Buffalo Club | Drink with your Left Hand!

The folks at RealBeer.com took their own direction with Buffalo Club. While they incorrectly denote us as a “game,” their rules of initiation are certainly noteworthy. Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

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This game is one that you have to get your friends involved before you tell them the rules. It’s called the Buffalo Club (I don’t quite know why it is called that the founder would not tell me). The rules are simple because there is only one rule. First you have to enroll the person in the club by taking their pinky finger with your pinky finger and making them repeat after you. Have them say the following:

I (state their first and last name) promise to follow all the rules of the Buffalo Club.

After that is done, you tell them the rule. The rule is as follows:

YOU CAN ONLY DRINK WITH YOUR LEFT HAND. IF SOMEONE THAT IS IN THE BUFFALO CLUB CATCHES THEM DRINKING WITH THEIR RIGHT HAND THEY MUST POUND THAT BEER. IF THEY FORGET AND POUND WITH THEIR RIGHT HAND THEY MUST POUND ANOTHER FULL BEER.

TWO IMPORTANT NOTES: (1) YOU ARE IN THIS GAME FOR LIFE.
(2) IF YOU CALL SOMEONE DRINKING WITH THEIR RIGHT HAND AND IT IS ACTUALLY THEIR LEFT THEN YOU MUST POUND A BEER.

Thanks for taking the time to produce this page. I hope you list this as a game. It is a fun game that might not get you drunk but will do a good job getting you there. Feel free to add any rules that you
think of. Liquor can be substituted, but it is highly recommended that you use BEER only.

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Cheers. As always, drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

There’s a growing following for Buffalo Club at Indiana University. They’re totally aligned with our cause, too! Check it out:

RULES

If you are caught drinking with anything but your left hand and another member of Buffalo Club sees you, they can call “BUFFALO CLUB!” on you. You then have to chug the rest of your drink, whether it’s a pint or a pitcher.

–BUFFALO CLUB TESTIMONIALS–

“I have a following of about 200 people here in San Diego and my brothers and I play it constantly. I think I caught John four times in Marco Island last weekend and had my cousin chugging a $20 glass of wine at an Italian restaurant for my Aunt’s birthday two weeks ago.” -SP

If you’re a Hoosier and have Facebook (what are the odds?), you should join the IU Chapter of Buffalo Club through Facebook.

Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

OK- so this isn’t necessarily about Buffalo Club, the left-handed drinking society, but it’s a great quote and ties in nicely with out club. Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

“A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”
- Cliff Clavin

Here’s another video I came across.  My favorite part is this video takes place in New Zealand.  It’s a beautiful thing when the Buffalo Club stretches it’s left hand across the world. 

Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King.

I decided to jump on YouTube to get my daily dose of “My New Haircut” when I came across this random Buffalo Club video.  From the sounds of it, they live by the non-dominant hand rule.

Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

We came across this music group in the United Kingdom called The Buffalo Club.  They’re a rock band declaring “F@#$ that SA&#$!!!! Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!!”

Songs include End Song, All Teeth No Tongue, 29 Miles, Drive it Like You Stole It, How to Hang Off a Rope

I think we should request a Buffalo Club theme song.

Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

One of the hot topics has always been a universal Buffalo Club wristband to let other unintroduced members immediately know that you’re in the Buffalo Club.  While surfing the internet, we came across this Buffalo Club on MySpace (see previously posted article about the South Carolina Buffalo Club) that has already created Buffalo Club wristbands.  For this call to action, we solute you! 

Drink lefty my friends. -Buffalo King

Once again, the Buffalo Club has a strong following with many variations.  This Buffalo Club strictly prohibits women from being involved.  While this is not our policy, I try my best to inform the Buffalo Club community of all the different variations in the world and hope to one day bring the clubs together under one Buffalo Club umbrella here at www.buffaloclub.com.

Other classic rules include the ability to drink with both hands as long as the non-dominant hand is on top.  I am going to confer with some colleagues but this sounds like a great rule to incorporate into our set of rules when having to chug an enormous drink requiring the use of both hands.  Drink left my friends! -Buffalo King

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=149986394

About the Buffalo Club (Simpsonville, South Carolina)

THE BUFFALO CLUB IS A VERY SERIOUS CLUB. ONCE YOU ARE INDUCTED THE ONLY WAY OUT IS DEATH. WRISTBANDS ARE COMING SOON AND ARE TO BE WORN ON YOUR DOMINATE HAND. I’M SORRY BUT ONLY MEN ARE ALLOWED TO JOIN. SORRY LADIES.

