How to Play Beer Pong

Holding the white table tennis ball, the young lady stares at the red Dixie cups. The effects of alcohol are affecting her aim, making it difficult for her to throw the little ball in such a little space. She regains her composure, and launches the ball in the air where it lands softly into the cup of beer. The yells from spectators in the backyard fall and her opponent reluctantly takes the ball out and drinks the cup of beer.

A normal night of beer pong at Patrick Rezzo’s fraternity house he thought.

“Everyone comes by, sometimes in the afternoon, and we start playing,” Rezzo said. “It’s a lot of fun, everyone drinks, everyone plays, and we have a good time.”

Beer pong has stormed college parties and fraternity houses across the nation. With no official rules, beer pong, has become a popular way to have fun and drink alcohol. Known as Beirut among some circles, beer pong leagues have been set up in several cities and a World Series event is even held in Las Vegas, NV.

According to the World Series of Beer Pong, the regulation size of the playing surface is eight feet by two feet, but any flat surface will do. The game is normally played by two teams of two people with one or two table tennis balls and Dixie cups filled with beer a third to half the way. Games are played with six or ten cups for each team which are formed into a triangle at each end of the table, similar to how bowling pins are set up. An additional cup of water for each team is typically used to dip the ball before throwing it.

“Make sure the cup of water is used, no one wants to drink a dirty beer,” Rezzo said. “Especially when you use a regular piece of wood like we us.”

To choose which team goes first, players stare at each other while taking turns throwing the ball. The first to sink one wins. Teams then take turns trying to throw the tennis table balls into the cups. Each member has one chance to throw per turn. The ball can be lobbed and bounced in, depending on the rules. If the ball is lobbed in, one cup of beer is drunk. If it is bounced in, two cups are drunk. A rule some follow is if the throwing team is trying to bounce one in, the opposing team has the chance to swat it away.

When a ball falls in a cup, the team who owns the cup must drink it. The remaining cups can stay in place or be rearranged to form a smaller diamond, triangle, or line. Two changes are generally allowed. The team that drinks all of their cups first loses and has to drink the opponent teams’ cups too.

“If you find yourself drinking a lot you might want to work on your technique,” Charles Keeranan said, a college student who plays beer pong often. “Make sure you choose the right throwing side and remember to be gentle with the ball, the target is only a few feet away.”