Human Timer
Count the seconds in your head
1
A target number of seconds appears on screen.
2
When you think that many seconds have passed, tap.
3
Whoever’s furthest from the target, drinks.
Farthest from the target time
Closest to the target time
Farthest off or never tapped
Others: depends on the result (-10 to 10)
Human Timer removes the clock and asks you to be one. A target appears, say 7 seconds, and every player taps when they believe that much time has passed. Nothing on screen helps you; it is your internal sense of time against everyone else's. Rooms discover quickly that most people run fast when they are excited, which is most of the time at a party, and that the person who sits still and breathes usually wins.
1
Count with a fixed phrase, one-Mississippi style, and use the same phrase every round. Consistency beats accuracy; you can only calibrate a method you repeat.
2
Slow down deliberately. Excitement compresses your sense of time, so if you feel like it is time to tap, wait one more beat.
3
Ignore everyone else's taps. Hearing others go early pulls you early, and the ones who tap first are rarely the ones who were closest.
4
Always tap. Missing the window entirely is scored as the worst result, so a rough guess is always better than no guess.
1
Eyes closed: everyone shuts their eyes on go and opens them after they tap. Removes the temptation to watch the room.
2
Long count: the host announces the round as a long one, and the farthest player has to explain out loud what they were counting. It is never as accurate as they think.
3
Second chance: the farthest player may call a rematch against the closest, best of one, for points only.
Human Timer is a concentration game before it is a drinking game. Play it for points, or have the loser take on a small forfeit, and it stays exactly as tense with a glass of water in hand.