The Draft: the football draft party game

01 · DefinitionWhat is The Draft?

The Draft is a football draft party game inside the Dronk app. Every player builds a squad from real footballers, the app plays the matches, and the group hands the loser a penalty they agreed on beforehand. It borrows the part of a fantasy draft everyone loves, the picks and the arguing, and skips the part nobody loves, the season-long spreadsheet.

There are two ways to draft. In spin mode you spin the wheel, it lands on a club or a national team from a specific season, and you pick a player from that squad who fits an open slot in your formation. In classic mode you choose an open position and get four candidates from the whole catalog to pick from. Either way you end up with a full team on the pitch, and the ratings of those players decide how the simulated match swings.

The Draft is new in Dronk 2.0.3 and sits next to 15 other party games in the same app: Imposter, Most Likely To, Roulette and more. There is a second draft in Dronk too, an auction where two players get $20 each and bid on items instead of footballers: $20 Draft: the viral TikTok format.

02 · RulesHow to play The Draft (step by step)

A full game runs in five phases: setup, draft, fill the squad, matches, penalty. Here is how it plays on one phone, screen by screen.

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   Setup: one phone or LIVE, names, mechanic

   Pick One phone (take turns on one phone) or LIVE (everyone drafts from their own phone, with a pin). Set the player count (2-16, four here) and tap a name to change it. Then choose the draft mechanic: Spin, where the wheel lands on a team and you pick from their squad, or Classic, where you pick a position and choose between 4 candidates. A toggle to hide ratings until the end is on the same screen. Agree on the penalty before you tap Start Game.

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   Spin: the wheel picks a team

   Olivia's spin. Her squad so far sits at the top of the screen, seven stars placed and RB, CM, ST and RW still open. Below it the wheel rolls through the catalog: Ajax 2018/19, Randers FC 2020/21, Real Madrid 2017/18... It only ever stops on a team that has at least one legal pick for her, so a scrappy underdog is always a real risk.

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   Pick a player from that squad

   The wheel stopped on FC Barcelona 2016/17. Olivia picks one player who fits an open slot: Messi (93, RW) or Suárez (92, ST) would slot straight in; Iniesta (88, CM) too. Every player is listed with position, rating and season, grouped by Attack, Midfield, Defence and Goalkeeper. The pick lands on the pitch and the phone goes to the next drafter.

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   Fill every slot in your formation

   This is Classic mode: "Olivia, pick a position, tap an open slot on the pitch." Her 4-3-3 has eight stars in place (Ronaldo 94, Messi 93, De Bruyne 91, Xavi 93, Marcelo, Van Dijk, Ramos, Neuer) and ST, CM and RB still open. Tap a slot and choose between four candidates for that role. In 11-a-side you lock a formation before your first pick: 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-2-3-1 or 5-3-2. Players take turns until every squad is full.

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   Matches: the app plays it out with live commentary

   Semi-final, Olivia 2-0 Tyler. The ball moves on the pitch and the commentary rolls in minute by minute: "28', GOAL! Marcel Desailly skips past A. Robben and scores!" Two players play a single match, three a group stage, four to sixteen a cup with seeding and lucky losers, re-seeded every round until the final. A knockout draw goes to a penalty shootout. Skip if you can't wait.

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   The winner, the standings, the penalties

   "Olivia won the Draft." Her full eleven glows in gold: Ronaldo '02 and Ronaldo 16/17 either side of Messi up front, Xavi and Iniesta in midfield, Carlos, Nesta, Desailly and Cafu at the back. Scroll down for the final standings 1-4 with squad ratings and who takes which penalty: the champion goes free, semi-final losers get the harsher tier, the beaten finalist the mildest. Play again for a rematch with fresh spins.

03 · CatalogClubs and national teams you can land on

The catalog holds 87 squads, and every one is pinned to a season, so the wheel can hand you a legendary side or a scrappy underdog. Clubs cover the big five leagues plus Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Turkey and Argentina; the national teams cover World Cup and Euro squads from 1986 to 2022. A sample of what's in there:

Clubs

National teams

Each squad lists its real players with position, shirt number and a rating. Ratings feed the match engine, so a wheel that keeps landing on mid-table sides is a real handicap, and part of the fun.

04 · PenaltiesWho takes the penalty?

Dronk never tells you what a penalty is. Your group decides that beforehand: a challenge, a song, a story, a dare. The Draft only decides who takes it, and it does so on the final standings, never per lost match.

• Two players: the loser of The Match takes the penalty.
• Three players: last place in the group takes it, second-to-last gets a lighter one.
• Cup (4-16): everyone knocked out in the same round shares the same penalty. First round out is the harshest tier, then round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final, and losing the final is the mildest. The champion goes free.

That means a big table gets a natural ladder of stakes with one game, and the players who bragged the most during the draft usually end up at the bottom of it.

05 · LIVEThe Draft with a pin code

In Dronk LIVE the host creates a room and shares a 4-digit pin code. Everyone joins from their own iPhone, no account needed, and the draft runs in turn order across all phones: the wheel spins on the drafter's phone, everyone sees the pick, and the matches play out for the whole room at the same time. When the tournament ends, the host taps play again and the same room starts a fresh draft without re-entering the code.

LIVE is built for the same group in the same room, not for remote play. Joining is always free; the host needs the app installed.

06 · ComparedThe Draft vs a fantasy league vs a card draft

Pick The Draft when you want the draft-night feeling in one sitting with a winner before the night is over. Pick a fantasy league when your group wants a season-long thing to argue about. Pick a card draft if you already own the cards and it's just two or three of you.

07 · FUT DraftIs The Draft like FUT Draft? What's different

People who search for a football draft usually land on one of two things, so it is worth being clear about which one this is. FUT Draft is a mode inside Ultimate Team in EA's football video game: you are offered player items, you build a squad from them on screen, and then you play the matches yourself with a controller.

The Draft in Dronk is a party game for a table. The people are in the same room, the phone goes around, and nobody controls a player: once every squad is full, the app plays the matches out as text and commentary, and the group hands the loser the penalty they agreed on beforehand. It is not a football video game, not a squad builder, and not connected to Ultimate Team in any way.

EA SPORTS FC, Ultimate Team and FUT are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. FIFA is a trademark of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Dronk is not affiliated with or endorsed by either. The Draft is Dronk's own game with its own squads, rules and penalties.

09 · More gamesMore games in Dronk

The Draft is one of 16 party games in the same app. These pair well with it on the same night: