{"id":6467,"date":"2016-05-12T22:04:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T21:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/?p=6467"},"modified":"2016-05-12T22:04:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T21:04:47","slug":"the-eurovision-song-contest-drinking-game-2016-terry-wogan-memorial-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/2016\/05\/the-eurovision-song-contest-drinking-game-2016-terry-wogan-memorial-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"The Eurovision Song Contest Drinking Game, 2016 Terry Wogan Memorial Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Circumstances have dictated that I don’t do Eurovision<\/a> any more, but some thoughtful people have contacted me to say they like the Drinking Game and asked if there are any amendments. <\/p>\n

I have never watched the semi-finals and recommend that you should just stick to the final. Eurovision is best played stud, with every entrant in the final coming as a complete surprise.<\/p>\n

The voting system has changed again, with a 50\/50 weighting between jury votes and phone votes. Looks like there’s no on-screen breakdown of phone votes this year either; a cunning subterfuge to further disguise the influence of local politics. Don’t know how this will play out on the telly but by this stage of the night everyone’s a bit vague anyway, so all drinks are catch-as-catch-can.<\/p>\n

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

CURTAIN UP<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the first appearance of the presenters, drink to the health of Masha and Pasha.<\/p>\n

PHASE I: THE SONGS<\/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<\/del>Greeks (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<\/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 maxes out its points to Cyprus.<\/p>\n

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

II.6 The Wogan<\/em>.<\/strong> Any blatant display of favouritism between particular countries in the jury, or a hasty correction by a flustered announcer when reading out results. Keep an eye on Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and anomalies in German votes for Slavic and Balkan countries.<\/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 a liberal interpretation is allowed.<\/p>\n

II.7 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.8 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.9 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.10 The Master of Suspense<\/em>.<\/strong> This hasn’t happened for a few years but people might get confused by the new rules: 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.11 The New Europe<\/em>.<\/strong> When the Baltic or Balkan states all vote for each other, or a former Soviet republic votes for Russia. Do not attempt without medical supervision.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

W0: Australia!<\/strong> Any person may lead a toast at any time amongst all drinkers by shouting “Australia!”, “Aussie!”, “Oi!” or any suitably positive Australian word or noise. This can happen any time during the night as many times as wished for no reason whatsoever because OBVIOUSLY NOBODY AT EUROVISION GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE RULES.<\/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<\/del>Turkey isn’t in it;
\nW1.c<\/strong> where the hell is Moldova?; or
\nW1.d<\/strong> Australia?<\/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, Australia.<\/p>\n

W3<\/strong> A toast to Bosnia and Herzegovina if they change the spelling of their country again from last year.<\/p>\n

W4<\/strong> A toast to the first person who expresses dismay when they realise how long the voting is going to take.<\/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":"

Circumstances have dictated that I don’t do Eurovision any more, but some thoughtful people have contacted me to say they like the Drinking Game and asked if there are any amendments. I have never watched the semi-finals and recommend that you should just stick to the final. Eurovision is best played stud, with every entrant […]<\/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\/6467"}],"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=6467"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6473,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467\/revisions\/6473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookylamoo.com\/boringlikeadrill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}