be made when drinking with left-handed Buffalos because of this rule. # Once you begin playing Buffalo, you are playing it for the rest of your life.

You begin playing if you respond to the question posed by a Buffalo player, "Are you a Buffalo?" in the affirmative. The Buffalo player posing the question is rarely willing to explain what this question means, but will either try to talk the person they are asking into answering in the affirmative or employ reverse psychology to attempt to trick them into answering in the affirmative.

Nobody needs to declare that the game is on. At least in principle, if rarely actually done, if you spot a complete stranger drinking with what you think to be their non-dominant hand, and you call Buffalo on them, they will either be confused or immediately know that they have transgressed the rules in the presence of another Buffalo player and are obligated to finish their drink or return a false Buffalo, if applicable. If they are aware of the game but have avoided playing, they do not have to drink, but also may not return a false Buffalo.

Special situations and exceptions

Playing Buffalo applies to all alcoholic drinks. When doing shots, since finishing the drink in your hand is not possible, a second shot must be consumed if the shot is done with the dominant hand.
Buffalo does not extend to non-alcoholic drinks, as calling Buffalo on somebody drinking, for instance, a hot cup of tea could have disastrous results. Calling buffalo on a non-alcoholic drink is considered a "false buffalo".
If you have buffalo called against you when drinking from someone else's drink, you must finish it and buy another drink to replace it.
When drinking with straws, both the straw and drinking vessel (ie. glass/bottle) must be in the non-dominant hand. A popular method with straws is to "check" the straw, which involves making contact with it with your hand before drinking commences.
The only get-out of finishing your drink if you are "buffalo'd" is to buy every other buffalo in your presence a drink. This is typically frowned upon in most situations, but fully acceptable if the person is driving later that night.

Cheating

Buffalos are usually honorable about their game, but it is possible to cheat in the presence of people who don't know you are a Buffalo, who don't know about the game, or, of course, when drinking alone. It is a major transgression to lie to a fellow Buffalo about which hand is your dominant hand. When in doubt about another players integrity it is acceptable to ask them to perform a task with their non-drinking hand in order to ascertain whether they are telling the truth. Penalties for those who lie or those who unjustly accuse someone of lying can be determined by the players.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Buffalo (game) ]

Games - Buffalo

Rules

Special situations and exceptions

Cheating

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