Beer pong (paddles)
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When referring to the game using table tennis paddles, the rules of Beer Pong are relatively close to those of table tennis and thus presumably emerged as an adaptation of table tennis into a drinking game. It is unclear where the game was first played, some have suggested Dartmouth College in the 1950's, or Lafayette College in the 80s, but there has been no definitive date or place. At Dartmouth, the game did not mature until later when plastic cups became readily available; students there have held all-school tournaments with computed rankings; even creating tradeable player cards. The game is typically played in either Lob (as at Dartmouth and Lafayette) or Fast form (as at Bucknell University), with the former encouraging high, arcing shots into the cups and the latter requiring speedy direct shots meant to hit a cup or knock it over. As Dartmouth went coed, starting in the mid 70's, lob pong became more popular, since lob is more friendly to coed play. Today, lob dominates nearly every house on campus.
In either Lob Pong or Fast Pong, two or four players face off from opposite ends of a table typically made from a finished 4×8-foot sheet of plywood, often painted with elaborate scenes or symbols relevant to the institutional owner. A 2×4 or other board sometimes serves as the net, but usually people use a broomstick or other random object as the net. The game is played with wooden table-tennis paddles that often have the rubber removed and the handles sawed off. Two, four, eight, or more twelve-ounce plastic cups half full or completely full of beer are placed on each team's side, usually centered a paddle's-width from the edge but in some variants placed at the corners of the table a paddle-head length from each side. Sixteen-ounce cups are also used.
Another variant is Slam Pong, a doubles game in which one player sets the ball up to his teammate positioned at the side of the table who then slams the ball toward the cups, much as volleyball teammates would set up a spike.
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[edit] Lob
The game mirrors the basic form of a friendly game of regulation table tennis. Each serve and return must complete an arc acceptable to opponents and observers, though the goal of sinking the ball in a cup tends to reward returning in the proper form. Hitting an opponent's cup means one-fifth or one-half (depending on the school) of the cup is drunk, and sinking a ball in a cup means the entire cup is drunk. Spilling one's own cup usually merits drinking an entire cup of freshly poured beer. Other beverages than beer, including water or cocktails, are sometimes permitted, but some beverage is necessary.
[edit] Service
The ball is properly served by striking it with the paddle, ensuring it bounces only once off the serving team's half of the table, and then lands on the opposing team's half. If the ball hits an opponent's cup the serving team typically scores 1 point and serves again. If the serve lands in an opponent's cup (sometimes referred to as "poofs") that team must drink half a beer and the opponent's team receives 2 points. If the serve hits an opponent's cup, the opponent receives 1 point.
Two "faults" is allowed if the ball fails to make its second bounce on the opponent's half of the table. If a server faults three times, the opponent gets one point and gets to serve. Note that hitting or sinking on the serve do not count as faults; in this case, the opponent collects 1 or 2 poins respectively and immediately gets to serve.
Since a game cannot be lost on a service error, at match point the losing server has an unlimited number of "faults", and the server does not lose points or service if the opponent's cup is accidentally hit or sunk on the serve. As a result, the server should keep trying for the best serve possible when the opponent is at match point.
A related strategy is to foul up the ball and intentionally serve it into your opponent's cup. If you are able to sink it later, your opponent must drink a fouled beverage. This is known as "intentional gorfing".
In some places, continuing service after the ball has hit a cup is, not only commendable, but results in "one on". Roughly explained, if a cup has been hit and the opponent is able to keep the ball in play, there will be "one drink" on the table. The losing side of that service will not only lose a point, but will have the pleasure of drinking a "drink" from their cup. Obviously this rule is not limited to just one hit of a cup but can expand infinitely, depending upon the skill of the players.
[edit] Return
The ball must be returned after it has bounced just once off of the returning team's half of the table; this includes the table top and the cups. Blowing a spinning ball out of a cup and returning it is permitted but it is highly-frowned upon unless done by girls. Ricocheting the ball off external objects such as a vertical or horizontal structural member in the basement, a ceiling, or a bystander is usually permitted. If a ball is extremely hard to return or if it is "un-returnable", both teams can agree to call it a "DB" or "Dive-bomb." If a "DB" is agreed upon, then the point is played over.
There are a number of formal variants of Lob, including the standard Two-Cup (one full cup per player), Four-Cup (two full cups per player), Shrub (a triangle of six beers with a "stem" attached to one side), Tree (much like Shrub, except the triangle includes 10 beers), Line (with four half cups per player), Full-Cup Line or Wall (cups in a line across the width of the table), Great Wall (cups lining all sides of the table), Table (cups covering the surface; one must foul out to clear a space on his own side for service), Battleship (or 'Ship, two lines of three cups and one line of five, four and two cups placed strategically, similar to the formations in the board game Battleship), Rotating Randomness (irregular groups of cups placed in irregular pie-shaped sections of the table and played by six or more people who change positions after each point, encouraging shifting ad-hoc team behavior), and Henge (stacked cups or trilithons in irregular pie-shaped zones, with each player having a separate "Tourist" cup whose strategic drinking out of turn imposes the requirement that all others drink theirs, and other ritual elements).
