'Thinking & Drinking' Encourages Conversation While Having Some Drinks

Since the hit party game "Cards of Humanity" there have been many games that try to gain the same success.

Now, it looks like "Thinking and Drinking" might be the next big thing as it combines a favorite past time of many while encouraging you to put the phone down and get a conversation started.

"Thinking & Drinking announced today that more than 300 breweries have agreed to be featured in the card game, which is set to launch on Kickstarter next week," according to a recent press release by Craft Beer Breweries.

So what is "Thinking and Drinking?" Well, it's a game designed around a series of whacky questions that work as fun conversation starters while you're out getting wasted or "drinking responsibility." When you're out with your friends or spending time at a party often times conversations may wear thin and you find yourself looking to your cell phone to escape.

What "Thinking and Drinking" is trying to promote is a way to combat the temptation of looking at your cell phone every five minutes or less.

"Nikki and I have had projects we've been working on including games, design work and some media consulting," says Jonathan Cooper, founder of "Thinking and Drinking."

"I wrote the first draft of questions on my way home from a work trip more than a year ago.

Every so often we'd take the list out and add to it and eventually we realized we had a pretty good list going."

In a way this game appeals to a generation that's past playing beer pong and flip-cup. It's a pretty sophisticated approach towards keeping drinking fun, without the over the stop antics of other stereotypical drinking games.

"Games that involve red plastic cups don't interest us anymore," says Cooper.

"We love getting together with friends and having a good time and drinking good beer. We want 'Thinking & Drinking' to be a way for people to enjoy good company, good conversations."

To play the game, participants must shuffle the deck of 300 plus cards. One card is drawn containing a question that each player must answer.

Simple right? Well, Cooper and his team are also encouraging the players to create their own rules to the game to give it a unique spin to each gathering.

It's a flexible game that can be as simple as answering questions to picking the best answer each time on a vote and dishing out points.

"We know questions like 'if giving up cheese made you immortal, would you do it?' won't change the world but some of the answers people have given when we've played the game have been surprising," says Cooper.

"Sometimes people get a little deep with their answers - like who would you want to meet, living or dead - and that's part of the fun of the game ... learning more about the people you're with."

Cooper decided to profile craft breweries on the cards because he says that he and his wife like to discover new beers.

They also found it as a way to introduce their Kickstarter backers to breweries and beers that they might not yet know.

"Craft brewing isn't just about beer," says Cooper. "Craft brewers are part artist, part scientist and we love that.

We're interested in what's in the bottle - or can - we're interested in the label designs ... we're interested in the entire experience and we wanted to share that in Thinking & Drinking."

To learn more about "Thinking and Drinking," you can visit the official website here.