Beer Pong - Game Play

Game Play

Traditionally, the game of beer pong has been played by countless variations of rule sets. In recent years, organizations such as The World Series of Beer Pong have put forth "official" rules. Typically, players abide by a uniform set of "house rules", which are often consistent within one university or region of the country (e.g., "Ivy League rules" or "West Coast rules"), or may vary on a "house-by-house" basis. Number of cups, bouncing, amount of alcohol, the distance shots must be taken from, et cetera, may all vary. All house rules must be either posted or verbally stated and understood by both teams before the game starts. If neither happens previous to the game, the game in progress should be ruled by official beer pong rules.

In some house rules, players must immediately drink any cup that has been hit. Failure to do so incurs a penalty, such as drinking more beer or losing the game. Some rule sets allow for "re-racking" (also known as "reforming", "rearranging", "consolidation", and other names), which is a rearrangement of a team's remaining cups after some have been removed. The formations, number of cups, when to rearrange and so on depend on the rule set. For example, a team with three remaining cups may ask the other team to "re-rack" their multiple targets into a single triangle formation.

Some other house rules allow swatting the ball away if it bounces. Others allow players to flick or blow the ball out of the cup if the ball spins around the inner rim, but blowing is often restricted to female players. Other rules state that if a team makes both shots in a round, each player may shoot again, sometimes called a "rollback". In World Series of Beer Pong rules only one repo/rollback is allowed and is a single ball, resulting in a 3 cup maximum that can be made per turn.

Before shooting, teams may dunk the ping pong balls into cups of water in order to wash off the balls. However, research has shown that the wash cups still hold bacteria, such as E. coli. To avoid any illness, many players now put water in the cups instead of beer, and keep a beer on the side that can remain cold. In doing so, it removes the element of getting sick or even drinking any dirt that may transfer from the ball into the cup.