Drinkin' Dragons is played with face up circular drinks on an 8 x 8 board. Dice are used to show the exact orthogonal distance you move, and other dice show the direction you move. When you move from a position the drink is consumed and it disappears from the position, so players' options will progressively decrease. You don't win the game by consuming your desired drinks, but you gain an extra die to roll once you consume one of your desired drinks, increasing your movement options. What determines the winner is who possesses the holy grail at the end of the game.

- The starting positions for dragons and the holy grail are determined with eight-sided dice.
- Players choose which character they want to be. Your character and desired drinks are not secret.
- Dragons can fight if they are on the same position. Roll a six-sided die to see who wins, the attacker wins ties. The loser would not be able to do anything for three turns - after the winner moves from the position. Note that while dragons could fight, that doesn't mean they would. Dragons would normally fight for possession of the holy grail.
- The alternate name for Drinkin' Dragons is Dragons and Flagons.
- This is for three or four players.
- Dragons go for desired drinks, they might co-operate with each other, they could go for the holy grail. Later in the game it is a scramble with dragons chasing down the dragon with the holy grail and fighting.
- When you consume a desired drink, you get one additional die for your turns. Your choice of direction or distance, maximum of four for each.
 

What do we do about bad drinks?
If you don't drink, e.g. tea, you can't land on that bad drink.
A drunk dragon (a dragon who has consumed an alcoholic drink) can do nothing, roll dice, move. However, if dice are rolled, the player must move if at all possible, anything other than empty positions. Drunk dragons also lose ties in fights. This happens for three turns.
So a drunk dragon will do some combination of shuffling to the right place, shuffling off course and doing nothing.
Someone who has a coffee who also has a bad die roll (one in three) will be preoccupied during the next turn, going to the bathroom, so can't move or communicate for the next turn.
Allergy or lactose intolerance means you miss the next three turns, and can not fight. If you land on a peanut product and you have anaphylaxis you are out.
 
 
 
 

So you're in the middle of the game with two or three dice for directions, and two or three dice for distance. During a turn you may reroll some or all of your dice, maybe keeping some dice unrolled for options, future moves.
Permutations, possibilities, planning. Target options. Other dragons are doing whatever. A disappearing board. A bad drink over there.
During your turn, after rolling some dice, you may move your dragon, with one die showing direction and another die showing exact distance.
You take the two dice used for the move and put them in a different place, like a little bowl. They are still very much your dice, but they will have to be rerolled before they can be used again.
 
 

You are green dragon. X shows desired drinks. Dot shows the holy grail.

Are you supposed to have a drink with another dragon, perhaps beer? Is there more than one flagon for one of your desired drinks? Does the holy grail happen to be located on a desired drink? Does another dragon also want the Peardrax?
 
 

Let's talk components and aesthetics.
It would be European dragons, with hints of the middle ages. No Asian dragons.
The box art would be cartoony. The box picture would remind one of the Last Supper painting, plus a flying dragon or two. Possibilities include stained glass colours and clouds.
Would a glance at the box make people think this is about dragons drinking alcohol?
I like that red plastic dragon up top, simple and smaller. One primary colour per dragon. Fitting dragons - possibly more than one - on a position is an issue.
The board would have no lines but 64 circles, rings marking positions.
Drinks are discs made of something, mostly brown with some green guarana, white banana milk etc. Nice script with the name of the drink.
There is a holy grail figure. It starts off on the board, but when a dragon takes it, the player puts it in front of him.
Dice would be 13-sided for the distance, four-sided for direction (I want to use eight-sided).
Six cards would be in front of you, your desired drinks, three themed, three not. These would be face up, until the drink has been consumed.
For bad drinks I picture using coloured chips. When you consume an alcoholic drink you get three green chips. For each of the next three turns you toss one of your three chips back in the pile.
 
 
 
 

So would the game be any good? Only testing will tell.

Con:
You have a place to go. You roll dice. You may or may not get it. Yay.
Is it too difficult to chase down the dragon with the holy grail? Meanwhile the first player to grab it gets it pretty much randomly. Not everyone is going to be happy about the randomness of fighting.
Would the game be too brief? Say 18 moves for a dragon in a three-player game, with as many as fifty turns.

Pro:
There is a whole grab bag of possible things that could be taken into consideration when you move (and reroll certain dice). A basic dilemma is whether to go after your desired drinks or go after the holy grail. Various bits of theme would add to the experience. People will find reasons to laugh. Could be some interesting route finding at the end.

What could make the difference is player interaction.
If one dragon has the holy grail, the other dragons will find common cause. "After you." "Please don't land on my ginger beer." Two dragons will work together to harass the holy grail dragon, throw him off his game. Well, you want the other dragon to harass, while you scoot to the side and grab a desired drink. Meanwhile the other dragon is thinking the same thing. A quite separate reason for dragons to co-operate is when they have a drink together.