If one were to combine drinking with a nostalgic childhood game, folks would go insane, especially college students.

Shane Chichester and Brian Muench managed exactly that.

Chuggerknights is reminiscent of “Rock’em Sock’em Robots” — a two-player game where opponents attempt to knock the other out first. With each player taking on one of the knights, Chuggerknights puts alcohol in the front seat as swords and shields aim to be the first to pierce the opponent’s drink. In true drinking game fashion, the loser has to chug their drink.

Chichester and Muench have been working on Chuggerknights for about a year and a half, and preorders for the game launched a few weeks ago. While Chichester is the founder, Muench, a Penn State alum, is the CEO.

“I just think it’s a fun way to socialize and party with friends,” Muench said. “It can be competitive, you can do tournaments, or you can just play it once for the night, and you’re fine and you chug the beer, and you have a good time. That’s kind of how I look at it as just an added element to a party.”

The pair met when Chichester was Muench’s massage therapist before approaching him about his viral video testing out the idea of Chuggerknights. After the video went viral and got over a million views, he reached out to Muench who has experience in product manufacturing and development.

Muench owns two companies: one represents domestic manufacturers and imports commodities and the other creates custom packaging for supermarkets in delis, bakeries, catering companies, and more.

Injection molding products are an integral part of the manufacturing process, and all of the plastic pieces in Chuggerknights are injection molded, leading Muench to know where to turn to make Chuggerknights as successful as possible through its sourced products.

But what may have helped Muench the most was his time as a brother in Penn State’s Alpha Chi Rho fraternity, where he served as the rush chair for three years. He believes he was “pretty good at throwing parties and getting people hype,” and he even thinks he probably still has the record for how many people he brought into the frat.

He not only learned how to get people excited but also what works across multiple generations.

“I think it helped me be aware of what college kids really liked and what would be fun,” Muench said. “We’re trying to appeal to the younger audience, but even the older audiences that go to tailgates and things, and they still like to have fun backyard games.”

He knew what would thrive in a college environment and quickly backed Chuggerknights.

The first batch of Chuggerknights will get into consumers’ hands in early May, and the presale sold out. In the meantime, the brand continues to grow its social media presence.

Chuggerknights made it to Cabo San Lucas during college spring break, partnering with Dyeislife, a beer die company, at its tournament. At the contests, there were a few tables dedicated to Chuggerknights in an attempt to connect with college students to potentially host tournaments of its own one day.

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After the official release in May, Muench aims to get the game into the hands of fraternities and will offer student discounts on the site.

“I want to get it in a bunch of fraternities across the country over the summer session and all the games that are going to be delivered to the customers in May will hype a lot of user-generated content and get our game out there more in people’s eyes,” Muench said. “But we’ve had a bunch of viral videos… one of our videos has over 18 million views now.”

Money from each sale is directly reinvested into marketing and spreading the word of Chuggerknights. The duo plans on partnering with influencers and taking advantage of user-generated content on social media leading up to the next presale ahead of tailgating season.

After the game comes out in May, another batch will be released at the end of the month to determine supply and demand for tailgates, especially at Penn State. With getting the game in the hands of fraternities for the summer, the hope is when school is in full swing again in the fall, Chuggerknights will be a key player in every back-to-school event.