10 Best Pub Games in the UK, Ranked

British pubs have quietly run on the same shortlist of games for a century. Some are thriving, some are down to a handful of survivors. Here's an honest ranking of ten, darts included.

Players

Varies by game — solo challenges up to full pub teams

You'll need

Varies — a dartboard, a pool table, a domino set, a quiz sheet, or a board your local may not still have

How to play

11. Darts — still the default game on a pub wall, and the one most locals take properly seriously.
22. Pool — a genuine crowd-puller when the table's free, though "winner stays on" politics start to grate by your third loss.
33. Pub quiz — brilliant with the right team, a rough night if your table's weak on sport and 90s music.
44. Dominoes (Fives and Threes) — a proper old pub game, though you'll mostly find it running at a regulars' table, not a spare one.
55. Cribbage — a genuinely sharp two-player game once someone teaches you the scoring, increasingly rare outside older locals.
66. Skittles — great fun when a pub's still got the alley, but plenty got ripped out for extra seating years ago.
77. Bar billiards — an odd, addictive little table game if you find one, mostly surviving in the West Country now.
88. Shove ha'penny — cheap and charming once the board's there, but a working one is a rare find these days.
99. Ring the Bull — a genuinely strange bit of Devon pub tradition, hooking a ring onto a wall peg, now down to a handful of Dartmoor pubs.
1010. Bat and Trap — half cricket, half skittles, a proper Kent institution that mostly lives in the beer garden during a summer league.

Tips

→ Ask the bar staff before you set anything up that involves throwing darts across a room — house rules on this vary more than you'd think.
→ Most pubs run their quiz or darts league on a fixed night. Check before you turn up expecting a free table or an empty board.
→ If someone's running the equipment, the scoreboard, or the quiz mic for the night, buy them a round. It's the done thing.

1. Darts

Still the one pub game everyone half-knows how to play, and the one most locals genuinely take seriously — plenty of pubs run a proper league off the back of it. Honest verdict: still the king, and the easiest to get a game going on short notice.

2. Pool

A genuine crowd-puller when the table's actually free, and most pubs still keep one going. Honest verdict: great when it's your go, tedious once "winner stays on" has kept the same person on the table for six games running.

3. Pub Quiz

A fixed weekly fixture at most locals, and one of the few pub games built for a full table rather than two players. Honest verdict: fantastic with a decent team, a long, quiet night if your table's weak on sport, geography, and 90s music.

4. Dominoes (Fives and Threes)

The UK's own domino variant, still played properly in a shrinking number of traditional pubs. Honest verdict: a genuinely good game once you know the scoring, but you'll usually find it at a regulars' table rather than one open to anyone who fancies a go.

5. Cribbage

A sharp two-player card-and-board game that rewards actually knowing the scoring system. Honest verdict: one of the best pub games going if you can find an opponent who knows it — increasingly an older-crowd, quieter-corner game in most cities.

6. Skittles

Old English skittles, or the smaller table version, used to be a fixture in pubs with the space for an alley. Honest verdict: brilliant when you find a working one, but a lot of alleys got converted into extra seating over the last couple of decades — check before you build a night around it.

7. Bar Billiards

A genuinely odd little table game — a mushroom-shaped obstacle sits in the middle of the table and you have to play around it, not through it. Honest verdict: addictive once you get the hang of it, but a proper working table is a rarity now outside a handful of traditional pubs, mostly in the West Country.

8. Shove Ha'penny

A cheap, low-key board game — flick a coin up a set of scoring lanes without overshooting. Honest verdict: genuinely charming, but you're more likely to find one gathering dust in an antiques shop than in working order behind a bar these days.

9. Ring the Bull

A genuinely strange bit of Devon pub tradition: hook a bull's horn ring, on a length of string, onto a peg on the wall from a few feet back. Honest verdict: a fun novelty if your pub still has one, but it's down to a handful of Dartmoor locals now, not something you'll stumble on most weekends.

10. Bat and Trap

A Kent institution — half cricket, half skittles, played with a spring-loaded trap that flicks the ball into the air for you to hit. Honest verdict: proper fun in a beer garden during a summer league, but you'll only find it at pubs that still run one, and it lives outside, not at the bar.

Quick answers

What's the most popular pub game in the UK?

Darts, by a distance — it's the one most pubs still have hanging up, and the one most locals already half-know how to play.

Do UK pubs still have skittle alleys?

Some do, but a lot got converted into extra seating over the years. Worth checking with the pub before you plan an evening around it.

What is bar billiards?

A table game, mostly found in older pubs, where you pot balls around a mushroom-shaped obstacle in the middle of the table instead of into corner pockets.

Can you bring your own darts to a pub?

Most pubs are fine with it, but it's still worth asking the bar staff first — some locals have house sets they'd rather you used.

By Arnis & Edgar — the two who built DartUp in Newry. 18+. Eat first, drink water, know when to stop.

Keep the night going

Kings Cup Rules

One deck of cards, one empty cup, and a set of rules that turn every card into an order. Kings Cup is the drinking game most people already half-know.

Waterfall Rules

No cards, no board, no setup. Waterfall is just a chain reaction round a table — once it starts, nobody controls their own pace.

Beer Pong

A table, some cups, and a ping pong ball. Beer pong rewards a steady arm and punishes a wobbly table.

Darts is the one pub game that travels. DartUp's the same board, minus the pub — forfeits instead of points, no last orders.

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