Saturday, March 29, 2008

#5 Beer Pong


American’s have Football, Australians have Cricket, the rest of the world has Soccer… college students have Beer Pong! Ask any college student and they will agree beer pong should become an Olympic game. Since it isn’t, some make their own “Beer Olympics” with beer pong, the beer bong, and flip cup. Go into any Fraternity house and you will see a wonderfully crafted custom beer pong table. In college houses, the garage’s sole purpose is to house the beer pong table, not to store cars. Beer pong is more important than cars.

The rules of beer pong can vary depending on the region it is being played, it is even called Beirut at some Ivy League conferences, but the main idea remains the same.

1. There is a long table; ping-pong tables are used most frequently.
2. There are 10 cups on either end of the table arranged in a triangle each filled about halfway full with beer.
3. Generally, the game is played in teams of two where each player throws one of two ping-pong balls into the one of the opponents’ cups. Once the two balls are on the opponent’s side it is their turn to throw.
a. One ball in the cup means the opponent drinks that cup of beer.
b. Two balls in means the opponent drinks three cups of beer.
4. The winners are the team who makes the other team drink all their cups of beer.

Now there are some very specific rules and variations to be aware of:

If the ball bounces on the table the other team can swat it away. Some do not allow the elbow of the thrower to cross the edge of the table, so not to give them an unfair advantage.

If the ball hits the cup but does not go in the other team just takes a drink.

If the ball goes in but swirls around the edge of the cup and has not dropped into the beer yet, the other team can “blow” on it to get it out of the cup (Note: some conferences only allow girls to blow… well because girls blow and guys don’t).

Teams are also able to ask the other team to re-arrange their cups to form a more appealing triangle, but rules on this vary extremely from conference to conference.

Make sure to understand all the rules before entering a tournament because once the ball is thrown it’s on and there aren’t any instant replays. Someday beer pong will get the athletic recognition it deserves, but for now it still holds its place as the most amazing college sport in the US.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

update?

Anonymous said...

There's a lot more rules than that!

1.If the team gets both their balls in the same cup on the same turn, the game is over.

2. If two separate cups on the same turn are made, the same team gets to shoot again.

3. A bounced in ball is worth two cups.

4. Once the last cup is made, the opposing team gets to shoot until they miss. This is known as "The Rebuttal" If the opposing team makes all the cups, the game enters sudden death and 1 cup is placed on each side.

5. Two re-racks are allowed but nver during a turn. It must be announced before the team begins shooting.

Astuertz said...

True that. Beer pong is definitely own of "my" favorite games, right up there with fencing. We're on a work-out plan right now, so we haven't played in a while, but once me and my friends are done getting back into shape, you can expect me to be on one end of that beer pong table.

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