How to play ‘Always Sunny’s’ CharDee MacDennis: The Game of Games
Photo courtesy FX
Christina Caldwell• College Times
The characters on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” are notoriously self-centered. They’re also notoriously drunk, so it would make perfect sense that they would create a horrifically dangerous drinking game centered around their own personal weaknesses that tests (and crosses) the boundaries of friendship.
The game is CharDee MacDennis, a blend of all of the gang’s names, which is broken down into three levels: mind, body and soul.
We can’t in good conscience allow you to play the game as is (it would result in hospitalization), so we’ve adapted it into a safer (but still not totally safe) drinking game that you and your friends can play in the air conditioning.
Disclaimer: We suggest you only play this one with really close friends. Otherwise you might not be friends at the end of it.
The Necessities:
* Beer, wine and the hard liquor of your choice.
* Cheese.
* The “chance” cards from a game of Monopoly.
* Personalized game pieces. Dee and Dennis pasted their faces on old Barbies. Charlie and Mac used an old, grubby figurine of a military man (maybe Hitler?) and a hulking monster, respectively. Create your own. Get real weird with it.
* Mind, body and soul cards. Mind cards should include brain-ticklers like trivia and puzzles, and “artistry,” which is what the player must draw on the back of their teammate and their teammate must guess what the art is based solely on feel. Body cards include feats of strength, like when the gang draws a card and is forced to fit as many grapes in their mouths as possible within a certain time frame. Spirit cards should include two kinds, emotional battery and public humiliation. Public humiliation cards are essentially dares. Emotional battery cards are used to indicate when it’s time to berate the person who draws it. It should be “deeply personal” stuff that “cuts to the core.”
* A timer.
* A plastic tarp.
Keep in Mind:
1. You should mix the Monopoly cards in randomly with the separate piles of mind, body and soul cards. Stick the three sections in a cardboard box, but be sure to keep them separate.
2. You cannot ask questions, and if you do, your team needs to drink for five seconds. You can ask questions during the two minute break between levels.
3. Once one of the obstacles on the cards is accomplished, the other team must drink. If the obstacle goes unfinished, you have to drink.
4. Cheating is not only accepted but tolerated, though the other team shouldn’t know they’re being tricked. If a team is caught cheating, the other team immediately moves to the next level.
5. If you draw the “Chance: Go to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200” card, you’ll be forced into a confined space (the show used a dog kennel). You can only be let out if you eat a cake. Nay, the ingredients of a cake. (Skip the raw eggs for this one.)
6. It’s possible for one team to be at one level and the other to be at another. Once one team collects three cards from that level, they move onto the next. The first team to collect cards from all levels wins.
The Wine and Cheese Reception
The wine and cheese reception is your chance to be civilized and clear the air for the disgusting debauchery is about to take place. The reception only allows kind comments and high brow discussion. This will only last for two minutes. After the two minutes, the team smashes their wine glasses and does an intimidating dance, similar to the war dance of the Māori people of New Zealand, the haka. We suggest you use plastic cups for this one. And for good measure, put down a plastic tarp ala Dexter.
Once you’re done, divide yourselves into two teams and draw your first card from the “mind” pile.
Level 1: Mind
This is the wine level. The trivia in this round is left to totally subjective questions (Q: “What is the greatest band in the world?” A: “Chumbawumba.” Q: “Dennis is asshole. Why Charlie hate?” A: “Because Dennis is a bastard man!”) If you answer wrongly, you drink. If you get it correct, the other team drinks. Try to get creative with this one. As your drawing up your cards, make sure it has questions that no one can reasonably answer with an educated guess. For artistry cards, choose subjects and concepts that are nearly impossible to draw.
Level 2: Body
This is the beer level, and is all about physical endurance. Also, there’s no cursing in this round, so you’ll have to swap out your favorite curse words for PG versions. If you curse, your team drinks.
In this round, an example is when Dennis is forced to put his hand on a dart board and let the other team throw darts around his hand without flinching. This is, of course, really stupid, so think of some physical feats that won’t result in loss of nerve function.
Level 3: Spirit
This is the hard liquor level. Otherwise known as emotional battery, this is where you’ll break your opponent’s spirit so that they’re no longer able to play. Dee is a master at this part of the game since she’s often at the butt end of the gang’s jokes. In fact, she’s so used to it, that she once “held it together without a single tear” during the game, then “cried for a month straight” once it was over.
Really, you should keep this section lighthearted. Maybe there’s something you know your friend is insecure about, but still OK with joking about it every once in a while. You should probably reserve what you actually think about them and their character for, I don’t know, never.
The alternative is to only include public humiliation, or dare cards. This way you can embarrass your opponent but not ruin their self-esteem. Think of some out-of-the-box ones and nab those last three cards on your way to victory! If a team can’t complete their challenge, they take a shot.
The Win
The winners of the game get to smash the other team’s game pieces and get bragging rights for life.
