Over the years, I have had many traditions related to movies and on what days of the year I watch them. These include movies that take place on the day in question, like Groundhog’s Day on February 2nd or Jaws on July 4th. While some of my traditions have come and gone, there is no movie ritual I have kept alive longer than watching the Back to the Future movies on New Year’s Eve. It’s a tradition my late grandmother—a die-hard Back to the Future fan—came up with and included me in when I was usually not allowed to stay up past 10:00 PM. I certainly celebrated the new year differently over the years, but when there wasn’t an event, and if my grandmother was available for company, I’d offer to bring over the movies and spend the evening with her. Until the Lord of the Rings films came out and before I finally made my peace with the infuriating presence of Kat Capshaw in Temple of Doom, Back to the Future was my favorite film trilogy. I’ve not always finished the trilogy on the night of New Year’s Eve, but the first Back to the Future is a movie I watch, quote to death, and thoroughly enjoy every December 31st.

Since the Back to the Future trilogy became something I’d watch on New Year’s Eve—a night in which alcohol is very involved—it didn’t take long after moving into a house with a bunch of roommates for us to sit and deliberate over potential drinking game rules. There were a few rules we came up with that definitely made the game far more dangerous, but they are also guaranteed to get you drunk before you have even started the second movie. It’s been a long time since we came up with the rules, but I’ve been playing the game every year ever since.

As always, DagonDogs.com and all associates do not encourage irresponsible use of alcohol or other substances. Please drink responsibly. You can always just drink water to play along and stay hydrated instead.

Back to the Future Drinking Game

The Name of the Game

This is a simple and straightforward rule. If you’re planning on doing the whole trilogy, you might not think much of this rule at first, but it starts to catch up by the end of the trilogy. If you want to count the recap moments at the beginning of the sequels, that’s a bonus four sips on your tab.

• Take a sip whenever someone travels through time

Hip to be Square

There are plenty of examples of movies in which particular musical artists are strongly associated with a film. For example: Titanic had Celine Dion; Top Gun had Berlin & Kenny Loggins; Maximum Overdrive had ACDC. It was especially a thing in the 1980s because, as MTV was taking off in popularity, artists could do the music video that would help promote the upcoming film before its release. There are several songs by Huey Lewis and the News on the soundtrack for Back to the Future, but the song that is most strongly associated with it is “Power of Love,” which plays prominently in the opening. Huey Lewis’ band is so associated with Back to the Future that he’s actually in the movie briefly in the beginning. This isn’t a rule that is going to get you drunk, but it’s still a fun one.

• Take a sip whenever a Huey Lewis and the News song starts playing

Thematic & Dramatic

Tying into the previous musical rule is the one in which you should drink whenever the signature score of the franchise starts playing. Just as iconic as any classic soundtrack by John Williams, Alan Silvestri created the instantly recognizable score that manages to build and build perfectly with the climax of each film. It has the swinging notes of adventure and drama to get you excited every time you watch Marty flying down the street in the time machine towards the wire that Doc Brown just manages to connect in time for the lightning strike. There are also the smaller, simple tunes like the rolling piano notes that chime when the film wants to bring your attention to a mysterious or curious thing that happened. While you will certainly hear the theme of the film numerous times, you can add on the bonus rule to drink whenever that little mystery chime occurs as well.

• Take a sip whenever the Back to the Future theme starts playing

CatchPhrase if you Can

Back to the Future is full of catchphrases and quotes. While there are plenty of quotes from the trilogy I happily take an extra sip because of how much I enjoy its delivery—i.e. “Get the hell out of my car, old man!”—there are plenty of instances in which a phrase can be attributed to a character. Biff notoriously calls people ‘butthead’ and Doc & Marty have their own respective lines that they occasionally swap in certain situations.

• Take a sip whenever Biff says “Butthead”

• Take a sip whenever someone says “This is heavy” or “Great Scott!”

Who is John F. Kennedy?

A big running gag of the whole trilogy is having characters with their own perception of reality turned on its head by a person from a different time. This comes up the most in the first film as Marty often mistakenly thinks about something as old when it is brand new or hasn’t even happened. Examples include when he refers to a “re-run” of a T.V. series, or to the song Johnny B Goode as an “oldy.” Or, there’s the scene when Marty corrects his grandfather’s directions to Doc Brown’s house as “That’s John F. Kennedy Drive” and his grandfather asks who John F Kennedy is. The gag continues well into the sequels, but the first movie’s brimming with these little moments.

• Take a sip whenever someone references something from a different time-period in their dialogue

Chicken?!

One of the more irritating flaws of the sequels is the arbitrary character trait that is injected into Marty. Part II and III want to have a character arc for Marty in which he learns not to be so hot-headed and misguided in his decision-making. So, for no justifiable reason, Marty suddenly really gets upset if someone calls him a coward or chicken. It’s a character trait that didn’t exist in the first movie and feels extremely forced into the sequels. It comes across as a lazy method of trying to create some sort of character arc without subtlety. To make it easier to swallow, I decided to wash down the chicken with some booze or beer each time it happens.

• Take a sip if someone calls Marty a coward (chicken)

The Universe Aligns

If you’ve read any of my drinking game rules on this site before, hopefully, you are aware of the Universal Rules. There are two specific rules from that list that are especially prevalent in this trilogy. While I would normally just redirect people to the Universal Rules, rather than reiterate them in a particular movie’s game, I wanted to include these because it was Back to the Future that made me think of them in the first place.

One rule is that you should take a sip whenever the movie’s title is mentioned. It’s simple and doesn’t happen too often, but it’s also very memorable when it does.

The other is to take a sip whenever a company brand is clearly visible. It’s common knowledge that brands often appear in a scene of a movie or show as part of the background because the companies would help sponsor the project if it meant getting their logo in front of potential customers—there’s actually a bit of a controversy regarding the California Raisins brand and Back to the Future, but I won’t get into that. In the first few minutes of Back to the Future, you may hate this rule because there are a ton of logos on the screen while Marty makes his way to school. From Burger King, to Budweiser, to Texaco, to Mountain Dew, there is a brand somewhere every three seconds and a beverage to be sipped. Before Huey Lewis’ “Power of Love” is done playing, you’re going to likely need a second beer.

• Take a sip whenever you hear someone say “Back to the Future”

• Take a sip whenever you notice a new company logo in the scene

Do you have any other rule suggestions for the time-traveling trilogy? Let me know in the comments!