Thinking and Drinking – A Novel Idea

Do you often find yourself in extreme “What if” conversations with your friends once the beer begins flowing? Have you fielded questions like ” What super power would you most like to have?” or “If you could experience anything without the fear of death, what would you do?” after a few rounds?

Former newspaper editor Jon Cooper has developed a new game called “Thinking & Drinking,” and it is all tied directly to both such ruminations and the craft beer industry.

How, you ask? Patience!

It all began when Cooper and his wife became wary of get-togethers that involved some of the latest (and potentially greatest) craft beer, only to be bombarded with standard-issue conversational fare about, as Cooper put it, “Work and the weather.”

Together, they hatched a plan: A card game that would replace all that small talk with what he described as “exploratory questions,” all while promoting pretty much every brewery in America.

Which happens to be quite a few and continually growing.

Thinking & Drinking is a card game designed to get people to put down their phones and to enjoy great conversation and great locally crafted beer.

Cooper, explained the game features six decks of cards – each with 54 cards; for a total of 312 cards. Each card features a question or a request – command/demand – that will either lead to self-discovery or self-destruction.

“You will either learn something new about yourself or the people you are with … or your answer is going to get you in some trouble.”

“Each card also features the profile (name, city/state, website, and social handles) of a U.S. craft brewery – and their featured beer. The goal is to promote craft brewing, support local businesses and to introduce people to beers and breweries that they might not yet know.”

In many instances, the questions are linked directly to the city where the brewery on the card resides. Wisconsin involves cheese, Georgia involves peaches, and so on.

Playing is easy: “Shuffle the deck, put the deck in the middle, draw a card, read it aloud … everyone answers. That is our only rule – everyone answers.”

The Coopers took the simple concept to Kickstarter, with a goal of raising $24,000.

All the money would go to the printing and distribution of the game. No t-shirts or promo items or other carrots dangled; they just want to get the game made and in people’s hands.

They hit the $24K goal easily, with 10 days to spare.

“There’s no right or wrong answer,” Cooper continued. How could there be when one card simply reads, “Would you rather do space travel or time travel, and why?”

“Our first question was, and the brewery featured on this card is in Wisconsin, so it’s, ‘If giving up cheese made you immortal, would you do it?'”

For me, that’s a quick and easy no, immortality be damned.

This led to an admittedly obvious question: Has his research unearthed a cheese-flavored beer?

Indeed, it did. Then other flavors came flying, jalapeno, saracchi, bacon, and even PB&J among them.

” There’s a guy in Florida, at a brewery called Funky Buddha, and they make a peanut butter & chocolate beer.”

Back to the game: “If you don’t answer the question then everyone decides what the penalty is. It can be you take a drink, or your penalty could require you to buy the next round. Whatever you want.”

Looks like the ultimate goal here is to quench two thirsts.

If you would like to purchase Thinking and Drinking, games are available at the Thinking and Drinking website.