Standard House Rules
Games are five minutes a side.
Winner stays on. If drawn, Black stays on.
The winner's next opponent is the player who has gone the longest time without a game. So there is effectively a "queue" for a game. When a player arrives at the pub they go on the back of the queue, i.e. they play after every other player present has played. They thus have time for adequate refreshment before playing.
If players have already met on the evening in question, and they can remember the colours they took at the last game, the colours are swapped. If they haven't met or can't remember then colours alternate for the player who stayed on.
"J'adoube"s are permitted with the opponent's consent, which will not unreasonably be withheld, especially in interesting positions. However a player committing a serious "j'adoube" vacates the board at the end of the game irrespective of the result. So a serious blunder loses, but doesn't necessarily ruin the game for players or spectators.
A serial winner who vacates the board for a natural break loses his/her place and goes to the back of the queue (see above). Good players are naturally expected to avoid this by developing their drinking capacity rather than by making a half last all evening.
Normally one board will be set up to host a series of games on the above format. Usually a second, or even a third board will be brought along by one or another of the regulars, for slower games, discussions around interesting positions, or whatever takes the fancy.
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