Beer Pong

Before I started my career, I’d never heard of beer pong. Judging from the name, it sounded like a cross of ping-pong with beer consequences. And what do you know? I was right. After seeing a couple of games, it turns out to be pretty straightforward.

How to Play Beer Pong (pingpong-style)

Beer pong is best played with four people. Place four cups at the center of each fourth of the table. (Two cups if there are only two people playing.) If you want to be exact, use your paddles to measure the distance, or do as my coworkers at the time did and mark the center with a permanent marker so you’ll never have to measure. (It looks ugly but it works!)

Each player must use a paddle like in a regular table tennis game. The goal is to hit your opponents’ cup, after which your opponents will have to take a sip of beer. To serve, hit the ball to the opposite corner. If you hit any cup while serving, your side has to take a penalty swig. When returning the ball, wait for the ball to bounce once. You cannot block your cups from being hit by smashing the ball before it’s bounced on the table.

After one side takes 8 swigs of beer, the game is over. For an instant win, drop the ball directly into the opponents’ cup.

Players often joke about not knowing who’s really winning, the one hitting the opponents’ cups or the ones taking swigs of beer for each hit. It’s an interesting “sport”, especially if you’re watching the players getting more and more unsteady.

With a game like beer pong, you’d think it wouldn’t be taken seriously. Not true! I’ve witnessed a whole (funny) argument about the “rules” when hitting the ball after its bounced on the floor. I guess even beer pong has its competitive followers.

Quotage

I mention beer pong because I overheard some guys heading to play it earlier. One said, “Why don’t we just drink the beer instead of throwing balls into it?”

Why indeed.