College Culture
Beer pong: an informative guide
juan Cisneros
Issue date: 9/2/09 Section: The Edge
In just about any college in America (except maybe Utah State University because alcohol is banned there … no that is not a typo. It's a real college where alcohol is banned.), you're going to see the ever so popular game called beer pong being played. And it came to my attention recently that as popular as beer pong is, there are some people out there that have no idea what it is or how to play.
It's quite simple, really. The basic idea is to take turns throwing a Ping-Pong ball into your opponents' cups and eliminate their cups before they can eliminate yours. The catch is that the cups are filled to some proportion with beer, usually somewhere from one-fourth of each cup to the daring full cup each.
Now depending on where you're from, there are many different types of rules and variations to the game of beer pong. The most consistent rules in the area consist of two, two player teams throwing and using 10 cups per team. The cups are filled about one-fourth of the way with usually a light beer. It doesn't seem like a good idea to use hard alcohol for a game like this, but that's another story.
There are different ways to throwing the ball, too. Most people either use a high arcing shot, similar to a free throw in basketball. Others use more of a straight-line fastball type throw, similar to a Shaquille O'Neal free throw. And last, but most certainly not least, there is the bounce throw. Now the bounce is unique in that it is sometimes the only type of shot that can be blocked by the opponent. However, the bounce is also the only type of shot that if made, counts as two cups. The efficiencies of the throws vary depending on the skill of the players.
Those are the basic rules, but like I had mentioned previously, depending on where you're from and who's playing the game, there are different types of rules that can go along with it. Some may use the no bounce rule; others may even add the "On Fire!" rule a la the NBA Jam video game from the 90's. No matter how you play, whether it's using as many as 28 cups (yes, I've seen this done) or just six cups, beer pong is part of the American college culture.
It's quite simple, really. The basic idea is to take turns throwing a Ping-Pong ball into your opponents' cups and eliminate their cups before they can eliminate yours. The catch is that the cups are filled to some proportion with beer, usually somewhere from one-fourth of each cup to the daring full cup each.
Now depending on where you're from, there are many different types of rules and variations to the game of beer pong. The most consistent rules in the area consist of two, two player teams throwing and using 10 cups per team. The cups are filled about one-fourth of the way with usually a light beer. It doesn't seem like a good idea to use hard alcohol for a game like this, but that's another story.
There are different ways to throwing the ball, too. Most people either use a high arcing shot, similar to a free throw in basketball. Others use more of a straight-line fastball type throw, similar to a Shaquille O'Neal free throw. And last, but most certainly not least, there is the bounce throw. Now the bounce is unique in that it is sometimes the only type of shot that can be blocked by the opponent. However, the bounce is also the only type of shot that if made, counts as two cups. The efficiencies of the throws vary depending on the skill of the players.
Those are the basic rules, but like I had mentioned previously, depending on where you're from and who's playing the game, there are different types of rules that can go along with it. Some may use the no bounce rule; others may even add the "On Fire!" rule a la the NBA Jam video game from the 90's. No matter how you play, whether it's using as many as 28 cups (yes, I've seen this done) or just six cups, beer pong is part of the American college culture.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
April
posted 9/03/09 @ 1:45 PM CST
If you want the lowdown on Beer Pong, check out The Book of Beer Pong for rules, variations, technique and strategy.
Anonymous Prince Hall mason
posted 9/03/09 @ 4:11 PM CST
I was having some problems with my login credentials so I thought I would take this opportunity to use this reply link for my discussion. Surprisingly it does have a little to do with what we call " this college culture". (Continued…)
Post a Comment