So, it's 50% drinking game, 50% life-size Candy Land. -Jess
Well, it's more like 75 drinking, 20 Candy Land, and by the way the floor is molten lava. -Schmidt
It's actually 90% drinking and then it's got a loose Candy Land-like structure to it. -Winston
The following rules will allow you to play an actual game of True American. These rules do not always reflect what happened on the New Girl episode "Normal".
Players take turns trying to win moves in order to navigate the tables, chairs, and cushions which are your only escape from the molten lava floor. At the center of the game is a castle made of a bottle of alcohol and many beers. As players traverse the game area, they remove beers and drink them. Once all of the beers have been removed, the first player to reach the bottle of alcohol, finish their beer, and take a swig from bottle, wins the game.
The Castle is made up of one bottle of liquor and many cans of beer (you decide how many based on the number of players). The liquor is the King and sits in the middle of the Castle. The cans of beer are the Pawns and the Soldiers of the Secret Order. The Pawns are lined up in four lines radiating outward from the King. These lines of Pawns also signify the barriers between each zone. The game ends when all of the Pawns have been removed and a player drinks from the King.
There are four zones, each with five spaces where a player can stand. The center space in each zone is the only space where the Pawns can be taken and thus it is the closest space to the Castle. There are a total of four of these spaces. The spaces at the beginning and end of the zones are the farthest away from the Castle.
For playable rules, read the "Working Rules" section. The following rules are limited to what appeared on the sitcom New Girl and are missing significant information.
Teams are optional. To pick teams, everyone holds up a random number of fingers against their foreheads. You are teamed up with anyone else that is holding up the same number of fingers as you. Unmatched players can team up as needed.
The castle is made up of cans of beer and a bottle of liquor. The bottle of liquor is the king of the castle. The beers are Pawns which are the Soldiers of the Secret Order. The Pawns are lined up in four lines radiating outward from the King.
There are four zones and an alternate zone is a "crazy" zone. There is a trail of chairs, cushions, tables, etc through the zones. The floor is molten lava. You must use these objects to traverse the zones without stepping in the lava. The Castle is in the middle of the zones.