Let me start by stating the obvious. There’s no such thing as “official” beer pong rules, and if you think otherwise, I will belittle you in a future post.
The only rules in beer pong are house rules. This means whoever owns the house where said beer pong game is played calls the shots. But because some people suck at making house rules, I’m going to make a few suggestions of my own to get you started.
Official Beer Pong Rules
Ping Pong Balls
Be a champ and go with the orange three-star ping pong balls. Sure they cost a little more, but if everyone’s going to be drinking natty piss all night, at least give your beer pong warriors some dignity.
The Table
For the love of God please have a decent size table. If gorilla armed Gary can slam dunk the ping pong ball in my middle cup we are going to have problems. When in doubt, go longer than shorter (that’s what she said). It will help keep the leaning Larrys of the world at bay.
Cups
Nothing but a regular sized Dixie cup (or Solo) will cut it. And do not, I repeat, do not forget the water cups. While I doubt that dunking a ping pong ball into a cup of dirty water actually does anything, I don’t think I could imagine a game of beer pong without one at my side.
Location
I’ve been to parties where everyone is inside and the beer pong table is sitting outisde on a porch. Let me make one thing clear. Beer pong is not to be shunned and left on a porch for the wallflowers of the world to lean all over it. It is to be cherished, placed as the centerpiece and heart of any large college gathering.
Blowing/ Fingering
One of the most controversial topics in all of beer pong. Let me clear it up for you. Unless you are a FEMALE I better not catch you fingering or blowing on my balls.
Bouncing
Although the bouncing rule is a pretty widely accepted rule for both sexes, I’ve encountered house rules where males were discriminated against. But I’m here to tell you that bouncing is acceptable no matter what your gender. And I’ll tell you why. Unlike fingering or blowing, which gives an added advantage to the person engaging in the fingering/blowing without measured improvement to the game, bouncing is merely a device used to keep players focused on the game. Nobody wants to play beer pong with the guys who are more focused on the girl in the white shorts playing guitar hero than sinking beautifully arched beer pong shots. Bouncing, punishes the unfocused by making for a slightly easier shot that results in a two cup loss for the victim. In much the same way an electric dog fence will keep a dog at home, a well timed bounce shot will bring a lost beer pong player back to the game at hand.
Redemption
Rule: Upon one party successfully clearing the opposing party’s cups, the opposing party has the right to continue shooting until said party misses. If opposing party successfully clears these cups, effectively completing redemption, both parties proceed into sudden death.
If it’s good enough for God, it’s good enough for me. Redemption should be included in everyone’s house rules. This rule has single-handedly created the most beer pong heroes of our time. It earned me my nickname Nathan “Clutch” Thompson, and I am forever in debt to such an honorable rule.
Buddy I bet you absolutely suck at beer pong .. Getting 2 balls in one cup isn’t hard at all
@ jon
Pulled from Wikipedia:
“Beer pong is the more common name of the game, with a CollegeHumor survey showing that 77% of respondents called it ‘Beer pong,’ versus 23% for ‘Beirut’.”
My point is we could sit around all day and argue over which name is “correct.” But face the facts—it’s called Beer Pong because people want to call it Beer Pong. Get over it.
Besides, Beer Pong is better for search engine rankings :)
Beirut not beerpong, pong is with a paddle you fucking retards
Beirut and Beer Pong are different! Beirut, is full contact you get the ball you get to shoot it, beer pong is a more orderly form of the game in which sides take turn shooting. There is a difference, and thus there are two different names that the game goes by.
To go along with the two-balls-in-one-cup rule, the way we play around here (Just North of Baltimore) is that the cup that’s been made continues to be in play until fully consumed. That said, it’s not entirely unlikely to make a bounce shot off someone’s nose as they are consuming their defeat, thus winning the game instantly and giving you bragging rights until such a wonderful feat is accomplished again. Plus the looks on the opponents’ faces is priceless!
Am I the only one that laughed when the linked wiki went to an Ivy League school with a “pong” suffix?
Yeah. probably was.
I’m going to be honest you. As a graduate of the number one party school in the country, I’m going to call it beer pong—because that’s what we want to call it. The day I walk into a party and ask to play “Beirut” or “Lebanon” is the day I get punched in the face. But in all seriousness, thanks for heads up and the link—glad to see the game has such an honorable history.
I really wish the legit drinking websites would stop calling it “Beer Pong”. It’s Beirut, dammit. For those of us that play Beer Pong, to mix up the games is blasphemy. Check this out to get more information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_pong
@ kteam
“The aforementioned queers” apparently do not understand the significance of making two balls in the same cup. To make sure such an epic occurrence is rewarded, I always play that making two balls in one cup results in taking away three cups and the shooting team gets the balls back. I’ve played where it can result in winning the game, but what happens is you get two sober guys walking up to take on the 12 game straight incumbents, hit the same cup on their first shots (a complete fluke) and suddenly they think they own the place. If you’re good enough to hit the same cup, you’re good enough to finish it off with a couple more shots.
What is The Drunk Pirate’s stance on making two balls in one cup? The rule almost everyone I know (with the sole exception of some queers I played with last weekend) goes by is that if you make two balls in the same cup, it’s game. The aforementioned queers insisted that it meant you only pull one cup. Please advise.
Ah yes, wonderful redemption… It’s pretty great until you hit triple overtime. Then you cry on the inside, “make it stop”!