If you’ve heard Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.”, you may already know the chant.
But the APT game existed before the song.
APT — pronounced “apateu” in Korean — is a simple Korean drinking game built around stacking hands, calling a number and counting imaginary “floors” of an apartment.
Rosé introduced the game to friends while working on music overseas, and their reaction helped inspire what eventually became the global hit “APT.” with Bruno Mars.
The best part?
You don’t need cards, dice or complicated rules.And you don’t actually need alcohol either.
Here’s exactly how to play the APT game, what the name means in Korean, how it inspired Rosé’s song and a few K-pop variations you can use at your next party.
What Is the APT Game?
The APT game, also known as the Apartment Game or Apateu game, is a Korean drinking game where players stack their hands in the middle of the group.
One player calls a number representing a “floor.”
Starting with the hand at the bottom of the stack, players move each bottom hand to the top while counting upward.
The player whose hand lands on the chosen number loses the round.
In the traditional drinking-game version, that player drinks.
The game became internationally famous after inspiring Rosé and Bruno Mars’ song “APT.”
Table of contents
01 What Is the APT Game?
02 How to Play the APT Game
03 APT Game Example
04 Why Is It Called the APT Game?
05 How Did the APT Game Inspire Rosé & Bruno Mars?
06 What Does APT Mean in Rosé's Song?
07 Did Rosé Invent the APT Game?
08 Is APT Really a Korean Drinking Game?
09 Can You Play the APT Game Without Alcohol?
10 K-Pop APT Game Variations
11 APT Game vs Other Korean Drinking Games
12 What Do People Drink While Playing?
13 APT Game FAQ
14 Want to Play Korean Drinking Games in Seoul?
15 Final Thoughts
How to Play the APT Game
The rules are easy enough to learn in one round.
Korea Times describes the game as requiring at least two people, although it becomes more entertaining with a larger group.
Source: Korea Times
Step 1: Gather the Players
Sit or stand in a circle where everyone can reach the middle.
You technically only need two people, but the hand stack gets much more chaotic with a group.
No cards.No board.No app.Just your hands. ✋
Step 2: Start the APT Chant
Before the hands are stacked, the group begins the familiar “apateu” chant together.
In the version documented by Korea Times, players repeat “apateu” four times before the round begins.
APATEUAPATEUAPATEUAPATEU!
This is the part that many K-pop fans instantly recognize from Rosé and Bruno Mars’ song.
You don’t need to sing the song itself.
The chant is enough to start the game.
Step 3: Call a Floor Number
The starting player calls out any number.
For example:
“Seven!”
Think of that number as the floor of the apartment you’re trying to reach.
The number can be relatively low for a quick round or higher if you want the hands to cycle through the stack more than once.
Step 4: Stack Your Hands
Everyone quickly puts their hands into a pile in the middle.
There is no carefully planned order.
That’s part of the fun.
Your hand might land at the bottom, somewhere in the middle or right at the top.
Imagine the pile as an apartment building:
Now you’re ready to build the floors.
Step 5: Count Up the Apartment Floors
The person whose hand is at the very bottom pulls that hand out and places it on top of the stack.
That move counts as:
1
The new bottom hand then moves to the top:
12
Then:
12345
…and so on.
Korea Times describes the same bottom-to-top movement continuing until the number chosen at the start of the round is reached.
Source: Korea Times
So if your number was:
7
you keep moving the bottom hand to the top until someone makes move number seven.
Step 6: The Final Floor Loses
Whoever moves their hand on the chosen number loses the round.
If the target floor was seven:
💥 the player whose hand makes move #7 loses.
In the drinking version of the APT game, that person drinks and then starts the next round by calling a new number.
That’s it.
Once you’ve played one round, you know the game.
APT Game Example
FLOOR 9
Let’s say four friends are playing.
One player calls:
“Floor 9!”
Everyone stacks their hands. Then:
Whoever moves their hand on 9 loses the round.
Simple.Fast.And surprisingly chaotic once everyone starts shouting.
Why Is It Called the APT Game?
This is where the Korean language makes the game much easier to understand.
아파트 is pronounced roughly a-pa-teu / apateu and refers to an apartment.
That’s where APT comes from.
Yonhap described “Apateu” as the Korean form used for apartment when reporting on Rosé and Bruno Mars’ release.
Source: Yonhap
The hand stack also fits the idea perfectly.
Each move represents another imaginary floor of the apartment.
So when someone calls:
“Floor 12!”
your group is essentially building the apartment upward until one unlucky hand reaches floor 12.
How Did the APT Game Inspire Rosé & Bruno Mars?
This is where a simple Korean party game became part of pop culture.
Rosé explained that while working on her album overseas, she was spending time with foreign friends and offered to teach them a Korean drinking game.
She showed them the Apartment Game.
They loved it.
Their reaction was strong enough that Rosé decided to develop the idea further, eventually shaping the story into a song about meeting at an apartment and having fun together.
Other accounts of the songwriting sessions tell a similar story: Rosé introduced the drinking game in the studio, the chant caught the attention of the people around her, and the idea began turning into music.
So the drinking game wasn’t something added afterward to explain the title.
It was part of the creative idea behind the song itself.
What Does APT Mean in Rosé's Song?
APT means apartment.
More specifically, the title plays with the Korean pronunciation: 아파트 — apateu
The song takes inspiration from the Korean Apartment Game and turns its repetitive chant into part of the track’s identity.
Yonhap reported at the time of release that the music video even shows Rosé and Bruno Mars playing the Korean drinking game associated with the title.
Source: Yonhap
So if you’ve been searching:
the simple answer is:
APT refers to “apartment,” pronounced “apateu” in Korean, and the title comes from the Korean Apartment drinking game that inspired the song.
