Peg Tankard

Origin: Peg tankards are English drinking vessels with pegs set inside that divide them into equal portions. Tradition credits Saint Dunstan in the 10th century with the invention, meant to curb excessive drinking. The English phrase to take someone down a peg comes from this custom.

Setup: A large jug, marked inside or outside with tape into four to eight equal sections.

How to play:

1. Fill the jug to the brim and pass it round
2. Each person drinks exactly to the next mark, no more and no less
3. The next person checks the level before they start

Drinking:

• Drank too little: top yourself up to the mark, then one extra sip
• Drank too much: refill to your own mark and keep drinking until it fits
• Empty the jug and you refill it and start the next round

Historically: This is exactly where the saint's idea failed. Miss the mark and you had to keep drinking, which was the beginning of the end of moderation.