I asked Dori and Merry to shoot me some prompts last night, and one of them was ‘A Dwarven Drinking Song Game’. And I basically went ‘aha, yeah, but no srsly’ and then ended up doing it for shits and giggles. Then it went out of control and turned into a full-fledged… thing. So, here you go! The official rules for ‘Mystery Mining’!
The game can be played with 4+ players (any fewer and it goes too fast). Each player has chips of metal, representing copper, iron, tin, aluminium, silver, gold, ‘platinum’, and ‘mithril’ (it is sometimes played with scraps of paper with the metals written on it, but most people can afford the game pieces). The players each have ten of each of the metals for gameplay. They sit in a circle (or around a table) and each selects a chip to put into play. They keep the chips hidden in their hands and as they pass them. No one is allowed to look at them until the song ends.
The chip is passed counterclockwise around the table through the duration of this song:
One for copper, iron, tin,
Two for aluminium,
Three for silver, platinum, gold,
Four for mithril bars of old!
The tempo varies wildly by region, person, and level of drunkenness, so the song is never sung the same twice.
The chip the player is holding at the end of the song corresponds with the number of shots they must take, as determined by the song.
Optional:
Often another kind of chip is introduced into the game: coal.There are only ten coal chips in total, and it is passed clockwise for extra difficulty. Each round, the coal chip starts with a different person, and whoever receives it must pay for the next round of drinks.
Cheating:
Cheating is so common that it’s in the official rules: anyone caught cheating or passing the chips the wrong way must drink a half-shot on the spot.
Song variations:
Half for copper, iron, tin,
One for aluminium,
Half again for silver, gold,
Two for mithril bars of old!
Mining for Mysteries
The strip version of Mystery Mining.
Also designed to make the game last longer. Basically introduces the option to take off articles of clothing instead of taking shots.
Also introduces endless offers for people to ‘mine for mysteries’ down people’s pants.
The summary:
People get drunk really, really fast, and everyone hates everyone else the next morning. Be careful when introducing that mithril chip, because chances are you’ll be getting it right back!
Thank you to docmanda for introducing the coal chip and whatever else they did that I can’t remember! You’re the best, truly.
AH HELL YESSSS FINALLY A GOOD DWARVEN DRINKING GAME SONG! DORI APPROVES! (very silently of course)
I´m soooo gonna do that even if I´ll probably either have a headache for a fucking week or a cold after doing some “mining for mysteries” ^^
Also I now I want that being played in Nori´s tavern, complete with hilariously botched cheating attempts, someone falling over and many an eyebrow wriggling innuendo to do some mystery mining down someone´s pants please ^^
Aw Yiss 