My first encounter with a Drinking Stump; from here on out referred to as The Stump,  was at the base of the Feegletscher (translated as The Fairy Glacier) in the small town of Saas Fee in the Swiss Alps sometime in the Winter of '92-'93.  We were there for the skiing, but we were also fortunate to meet a few of the local slope workers who took my acquaintance and I under their wings and introduced us to the game. Fortunately for them we had plenty of cash that night which they were quite happy to liberate from us.  Fortunately for us, we learned the intricacies of the The Stump, the grandfather of all drinking games.  By the way, there were carvings/graffiti on that little bar's walls with dates as early as 1642.  I'm guessin' these are grounds to label The Stump as a grand-daddy.

I looked around the web, and found only two references that mentioned a Stump. The first I won't even bother with, as even though it centered around a "stump" it wasn't quite close enough.  The second is linked here and seems credible as it's point of origin stems from Europe, Germany to be specific;

 http://www.blacktable.com/blacklist050907.htm

Friends and I have been playing The Stump for over 10 years now.  I first got the idea to initiate them into the ways of The Stump after a nice big Southern Pine dropped on my neighbor's house in '97 or '98.  From the carnage, I "rescued" my first 32" high, roughly 18" diameter piece of wood, and the rest is history.

Jump ahead to October 24th 2009.  The Third annual STUMP CUP will be held in conjunction with the yearly party we host.  One lucky person will walk away knowing that they are the best, even if it is at drinking copious amounts and banging a nail into a big ol' chunk of wood.

PREVIOUS STUMP CHAMPIONS

2006-Lee, Rock Hill, SC

2007-No Tournament

2008-Amber, Charleston, SC

2009-

I GUESS IT'S OFFICIALLY A LEAGUE NOW.  We've got STUMPS in:

Rock Hill, SC

Charleston, SC

Concord, NC

The Playing Surface, Hammer & Booze

(1)  32" high piece of Southern Pine.  The diameter is approx. 18".  Give or take few inches to the diameter is cool.

(1) Bricklayer or Mason hammer. Pic (1)

Nails-the best we've found are standard 3.125" builder's nails.  Pic (2)

Some Beer...no make that lots of beer.

And for EXTREME STUMP-(which is what we usually get in trouble for playing)

(1) Bottle of your liquor of choice.  In an attempt to keep things sort of authentic. When playing on the home court (my house) a bottle or two of BERENTZEN's ApfelCorn is on hand.

Game Play

Each player takes a turn starting their nail into The Stump until it is no lower than a pre-determined height of 2.75" (which we've marked on our hammer with the hammer side down)  See Pic (3)

Game play begins with the winner of the first game starting each subsequent game.  If no game has been played, game play begins with the player to the left of the host.

Player (1) first takes a drink from his/her beverage then attempts to strike the nail with the CHISEL side of the mason's hammer. The Player is successful if he/she strikes the head of the nail cleanly, driving the nail a little further into The Stump. If upon the strike, the Player misses the head of the nail he/she must take a second drink from their beverage.

 GAME VARIATION: (this is usually where things tend to go wrong and Stumps get banned from neighborhood gatherings) If upon striking the nail the player TILTS the nail, or the nail leaves the playing surface the player must partake of a "pull" from the bottle.

This continues on to the next person until only one is left.  The Winner.

SOME SPECIFICS:

A nail is considered in when all of the nail is flush with the surface of The Stump. If upon striking the "final" blow to his/her nail a player announces they're out, the "flushness" of the nail may be contested by anyone playing in that specific round. Once contested, the hammer is passed to the player to the right, and that player will perform a "DRAG". A drag is made up of ONE consistent pull across the head of the nail with the CHISEL end of the hammer.  If at any time in the DRAG the hammer catches the nail it is not considered flush, and the player who made the claim to be out must drink a penalty drink(s). 

GAME VARIATION: Pull from the bottle.

If the drag does not produce a catch the player who contested the out must serve the penalty.

MORE SPECIFICS: Yes, Trash Talk is encouraged, it's a vital part of the game that usually leads to side bets.  The side bets are up to the players though.  We usually go with $ figures rather than silly adolescent dares or the such on account of at our age streaking through the neighborhood is something nobody wants to see.