The American pastime may be baseball, but the American college pastime is beer pong, the game of skill and inebriation that has consumed college students since your parents were in school.
If you don’t know how to play beer pong, don’t worry. It’s not that hard.
The Materials
An ideal beer pong table is a normal ping pong table, but often people will improvise with smaller tables or even by taking doors off of their hinges and playing on those. Six or ten cups are set up at either end; they should be in a pyramid formation with the cups touching. Beer is poured into the cups; usually to the bottom line in a dixie cup. Generally speaking, only enough beer to provide a quick drink is put into the cups.
Of course, you’ll need some ping pong balls, too, and each side also has an additional cup of clean water to wash the ball off between each throw.
Play
Now, you’re ready to play. Teams usually consist of two people each, but one on one games can be played, too. Teams take turns throwing the ping pong balls and trying to land them in the cups. Your elbow shouldn’t cross the edge of the table when you throw; any method of throwing is allowed.
If you land a ball into a cup, the other team has to drink the cup of beer and the cup is removed from the table. If both you and your teammate get balls into opponent cups, you each get a second turn. The game is over when one team runs out of cups.
Many games allow the losing team to attempt a “redemption” round after losing; in this situation, the losing team is allowed to keep shooting balls after their last cup is sunk until both of them have missed. If the losing team ties the winning team by making the final cup, the game continues as if neither team has made the final cup. This can really increase the intensity of close games.
Special Rules
Some tables introduce a “battleship cup”, which is a full cup of beer that operates like a normal cup–but, of course, it adds a certain level of danger to each throw.
Some tables allow ping pong balls to be bounced into the opponents’ cups. Most tables that make this allowance will give double credit to a bounced ball (2 cups are removed), but the opposing team is allowed to swat away a bounced ball. Therefore, players who choose to bounce inevitably have to distract their opponents.
Some tables also allow blowing or scooping a swirling ball out of a cup before it lands. However, many tables only afford this luxury to female players.
There are other variations available, so always ask about rules at a table you’re playing at. Remember that in any difference of opinion, the “house” (person who owns the table) decides the outcome.
Beer pong’s a great party game and a fun pastime; just remember not to play too many games in a row, or you may–quite literally–end up drunk under the table.
