Land mine (drinking game)

Land mine is a drinking game of strategy, which involves players spinning a quarter and simultaneously drinking a beer. The game is popular on college and university campuses around the United States.

Equipment

• 1 smooth table (not glass)
• Several quarters
• Masking Tape
• A surplus of beer

Set up

• All players must sit around the table, with a designated area in front of them. This area is marked by tape and is two beer cans wide.
• Each player must then open a game beer and a side beer, as well as have a drinking cup on hand (all of which must be kept off the table, cup optional).

Rules

• Each player may drink his side beer at his leisure. When it is finished it May Be used as a weapon, (or "landmine.")
• Optional: Each player may pour an amount of beer to his liking from his game beer into game cup of the player to his left at the start of a turn.
• Player 1 then spins a quarter on the table and must drink from his beer, or the entire game cup until the beer is gone, he must then grab the quarter before it stops spinning, falls off the table, or hits a landmine. If the player fails to pick up the quarter before it stops spinning, he must refill the game cup and spin again.
• The quarter must be picked up with the same hand used for drinking.
• The process is repeated until the player is able to complete the task, the player passes it to his left and play continues in this fashion.
• At any time during the game, any player can use an empty can (previously finished by that player) to "landmine" an opponent. This "landmine" is when a player prematurely stops an opponents quarter from spinning, thus forcing him to repeat his turn. The "landmine" then cannot be moved by any other player and becomes a permanent fixture of the table.
• An optional style of play is to catch the spinning quarter in-between the middle and ring finger of the drinking hand, thus making it harder to catch the quarter.
• An additional rule (created in northern New Jersey and perfected at Middlebury College) which can actually create a winner in landmine, allows a player to "Tap out", or voluntarily remove them self from the game, at any time. The price of tapping out, however, is steep, as the person who decides to tap out will be subject to enduring ridicule and mockery for an indeterminate amount of time, ranging from the rest of the game to several years. If all players but one tap out, the remaining player who did not tap out is declared the winner. There is no recorded instance of this occurring in games involving more than 2 players.

Strategy

• Attempt to block in your opponents' areas, and make them drink as much as possible.
• Beware "landmining" the player to your immediate right, for he is the one pouring beer into your game cup prior to each of your turns.
• Avoid spinning the quarter in the area in front of you so if you are "landmined", it obstructs an opponent's playing space rather than your own.