Buffalo Club

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.

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. :)