Drink-Along-A-Draper: The Mad Men Drinking Game

Unless you’ve been in an alcoholic stupor all week, you know that Mad Men is about to come to an end. There are only seven more episodes in the landmark series, and it seems we are all going to miss it terribly. I don’t quite know what I will do when the series finishes. I expect to be very upset.

Really, really upset.

I’m just not sure what I’ll do with out it. I’ll have to find another way to occupy my time.

There have been other great TV series in the last few years, but I got caught up on most of them after they had already finished airing (I binged all of Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad and The Wire last summer).

I have been hooked on Mad Men since the pilot. I was a latecomer to the show, having been urged to watch it by my good friend Cathy of 746 Books, who has yet to steer me wrong on a television series (most recently she told me to check out the very excellent Fortitude). I watched the first three seasons on DVD and was all caught up before Season 4 aired. Since then, I have had to wait like everyone else for my weekly fix of angst and ennui.

And the occasional laugh.

I will miss discussing it: this week there have been some excellent articles on the show’s characters, themes, and music. The single best essay on the show that I read is here.

I won’t bother trying to write anything insightful about the show here, mostly because I am not sure I can do better than some of the excellent articles I have read in the last few days about the show’s cultural impact.

Instead, I am reblogging a piece I wrote a while back, a little drinking game I invented to help you stay lubricated as you catch up on old episodes.

Make watching Mad Men more fun (but not necessarily memorable) by playing the Mad Men Drinking Game:

Before you start, stock up on lots of booze. Canadian Club ideally, but any whisky or bourbon will do, as will gin, vodka, brandy, wine and Heineken. If you really want to get fancy, you can make cocktails.

Seven seasons of Mad Men is almost 90 hours of TV. Take the week off work and sit in a comfy chair.

Mad Men cannot live on booze alone. You’ll need food. We suggest Utz potato chips, Sugarberry Ham, Life Cereal, Heinz beans and Hershey bars.

Once you’re settled in, the rules are so simple even Lois Sadler could play along and not mess it up:

Just make sure she doesn’t drink and drive

Ready to play?

When Don drinks, you drink.

When Don smokes, you drink.

When Don sleeps with a woman, you drink.

When Don pitches to a client, you drink.

When Don sees dead people, you drink. 

When Don has flashbacks to Dick Whitman’s really quite depressing Depression childhood, you drink. 

When Don hallucinates, you drink. 

Bonus: When you see questionable parenting, you drink. 

Extra Bonus: when Pete Campbell falls down the stairs, you drink. 

Extra Extra Bonus: When Lane Pryce beats up Pete Cambell, you drink. 

Extra Extra Extra Bonus: when Ken Cosgrove dances, you drink. 

And finally, whenever Roger Sterling says practically anything … you drink. 

Congratulations! If at this point you’re not dead from alcohol poisoning, you’ve won!

And if you still haven’t had enough of Mad Men, enjoy the music