Official Beer Pong Rules (With Paddles)

Version 1.01

  1. No Red Cups!
    1. If you are throwing ping pong balls into red cups arranged in a pyramid, you are not playing beer pong. Get a life frat boy *. Come back when you have money for a real ping pong table, net, paddles and most importantly, some genuine table tennis skillz. ;)
  2. The Glass
    1. The Glass shall be a standard 16oz. pint glass (like the glass shown above). The glass shall be of the type bartenders typically use to mix drinks with. No handles and NO exceptions. There will be no miss-matched glasses on the table. Go to the nearest restaurant supply and buy the proper glasses. You may find them at Wal-Mart, Bed Bath and Beyond, or Target as they are quite popular these days. Print out the picture of the 16oz. glass before you leave the house. They also have them here at amazon.com.
  3. Table Markings
    1. How to mark the table. Yes Grover, mark the table. Get out your favorite Sharpie marker, a ruler and a pint glass or coaster (these car cup holder coasters are preferred as not to damage the table with a wet glass during game play and they are the perfect size for a pint glass). Each side of the table shall have 3 circles marking the exact spot to place your pint glass for a total of 6 circles. NO VARIANTS ARE ACCEPTABLE. Mark the table exactly as follows.
      1. On each side of the table, mark the middle of the center line (for 1 Player vs. 1 Player mode).
      2. In each quadrant, mark a circle in the dead center (for 2 Players vs. 2 Player mode).
    2. Note: During game play, you may use coasters under your pint glasses to prevent damage to your table. All coasters should be of the exact same type.
    3. You may or may not count coaster strikes as a Gulp. It's up to the house due the difficulty in finding small coasters.
  4. Game Play
    1. Game play is typical table tennis with a few exceptions. Notably we do not keep track of the real table tennis score and the game should be played to "keep the ball alive" at all times. This means you may hit of walls, floors, etc. You are not playing to get to 21, you are playing to dunk or strike a glass.
    2. You are not allowed to serve the ball at a glass. If you strike a glass on the serve, you must drink the value of said serve (gL algorithm rules apply [described below]). Generally, it is only considered a serve when you actually hold the ball in one hand and throw it to strike with the paddle hand. What qualifies as a serve can also be determined in good faith by the people in the room at the time.
    3. No goal tending. If a ball is making it's way to your glass from your opponents side, you may not intercept it. The only exception is when your glass is already struck.
    4. If a beer is less than half full and there is no one waiting to play, you may demand that said person fill up his/her beer. In fact, it is your obligation to do so. After all, what joy is there in dunking a beer with only 1 Gulp left?
    5. You do not "share" your drinks with your partner. I.E., if your partners glass is struck, you are not required to drink and if your partner has to drink more than 1 Gulp, you cannot drink for your partner.
    6. If you finish your drink at anytime and there are people waiting to play, you must leave the table.
    7. If a ball bouces around on the inside of a glass and pops out, it counts as a "Rim of glass" shot. This is due the great difficulty of trying to determine how many times it bouced around before it poped out.
    8. If you dunk a ball, you are required to celebrate. Unlike college football where players are penalized, in Beer Pong you are penalized for not celebrating your achievement (and taking the game too seriously).
  5. Scoring
    1. IF A BALL STRIKES A GLASS AT ANY TIME, SOMEONE IS DRINKING, it's just a matter of figuring out who and how much. This is a general catch all rule and is always applicable (24/7/365).
    2. Possible values for a single strike:

      Side of a glass 1 Gulp
      Rim of a glass2 Gulps
      In the glass Remainder of Beer


    3. Note: A "Gulp" is meant to be a COMPLETE mouthful of delicious beer. The term "drink" is not used here for clarification reasons. It is recommended you use the word "drink" or "drinks" when referring to how many Gulps during live game play else Eddie will call you a pansy.
    4. Once a glass has been struck, the owner may...
      1. block further strikes to his/her glass.
      2. return the attack (his/her shots at other people DO count).
      3. pick up the glass.
      4. run away like a little girl.
      5. spill beer on herself while running away.
      6. NOT take more than a reasonable amount of time to drink.
      7. NOT cry.
    5. Multiple strikes on a player.
      1. If a players glass gets struck before the player has FINISHED drinking, that player will accumulate more drinks based on the gL (G-Lounge) algorithm. The gL forumula was created due to the exponential difficulty in running multiple strikes on a player. As such, the rewards/punishment should be exponentially greater.
      2. gL Algorithm
        1. (Strike Number * Strike Value) + Running Total = Grand Total.
        2. Example #1. In this example Kevin struck Eddie's glass 3 times before he picked up his glass and ran away. All three strikes hit the side of his glass.

          Strike Number   Strike Value   Total
          1 x 1 = 1
          2 x 1 = 2
          3 x 1 = 3
          Grand Total
          = 6 Gulps


        3. Example #2. In this example Kevin struck Zac's glass 3 times. The first strike hit the rim, the second hit the side, and the third hit the rim again. Yes, Zac is terrible at bp.

          Strike Number   Strike Value   Total
          1 x 2 = 2
          2 x 1 = 2
          3 x 2 = 6
          Grand Total
          = 10 Gulps


        4. Example #3. Glass is struck on the side once and then dunked. This is a very common scenario when Kevin is at the table.

          Strike Number   Strike Value   Total
          1 x 1 = 1
          2 x Beer = 2 Beers
          Grand Total
          = 1 Gulp + 2 Beers


        5. Example #4. In this example Kevin struck Bryan's glass 4 times. The first was a side shot, the second was a rim, third was side, and the forth was a dunk. Note: This example is next to impossible for most people (except when you play against Bryan) but is shown for reference anyway.

          Strike Number   Strike Value   Total
          1 x 1 = 1
          2 x 2 = 4
          3 x 1 = 3
          4 x Beer = 4 Beers
          Grand Total
          = 8 Gulps + 4 Beers


        6. Blank Worksheet.

          Strike Number   Strike Value   Total
          1 x   =  
          2 x   =  
          3 x   =  
          4 x   =  
          5 x   =  
          6 x   =  
          Grand Total
          =  


    6. Penalties

      Goaltending 3 Gulps
      Not celebrating when you dunk someone 3 Gulps
      Accidentally knocking a glass over 1 Beer
      Destroying a Ping Pong ball 1 Beer

  6. Supplemental
    1. The proper quantity of beer for a evening of beer pong.
    2. If there are people at the house that have never played beer pong, it is your obligation as a good beer pong citizen to get a paddle in the hand of said Noob. Noobs can (and freakishly so) be a natural at beer bong. You never know who the next ccb or kcorn might be. They could even be girls (hahaha).
    3. Print these rules out put them on the wall!
  7. About
    1. Beer pong was invented December 24th 1996 at my old house on Porter Avenue (Niceville FL).
    2. Since then several variants have come to be. The "beirut beer pong" version of the game is not the same as Beer Pong as I have clearly defined above. "bierut beer pong" game is for girls. Girls who don't own a paddle and girls who don't know how to handle a paddle. Girls that should be paddled repeatedly for allowing their douche bag "boy" friends to play "beriut beer pong".
    3. I'm not hating on "buirt beer pong". It a great game for 3rd world contries where a table could be difficult to come by. However, in the U S of A, there is no excuse. Get a table, preferrably a folding table so your mom can park her soccer van in the garage when you are not playing, and mark the circles.
    4. I am the best beer ponger (stud) in the universe. If you think you can beat me, get in touch and we'll put you in the next tree.

* No hard feelings Gary.


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