Drinking games are the ideal way to kick any kind of celebration up a notch — whether you’re meeting up with friends at your favorite or hanging out with cousins at the family reunion. While most Americans gravitate towards collegiate classics like beer pong and flip cup when it comes to drinking games, there’s a whole world of international games to try out at your next function, including Korea’s catchy APT game and Japan’s famous Ping Pong Pang. One of the simplest drinking games comes from China, the country that produces the most beer in the world. Known as 5-10-15-20, or Shi Wu, all you need for this game are two players with their hands free.
To start, both players will sit face to face with both hands balled up. After counting down, both players will either present a closed fist (representing the number zero), an open hand (representing the number five), or any such combination. Each round, players will take turns as the caller, guessing the sum total of fingers that will be displayed –– either zero, five, 10, 15, or 20. The caller will shout their guess at the end of the countdown, just as both players show their hands. If the caller guesses correctly twice in a row, they win the round and their opponent must drink. If they guess incorrectly, it’s the other player’s turn. Between rounds, each player must keep their hands in place until the next guess is made.
More ways to play 5-10-15-20
While the premise of Shi Wu is incredibly simple, there are a few fun variations on the game that can raise the stakes. The easiest way to elevate the game is by adding more rules that cause a player to drink before the round officially ends. One such rule is to have a player drink if they call out a guess that is mathematically impossible. For example, if the caller guesses the number 20 but keeps both of their own fists closed, they would have to drink. Similarly, if they call out a number that is outside of the possible range, or that isn’t a multiple of five, they would have to drink. To play a rapid-fire version of the game, set a rule that limits the amount of time that can pass between each round.
It is possible to play Shi Wu with more than two people, but the probability of winning gets even trickier. The premise of the game remains the same — but the guessing range and the number of playable guesses both increase. So, when two people are playing, the guessing range is capped at 20, and there are five playable guesses (zero, five, 10, 15, or 20). If two additional people wanted to join the game, the range would increase to 40, and the number of playable guesses would go up to nine. Add two more people, and the range caps off at 60 with 13 playable guesses, so on and so forth.
