Hootenanny is a simple game with myriad variations. In its most basic form the rules are as follows:

Materials (figure 1)

• 1 or more Pitchers
• 3 or more Drinkers (with cups)
• 16-20 Bar Coasters

Instructions

Coasters must be doled out to each of the drinkers. It is paramount to ensure that this process is referred to as doling, and not dealing. Each drinker should have roughly the same amount of coasters. Each drinker must adopt the game’s mood (figure 2).

Each drinker’s cup must be topped off with beer. Each pitcher should be close to full. The first drinker (arbitrarily chosen), must make one attempt at flipping and catching one or more of his coasters (action series, figures 3-5). 

For every coaster he successfully flips and catches, he must dole out a Mississippi second of drinking with the respective coaster he caught (figures 6 and 7).

For every coaster he attempts to flip but fails to catch, he himself must drink one Mississippi second, and must keep the respective coaster in his possession (figures 8 and 9). 

With that, his turn is over, and the next drinker, the drinker to his immediate right, begins his turn (assuming that the next drinker is not coaster-less, in which case his turn is skipped).

At any point during gameplay, any drinker may call “Hootenanny” (figure 10, attached sound clip). 

At this call, every drinker must hand all of his coasters to the caller. The caller must then attempt to flip all of the game’s coasters at once. If the drinker is successful in catching all of the coasters, he must dole out the remainder of the beer in each of the pitchers (figures 11-13).

If he fails, he must drink the remainder of the beer himself (figures 14-16). Thus ends Hootenanny.

If at any point during gameplay a single drinker finds himself in possession of all of the coasters, he is immediately subject to a compulsory hootenanny.

If the legitimacy of a flip is in question, any drinker may point at any other drinker, who must subsequently call the flip either Safe or Out (using appropriate baseball umpire gestures), regardless of whether that drinker witnessed the ambiguous flip. Thus ends the dispute.

In the off chance that the remainder of the beer (in the pitchers) is poured into a drinker’s cup at any point during the game, rendering all of the pitchers empty, the game immediately ends. Every drinker must subsequently finish his beer.