Sportsup vs Drink Roulette: which party game fits you?

On iOS, Drink Roulette is named "Party Roulette: Group Games" and is published by GreenTomatoMedia Limited. The core is a spin-the-wheel format: the wheel points at a player who either completes a challenge or takes a drink. Around that sit several mini-game modes such as Never Have I Ever, Would You Rather, Most Likely To, and various speed and reflex games.

It is a popular, well-made party app. On the US App Store it carries roughly 4.6 out of 5 from around 81,000 ratings, which tells you something about the quality. It is free to download with in-app purchases, rated 18+, and listed in the Entertainment category. The first mode is free with no ads, then you unlock additional modes via in-app purchase or a premium subscription.

It is also available in Sweden as "Fest Spel: Party Roulette" with Swedish among its languages, so a mixed crew is covered. If your group just wants fast, broad party challenges with no particular theme, Drink Roulette is a solid pick. That is exactly what it is built for.

The biggest difference is the content. Drink Roulette is built on randomized challenges, dares and opinion-style prompts delivered through its mini-modes. Sportsup is dedicated sports trivia: questions cover football, hockey, MMA, esports, golf and the Olympics, and answers are multiple choice with three options on a 1/X/2 slip.

There is also a real game mechanic with knowledge at the center. In Drink Roulette the wheel picks someone at random. In Sportsup, right answers score points, and only wrong answers earn a penalty your group defines (a sip, a push-up, a dare, whatever you like). That means whoever actually knows their sport gets rewarded. The penalty does not require alcohol, and there is a drink-free option.

Every answer also has a written explanation and a source link. Thousands of fact-checked questions sit behind it, so it is not guesswork, and you learn something between rounds. If you want to start narrow, there is a pure hockey quiz covering the NHL, internationals and classic games to argue over.

Drink Roulette is free to download and monetizes through in-app purchases and a premium subscription. So a lot of content sits behind payment beyond the free first mode, which is a common and perfectly reasonable model.

Sportsup does it differently. There are no accounts, no tracking and no ads. Some packs are free, others are one-time in-app purchases, nothing auto-renews and there is no subscription. You never log in, and the app works offline after the first load, which helps when the pre-party Wi-Fi is patchy.

And because Sportsup is made in Sweden, its sports culture is native rather than translated, while the English edition is written for an international audience with Premier League and NHL examples. Drink Roulette is an international, translated party format, whereas Sportsup is built around real sports knowledge. If you want to compare more options, see our roundup of the best drinking game apps.

Pick Drink Roulette if: your crew wants broad, mixed party challenges with no sports theme, you like the randomness of a spinning wheel and modes such as Never Have I Ever and Would You Rather, and you want a quick party game anyone can join.

Pick Sportsup if: you are sports fans who want to test real knowledge, you like that right answers score and only wrong answers earn a penalty, and you want fact-checked questions with an explanation and a source. Sportsup also fits if you prefer no accounts, no tracking and no ads, plus one-time purchases over a subscription.

Honestly, they are not mutually exclusive. Plenty of groups keep Drink Roulette for general pre-parties and Sportsup for nights when the sport takes center stage. If you prefer dares over a wheel, you can also compare Sportsup against Picolo.