As pledge master, your job is to bring together a group of young men and make them as tight-knit as possible. While the media looks to portray the pledging process as solely liquor hazing, anyone who has actually gone through the process knows it’s much more than that. But, sometimes it’s difficult to come up with original ideas for lineups that aren’t derived from an episode of Blue Mountain State. So, for all those struggling pledge masters out there, I’ve come up with a list of 25 creative lineup ideas. Some might not be super intuitive, but the good pledge masters will understand the idea with little to no explanation. Enjoy.
1. Snowman Night – Pledges build a giant snowman and must protect it with their lives
2. Puzzle Night – 1000 piece puzzle and complete darkness
3. Karaoke Night – Karaoke with no lyrics provided
4. Shower Night – Lock pledges in shower and have some fun
5. Couch Night – You’re gonna need a stomach pump for this one
6. Nerds Night – Sort Nerds candy by color in darkness
7. Elephant Walk Night – No explanation necessary
8. Name, Hometown, Major Night – Make sure everybody knows everybody
9. Tinder Night – Make pledges sign up for Tinder and ONLY swipe on men
10. Egg Night – Lots of different interpretations for this one. Be creative!
11. “Happy” by Pharrell Williams Night – Repetition, repetition, repetition
12. Sandwich Night – Eat an obscene amount of one sandwich ingredient
11. ACT Night – Take the ACT in complete darkness
12. SAT Night – Take the SAT in complete darkness
13. Talent Show Night – Enjoy some really great and really awful “talents”
14. Pencil Night – Write a phrase until the pencil is completely whittled down or eat the pencil
15. Poop Night – Blindfolds, Nutella, and Liquid Ass
16. Serenade Night – Make pledges serenade a sorority with songs of your choosing
17. Hell’s Kitchen Night – Good ol’ fashioned cook off with cleaning duties for losing team
18. Don’t F*ck Your Brother Night – Pass a large bottle of undesirable fluid down a line of pledges and the last person has to finish whatever remains
19. Clam-o-Naise Night – DFYB Night but with multiple jars of Clam-o-Naise
20. Mile Night – Send pledges running on a “mile-long” route that is much more than a mile
21. Gym Bro Night – Each pledge PRs on bench. Lowest PR spends a night in the cage
22. Crayon Night – Pencil night but with jumbo Crayola crayons
23. Polar Plunge Night – Baptism by ice bath
24. Pizookie Night – Make pledges compete in an eating competition with giant pizookie tins. Last two to finish compete in another round of pizookie eating to determine final loser
25. Survivor Night – Drop pledges off at random spots off campus in the middle of the night with no phones and hope they make it back to the house before sunrise
The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to “new member education”. Sure, your nationals would be incredibly pissed to find out that any of this happened, but the risk is well worth it. Don’t rely solely on cheap vodka to bond your pledges together. Strive to be a more innovative pledge master and change the world of hazing for the better.