This study contributes new literature to the growing body of research on college student drinking. This study examined the relationship between college student alcohol use, alcohol-related problems and drinking games participation (DG), notably the meditational role of positive alcohol expectancies between participation, use, and problems. Participants included 1329 entering freshmen at a Bay Area university who self-identified as 18 years of ago or older, reported a recent experience of drinking alcohol, and who completed the survey during orientation before their first academic quarter. Participants were asked to complete brief questionnaires regarding demographics, alcohol use during the previous three months, alcohol-related consequences, frequency of DG participation, favorite DG, and the Alcohol Expectancy Inventory (AEI). Simple regressions were used to examine the relationships between overall alcohol use, as measured by the Quantity Frequency Index (QFI), the number of different alcohol-related problems, and frequency of DG participation. A Chi-squared analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between type of game, as outlined by LaBrie (2013) and frequency of participation. An analysis of variance was conducted to examine the relationship between the frequency of DG participation and number of alcohol-related problems endorsed by students. To assess the effect of positive alcohol expectancies on the relationship between QFI and DG participation, a meditational path analysis was implemented using procedures outlined by Baron and Kenny (1986). Results indicate that increased frequency of alcohol involvement is associated with an increase in the number of alcohol-related problems. Similarly, greater frequency of DG participation was associated with a greater number of problems endorsed by students, as well as greater alcohol involvement overall. Type of DG was not associated with participation or problems in this study. Additionally, positive alcohol expectancies did not appear to mediate the relationship between DG participation and alcohol involvement, in support of resent research, which indicates that motives, rather than expectancies, may be a stronger mediator of college student drinking practices and negative alcohol-related consequences. Furthermore, this study supports literature demonstrating an association between DG participation and alcohol involvement. College drinking prevention and intervention programs may benefit from targeting DG involvement specifically.