You don’t need a complicated lyrical theory to understand the reference.
The cultural connection is the game.
Did Rosé Invent the APT Game?
No.
Rosé helped make the game globally famous, but she did not invent it for the song.
She has consistently described APT as a Korean drinking game she already knew and enjoyed before the song existed.
That’s an important distinction.
The basic timeline is:
Game first.→Song second.
What Rosé did was take something familiar from Korean social culture and turn it into a pop hook that millions of people outside Korea suddenly wanted to understand.
The exact historical origin and age of the Apartment Game are much less clearly documented, so be careful with claims online that assign it a precise invention date or creator without evidence.
Is APT Really a Korean Drinking Game?
Yes.
Korean and international reporting around the song consistently identifies APT as a Korean drinking game rather than something created specifically for the music video.
It’s part of a much bigger world of Korean drinking games designed to keep a group involved around the table.
Some rely on numbers.Some rely on rhythm.Some test reaction speed.Others are basically engineered chaos.
Can You Play the APT Game Without Alcohol?
Absolutely.
Alcohol is the traditional penalty associated with the drinking-game version.
But nothing about the actual mechanics requires alcohol.
You can play the exact same game and replace drinking with any harmless challenge.
That makes APT especially easy to adapt for:
K-pop partiesK-drama watch nightsbirthday partiesstudent eventsor simply groups that don’t drink.
Alcohol-Free APT Penalties
Instead of drinking, the loser can:
The hand-stacking game stays exactly the same.
Only the penalty changes.
Try These K-Pop APT Game Variations
Once everyone understands the original APT game, you can turn it into a K-pop party game very easily.
🖤VARIATION
BLACKPINK Challenge
The loser has five seconds to name:
three BLACKPINK songs.
Can’t do it?
New challenge.
🔍VARIATION
Guess the Idol
The group gives the loser three clues about a K-pop idol.
They have one guess.
For example:
girl groupAustralian connectionsolo album
You can make this as easy or impossible as your group wants.
💘VARIATION
Bias Challenge
The loser has to reveal:
their current bias and: their bias wrecker.
Possibly more dangerous than the drinking version.
💃VARIATION
K-Pop Dance Challenge
The loser performs five to ten seconds of a choreography chosen by the group.
Bonus points if everyone joins in.
🎬VARIATION
K-Drama Challenge
The loser gets five seconds to name a Korean drama.
For harder rounds, add a category:
romancethrillerhistoricalschool dramaNetflix K-drama
This works particularly well for mixed K-pop and K-drama groups.
APT Game vs Other Korean Drinking Games
APT is popular because the rules are incredibly easy.
But it’s far from the only game played around Korean drinking tables.
If you enjoy APT, try exploring games such as:
3-6-9
A counting game where certain numbers are replaced by claps.
Baskin Robbins 31
Players count upward while trying to avoid being the person forced to say 31.
Titanic
A table game involving a small glass floating inside a larger drink.
Different games work for different groups, but they share a similar purpose:
keeping everyone involved.
What Do People Drink While Playing Korean Drinking Games?
In Korea, drinking games may appear during nights involving beer, soju or mixed drinks.
One of the best-known Korean combinations is somaek, a mixture of soju and beer.
If you’re unfamiliar with soju itself, start here:
the purpose of a social game is to make the table more fun.
You never need to keep pace with other people’s drinking.
APT Game FAQ
What is the APT game?
The APT game is a Korean drinking game in which players stack their hands and move the bottom hand to the top while counting upward.
One player calls a number before the counting begins.
The player whose hand lands on that number loses the round.
How do you play the APT drinking game?
Players chant “apateu,” call a number and stack their hands.
The bottom hand moves to the top and counts as one.
The next bottom hand moves to the top and counts as two.
The process continues until the chosen number is reached.
The player whose hand moves on the final number loses.
What does APT mean in Korean?
APT refers to apartment.
The Korean word 아파트 is pronounced roughly “apateu,” which is where the name of the Apartment Game — and Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” — comes from.
Is APT a real Korean drinking game?
Yes.
Rosé did not create the game specifically for the song.
She has described it as a Korean drinking game that she already played with friends.
Did Rosé invent the APT game?
No.
Rosé popularized it internationally through her music, but the Apartment Game already existed.
Her experience teaching the game to friends helped inspire the song.
How many people do you need for the APT game?
Korea Times describes the game as playable with at least two people.
However, it becomes more entertaining with a larger group because there are more hands in the stack.
Do you need alcohol to play APT?
No.
The traditional drinking-game version gives the loser a drinking penalty, but the counting and hand-stacking mechanics work perfectly without alcohol.
You can substitute a K-pop challenge, trivia question or any other harmless penalty.
Why does the APT game use hands?
The hands effectively become the “floors” of the apartment.
Each time the bottom hand moves to the top, the group counts another floor until the chosen number is reached.
Want to Play Korean Drinking Games in Seoul?
Learning the APT game from Rosé is fun.
Playing Korean drinking games around a table in Seoul is another experience entirely.
If you’re visiting Korea and want to go beyond simply ordering soju, join our Korean Drinking Games Night in Hongdae and learn how Korean social games actually work in a real night-out setting.
✓Meet other travelers.
✓Learn the games.
✓Discover the culture behind the table.
Final Thoughts
The APT game may have become internationally famous because of Rosé and Bruno Mars, but the game is more than a reference in a pop song.
It’s a simple example of how Korean drinking games turn an ordinary table into something social.
You don’t need equipment.You don’t need complicated rules.And you don’t need alcohol.
All you need is a group, a number and a pile of hands. ✋✋✋
So next time someone starts chanting:
APT
you’ll actually know what happens next.
