{"id":5968,"date":"2014-05-08T13:03:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T12:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/?p=5968"},"modified":"2014-05-08T13:05:04","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T12:05:04","slug":"the-eurovision-song-contest-drinking-game-2014-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/2014\/05\/the-eurovision-song-contest-drinking-game-2014-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"The Eurovision Song Contest Drinking Game, 2014 Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

I didn’t even notice that the Eurovision Song Contest<\/a> is this week, and I’ll miss the Grand Final on Saturday. That’s a shame, because it’s been a while and I’d like to see it again. <\/p>\n

The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest Drinking Game were more or less perfected years ago and stay largely unchanged. The latest edition makes minor amendments for this particular year’s contest, mostly in Phase II and the wildcards.<\/p>\n

The voting process (now a 50\/50 split between phone voting and a jury) and the announcement of results have both changed since the original rules were established, but they still broadly apply and by Phase II nobody’s really paying much attention anyway.<\/p>\n

Yes these things have all happened, in case you’re wondering.<\/p>\n

PHASE I: THE SONGS
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Every instance within a song:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I.A.1 The Dramatic Key Change.<\/em><\/strong> Whenever the singers dramatically shift up a key for the final chorus(es).<\/p>\n

I.A.2 The Bucks Fizz.<\/em><\/strong> Whenever performer(s) sheds a piece of clothing – once only on every instance, whether executed by an individual or as a group. Finish your drink<\/strong> if the clothing loss is obviously unintentional.<\/p>\n

B. Once per song only:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I.B.1 Is That English?<\/em><\/strong> Whenever someone notices that the singers have switched from their native language into English in an attempt to win more votes. Two drinks<\/strong> if they try to dodge the language issue by intentionally <\/em>singing gibberish.<\/p>\n

I.B.2 The Fine Cotton<\/em>.<\/strong> Any appearance of mercenary talent flown in to represent a foreign country. Two drinks<\/strong> if they’re Irish.<\/p>\n

I.B.3 Las Ketchup and the Waves.<\/em><\/strong> A country drags a legitimate, real-life, one-hit wonder out of obscurity in the hope that name recognition can buy them some points. This is additional <\/em>to I.B.2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I.B.4 The Cultural Rainbow<\/em>.<\/strong> Every time an entrant blatantly rips off last year’s winning performance. Finish your drink<\/strong> if last year’s winning country rips itself off.<\/p>\n

I.B.5 The Wand’ring Minstrel.<\/em><\/strong> Unless it’s a solo guitar or piano, Eurovision insists on backing tapes. It’s in the rules, so don’t accuse some entrants of cheating; but take a drink if performers pretend to play a musical instrument (or simulacrum thereof) in a blatantly fake way, as part of the choreography. A second drink is permitted<\/strong> if a subsequent, different wave of faux-minstrely rises after the first has subsided.<\/p>\n

I.B.6 The Greeks<\/del>Russians (formerly The TaTu).<\/em><\/strong> Finish your drink if the audience boos (on the telly, not in your living room.)<\/p>\n

I.B.7 Don’t Mention The War.<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>The German entrant sings something about everyone being happy. This is a legacy rule, as in recent years it has largely been supplanted by…<\/p>\n

I.B.7a Don’t Mention The Wall.<\/em><\/strong> The Israeli entrant sings something about everyone being happy.<\/p>\n

I.B.8 My Lovely Horse.<\/em><\/strong> Any obvious indication that a country is deliberately trying to lose, to avoid budgetary\/logistical\/political problems of hosting the event next year.<\/p>\n

PHASE I ADVANCED PLAYERS ONLY:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I.B.5a The Wand’ring Minstrel (supplemental)<\/em>.<\/strong> Two drinks if the instrument is an accordion.<\/p>\n

I.B.9 The San Remo.<\/em><\/strong> Any occurence of visible armpits and\/or pointing at nothing in particular. Two drinks<\/strong> for a hairy armpit.<\/p>\n

I.B.10 The White Suit.<\/em><\/strong> You’ll know it when you see it; and you’ll know it again when you see it again, and again…<\/p>\n

PHASE II: THE VOTES
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

II.1 The Wardrobe Change<\/em>.<\/strong> Each time the female host changes frocks. Two drinks<\/strong> if the male host changes suits.<\/p>\n

II.2 The Gimme<\/em>.<\/strong> When Greece gives twelve points to Cyprus.<\/p>\n

II.2a The Gastarbeiter<\/em>.<\/strong> If Germany still gives twelve points to Turkey.<\/p>\n

II.3 The Old Europe<\/em>.<\/strong> When the UK gets nul points<\/em> from France.<\/p>\n

II.4 The Sympathy Vote<\/em>.<\/strong> When anything sung in French first gets a point, and\/or the last country without any points finally gets off the mark. A special toast<\/strong> at the end to any country which did not receive so much as a single vote.<\/p>\n

II.5 The “Viktor, You Very Unattractive Fellow.”<\/em><\/strong> Two drinks if the hosts speak in rhyme and\/or pretend to flirt with each other. Finish your drink<\/strong> if the flirting is serious.<\/p>\n

PHASE II INTERMEDIATE:<\/strong> You and your friends probably will be too unruly by this stage to register every occurrence of these, so just try to catch what you can.<\/p>\n

II.6 The Hurry-Up<\/em>.<\/strong> Every time the announcer from each voting country is politely asked by the hosts to shut the fuck up (i.e. “Can we have your votes please?”). Two drinks <\/strong>if the announcer tries to deliver a personal message to a friend or relative watching at home.<\/p>\n

II.7 The Sandra Sully<\/em>.<\/strong> Each time an announcer reads the voting results wrong. Two drinks<\/strong> if they get so confused they have to start over.<\/p>\n

II.8 The Sally Field<\/em>.<\/strong> Each time they show contestants backstage during the voting looking genuinely surprised and pleased with themselves when they get the same politically-motivated votes they get every year.<\/p>\n

II.9 The Master of Suspense<\/em>.<\/strong> It looks like everyone’s figured it out now, so this hasn’t happened for a few years, but just in case: each time an announcer fails to understand that the pause for suspense only works if they announce the twelve points first, then the country that has won them – not the other way around<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PHASE II ADVANCED PLAYERS ONLY:<\/strong><\/p>\n

II.10 The New Europe<\/em>.<\/strong> When the Baltic or Balkan states all give each other twelve points, or a former Soviet republic gives Russia twelve points. Do not attempt without medical supervision.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

THE WILDCARDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

W1<\/strong> A person must finish their drink if they ask:
\nW1.a<\/strong> why Israel is in it<\/a>;
\nW1.b<\/strong> why Italy isn’t in it<\/del>; or
\nW1.c<\/strong> where the hell is Moldova?<\/p>\n

W2<\/strong> Drink to any display of national resentment or self-pity related to current events. Pay close attention to Greece\/Germany, Ukraine\/Russia, Armenia\/Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

W3<\/strong> A toast to the first person who expresses dismay when they realise how long the voting is going to take.<\/p>\n

W4<\/strong> A toast to Bosnia and Herzegovina if they change the spelling of their country again from last year<\/del>.<\/p>\n

W5<\/strong> A toast to the person who gets so drunk you have to secretly call a cab and persuade them they ordered it when it arrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn’t even notice that the Eurovision Song Contest is this week, and I’ll miss the Grand Final on Saturday. That’s a shame, because it’s been a while and I’d like to see it again. The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest Drinking Game were more or less perfected years ago and stay largely unchanged. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5968"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5971,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5968\/revisions\/5971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}