Hammerschlagen drinking game is 1 fun way to get seriously nailed

25 Aug 2022 6 min read 1 comment Ideas and Guides
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The Hammerschlagen drinking game originates from Germany and is a hilarious way to get the buck and his crew seriously nailed – figuratively speaking that is and hopefully not literally considering that Hammerschlagen means “to hit with a hammer”.

Watch this 3 minute video or read on to learn more about this hit with a hammer drinking game!

What you need to play the Hammerschlagen drinking game

If you’re in America, you might know this popular bachelor party drinking game as Stump. No matter where you are in the world, by either name we’re talking about the same drinking game that involves throwing hammers, hitting nails and chugging drinks.

It’s a pretty simple list of supplies to pull together for this drinking game, and one of the crew will very likely have these lying around:

  • a hammer with a wedge at one end instead of a claw hammer
  • a tree stump or a thick slab of wood
  • nails (at least 3 inches, but the longer the better really – especially the bucks nail)
  • beer or other drinks of choice.
Hammerschlagen drinking game is 1 fun way to get seriously nailed
Grab some wood, a hammer and a box of nails. Make sure the hammer has a wedge at one end for added complexity.
Image by Tom

Once you have the supplies, it’s time to set up this fun bucks party drinking game. The good news is that setup is pretty simple.

  • Place stump or slab of wood in the spot where you want to play the game.
  • It’s best if the top of the stump/wood is about waist height. If you put the wood on top of something, make sure it is sturdy (and the wood is thicker than the nails are long!)
  • Each player hammers their nail in about 1/3 of its length – so it stands up by itself. You might want one person to do this for everyone so that the nails are at an even starting point

Now that the game board is set up, each player takes a drink in hand and gets ready to play.

Hammerschlagen drinking game is 1 fun way to get seriously nailed
If your stump look something like this, you’re probably doing it right.
Image by Lynn Greyling

How to play the Hammerschlagen drinking game

With the Hammerschlagen drinking game set up and ready to go, it’s time to decide if you want to go with the simple rules or a more involved state of play. Both approaches to this bucks party drinking game are sure to be fun.

In either case, the objective is to throw the hammer in the air to complete a 360 degree flip, catch it by the handle (and no adjusting the hammer/hand alignment after the catch) and in one movement hammer in one of the nails. If the hammer is sideways, too bad so sad, it’s going to be hard to make a winning strike.

Play progresses around the group (just pick a direction) until one player’s nail is completely driven into the wood. But Hammerschlagen drinking game has no winners at a bucks party, so if someone’s nail is completely driven into the wood just give that player another nail and hammer and drink on!

Simple Hammerschlagen drinking game rules

Each player takes turns throwing the hammer into the air, catching it, and in one swift movement hammering an opponent’s nail into the stump.

  • If the player strikes opponent’s nail, the opponent must drink
  • If the player strikes their own nail, that player must drink
  • If the player misses, that player must drink
  • And if sparks fly from the strike, everyone drinks.

These are a nice and simple set of rules that will make sure the Hammerschlagen drinking game is easy to play and should not lead to too many arguments.

Hammerschlagen drinking game is 1 fun way to get seriously nailed
No matter the outcome of the flip, catch, hammer, someone always drinks.
Photo by ELEVATE

Add some trick throws to the Hammerschlagen drinking game

Given this is a world wide drinking game, there are plenty of rules, conditions, and other localisations that have happened to the Hammerschlagen drinking game over time.

The Instructables explains how to add a drink-multiplier based on trick hammer flip-and-catch moves.

  • A simple under-the-leg flip-and-catch is a 2x drink-multiplier.
  • Flip-and-catch the hammer behind your back is a 3x drink-multiplier.
  • And go for broke with the 4x drink-multiplier with a behind the back and over the head hammer flip-and-catch.

The multiplier applies to the drinker – so a successful opponent nailing sees the opponent’s drink penalty multiply, player nailing applies to the player and buck nailing applies to the buck. Yep, things can get messy pretty quickly with drink-multipliers.

We should note that if the player misses the trick flip-and-catch that the player needs to drink with the multiplier penalty. So, if they’re going for a 4x multiplier and drop the hammer, then they get the 4x drink penalty. Make sure anyone going for a multiplier calls the shot before taking it so everyone knows what’s at stake.

The Chuggernauts confirms that hammer selection is vitally important for the Hammerschlagen drinking game. A hammer with a wedge at one end should be selected and the wedge-end of the hammer used instead of the hammer end (yep, this would definitely add a level of tricky compared to a claw hammer). They also propose that any female players can use two hands, while male players must only use one.

Unofficial Networks has a bunch of extra ideas to add into the mix like a communal or task nail, home improvements to address bent nails, revenge strike and kings hammer strikes. These fellas have really put some though into this.

Add a twist or two for the buck

It’s always fun to add a few drinking game twists that target the buck unfairly. Here are a couple you might like to think about adding into the mix.

  • If the player hammers in the bucks nail in one strike, the buck must finish their entire drink
  • If sparks fly from the strike, the buck drinks
  • If the player drives in any nail in one strike, the nail owner and the buck must drink together
  • Set up some complex nail art specifically for the buck to strike within. If the buck hits the wrong nail, they buck drinks!

Get creative and make up your own twists for the buck, and remember, they don’t need to be fair!

Hammerschlagen drinking game is 1 fun way to get seriously nailed
Get creative and make things a bit challenging for the buck.
Image by René Schindler

Be safe to avoid a hospital run

Like all drinking games, drink responsibly and have fun, not for excess and injury.

The Instructables adds a safety message that you really should consider if you decide to play this bucks party drinking game. You want to make sure you keep the “hit with hammer” activity limited to the nail or wood, and not any body parts. They rightly point out that drinking while throwing hammers and swinging hammers does carry inherent risks… which we can see.

Trick flips can easily result in missed flips and split bits. So keep your head out of the way when you flip or swing the hammer, or when someone else flips or swings. While you’re at it, keep all of your body parts out of the way, in particular keep your fingers away from the nails so that your finger nail does not take the place of the metal nail.

So keep safety in mind, and have fun! Making sure the buck looks like himself on the wedding day, and not Rocky at the end of round 6, will help make sure he has the best time of his life before the best day of his life!

Feature image by günther from Pixabay

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