Rules

THE RULES ARE SIMPLE EACH BUFFALO MEMBER WHENEVER DRINKING ANY BEVERAGE MUST DRINK WITH THEIR NON-DOMINATE HAND. IF ANOTHER BUFFALO MEMBER SEES THEM DRINKING WITH THEIR DOMINATE HAND, THEY CAN CALL BUFFALO ON THAT PERSON, CAUSING THE OTHER PERSON TO HAVE TO CHUG THEIR DRINK (NO MATTER WHAT IT IS). IF DRINKING WITH TWO HANDS YOUR NON DOMINATE HAND HAS TO BE ON TOP. IF YOU DENY A BUFFALO YOU WILL BE HIT IN THE FACE WITH PHONEBOOK, FIST, OR ANYTHING AROUND YOU. SO YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JUST CHUG THE DRINK.

I came across this cool post from 2000.  I always love to read about the infamous Buffalo Club stretching it’s left arm across the world.

http://everything2.com/e2node/Buffalo%2520Club

Buffalo Club is not so much a club as a drinking game. I first joined the club when I started university and was living in rez. The jist of the club is that when drinking an alcoholic beverage you must use your non-dominant hand to drink. If you are caught drinking with your dominant hand by one of your fellow drinkers, they call “Buffalo!” and you must guzzle the remainder of the drink.

Also, if asked by someone “Are you a Buffalo?” you must respond with “Once a buffalo, always a buffalo.”

This club is a great way to get hammered, especially when you are new to the club. It is a downward spiral of destruction and despair since the more drunk you get the easier it is to forget to drink with the non-dominant hand. And of course, once caught, you have to guzzle, which in turn makes you that much more drunk.

As a result of 4 years, I now drink with my non-dominant hand without even thinking about it. It is now a habit. And it’s a great conversation piece, especially when someone asks if you’re left handed when they see you drinking with your left hand.

RESPONSE

I was introduced to the Buffalo Club in Glasgow by someone who had prevously studied at St Andrews, who had been introduced by someone from somewhere else in the country. It’s a worldwide phenomenon

I was informed of two rules…

1. Membership costs a penny. You can leave the club at any time by getting your penny back from the member you joined with.
2. If caught with a drink in your right hand (unless it’s on a table or at your lips), and someone calls buffalo!, you have to down whatever’s left, or kiss the person to your right.

The night I was introduced, someone caught me with almost a full pint of Caffreys in my right hand. I gave the guy to my right a peck on the cheek, and continued drinking with my left hand.

While the www.buffaloclub.com Buffalo Club purely represents the left-handed drinkers of the world, we figured we would pay tribute to another Buffalo Club that has been in existence since 1867. http://www.thebuffaloclub.org/.  This club, in Buffalo, NY, was created for the purpose of fostering social intercourse among its members.  I wonder if some of the members today have decided to adopt our left-handed policies as well?  There is speculation as to when our club was founded and we are still tracing back the club to the original founders (or at least those that are still alive today.)  Did these social members create their club after being introduced to our left-handed drinking society back in the 1860s?

Either way, we appreciate their efforts to create a club dedicated to fostering social intercourse.  Drink lefty my friends! -Buffalo King.

Excerpt from the website of The Buffalo Club in Buffalo, NY

During the latter half of the 19th century, Buffalo was the hub of America’s east-west commerce. Our railroad yards bustled with activity. The country’s first grain elevator rose here on the shores of Lake Erie, and the metals industry had already established a firm foothold.

As commerce and industry flourished, they spurred cultural growth as well. The University of Buffalo, the Fine Arts Academy, the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences and the Buffalo Historical Society were all founded during this prosperous era. It was during this same period that The Buffalo Club came into being.

Millard Fillmore, President of the United States from 1850 to 1853, had returned to Buffalo and was counted among the city’s most influential citizens. In 1867, he joined 92 other like-minded gentlemen in signing The Buffalo Club’s original incorporation papers. The Club’s stated purpose was “to promote social intercourse among its members.”

From 1867 to 1870, the Club leased the Movius home on the northwest corner of Delaware and Cary. When this lease expired, the Ganson house on the northwest corner of Delaware and Chippewa was purchased. In 1881 Grover Cleveland, then mayor of Buffalo, was elected to membership. Cleveland, who went on to serve two separate terms as America’s President, remained a Buffalo Club member all his life. By 1887 the Club had outgrown the Ganson house, and the Pratt house was purchased. It remains the Club’s home to this day. The roster of Buffalo Club members and special guests (both past and present) includes the names of many distinguished and influential personalities. It’s been said that to know the Club’s history is to know much of the history of Buffalo.

“Perhaps the most amazing fact about the Club… is not that it survived the years, but that it survived them with essentially the same declared policies which the founders had in mind. It began merely as a group for the purpose of fostering social intercourse, and it is just that today and always has been. It was founded by the leading business and professional men of Buffalo of 1866… and it still includes and always has included the leading business and professional men of Buffalo [and the Niagara Frontier].” 

More information can be found at http://www.buffaloah.com/a/del/388/