Dartmouth pong

Pong (Dartmouth) is a drinking game played at Dartmouth College that is loosely based on ping pong. A 2005 survey conducted by former Dartmouth College Statistician John Pryor and reported on in "The Dartmouth" found that 80% of Dartmouth students had played the game.cite news |url=http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2005111601010 |work=The Dartmouth |title=Dartmouth first to promulgate pong |last=Garfinkel |first=Jennifer |date=2005-11-16 |accessdate=2007-01-22]

At Dartmouth, the game is known simply as pong.

History and culture

By the early 21st century, newspapers frequently attributed the origin of beer pong to Dartmouth College: "Legend has it that the game, which can be played with paddles..., started years ago at a Dartmouth College fraternity party."cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/national/16games.html?ei=5090&en=f211462fda65140a&ex=1287115200&partner=a-b&emc=rss&pagewanted=all |work=New York Times |title=As Young Adults Drink to Win, Marketers Join In |last=Gettleman |first=Jeffrey |date=2005-10-16 |accessdate=2007-01-22]

The version of beer pong played at Dartmouth differs from that played at many U.S. colleges and universities. Other than at Dartmouth, the phrase "beer pong" generally refers to the game of "Beirut" or "Lebanon," a popular drinking game in which players take turns throwing a ping pong ball by hand at an opponent's beer-filled cups located opposite. No paddles are involved, and the element of defense or any kind of back-and-forth volleying is absent. As it emerged at Dartmouth, however, pong is played with paddles and retains the basic service-volley-score form of table tennis.

Origins

In its general form, pong has been traced back to at least the 1950scite news |url=http://www.wesleyan.edu/argus/archives/feb212003/dateyear/w5.html |last=Diamond |first=Adam |title=Student educates community on history of Beirut –- the game |work=Wesleyan Argus |date=2003-02-21 |accessdate=2007-01-22] as a casual attempt to combine the popular activities of drinking and ping pong. The game is said to have been started when a fraternity brother first put his beer on the table while playing ping pong or while watching others do so. Early pong had fewer cups and fewer rules, and was played by both men and women at parties, although it emerged before Dartmouth's coeducation. History professor Jere Daniell '55 stated that he played the game as a student,cite news |url=http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2005111701030 |work=The Dartmouth |last=Garfinkel |first=Jennifer |title=Storied drinking game began with fewer rules, less beer |date=2005-11-17 |accessdate=2007-01-22] and Bob Shirley '57 stated that he began playing in 1956.cite news |url=http://dartreview.com/archives/2007/08/05/letters_to_the_editor.php |work=The Dartmouth Review |last=Shirley |first=Robert |title=Letter to the Editor |date=2007-08-05 |accessdate=2007-08-26] (Shirley suggests that the game began when spectators rested their cups of beer on a table during a ping-pong game.) One of the earliest published photographs depicting a game of pong anywhere in the world appeared in Dartmouth's annual "Aegis" of 1968, on page 304. Pong spread through Dartmouth houses gradually, and some held onto prior games into the 1980s (four-square at Sigma Nu, for example).

Evolution

The game as it is played today probably did not evolve until the late 1970s and may be tied to the advent of cheap plastic cups.cite news |url=http://www.cornellsun.com/node/15083 |title=The Origins of Beirut |work=The Cornell Daily Sun |date=2005-09-05 |accessdate=2007-01-22] cite news |url=http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2005111801030 |title=Women and pong: 'just as into it' |last=Garfinkel |first=Jennifer |work=The Dartmouth |date=2005-11-18 |accessdate=2007-01-22] By 1976, students began publishing articles about the game.cite news |title=Beer-Pong Rooted in Religion |work=The Dartmouth |date=1976-10-16 |page=4] According to a 1999 "New York Times" article, pong "has been part of fraternity life for at least 40 years, as hallowed as rush or Winter Carnival".cite news |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20811F9345F0C748CDDA80994D1494D81 |title=A Frat Party Is:; a) Milk and Cookies; b) Beer Pong
last=Kennedy |first=Randy |work=The New York Times |date=1999-11-07] Other Ivy League newspapers have called Dartmouth "the spiritual home of beer pong",cite news |url=http://www.whartonjournal.com/news/2002/10/21/Insider/Beer-Pong.Athletes.Push.Bodies.To.The.Limit-301474.shtml |title=Beer pong athletes push bodies to the limit |last=Bair |first=Seth |date=2002-10-21 |accessdate=2007-01-22 |work=The Wharton Journal] and characterized pong as "a way for Dartmouth frat boys to get drunk [that] has become what is arguably America's favorite drinking game".cite news |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/15486 |title=Favorite college tradition allows safer drinking |work=Yale Daily News |date=2005-11-03 |last=Baumann |first=Nick |accessdate=2007-01-22]

Pong Today

An official 2004 survey provided these statistics:

*About 60 percent of students had played pong at least once within the two weeks prior to the survey.
*About 20 percent of students have never played pong.
*The most popular cup formations are Shrub (33 percent) and Tree (31 percent), with Line/Death at 8 percent and Ship at 6 percent.
*Tree requires the average player to consume 7.3 drinks, Shrub 5.7 drinks, Line/Death 5.2 drinks, and Ship 7.4 drinks. [http://dartreview.com/archives/2007/10/14/secret_documents_of_semp_2004.php]

Pong is played most in the houses of fraternities and various other college-affiliated societies, including sororities, co-ed undergraduate societies and some senior societies, as well as in off-campus residences. Most of these houses have two or more pong tables, often extensively painted with heraldic and other emblems and scenes and usually situated in the basement. Pong is also played outdoors during good weather. There is a strong link between pong and the Greek system, as fraternity basements are the most common "public" venue for pong playing. However, pong is a prevalent feature throughout Dartmouth undergraduate society and culture, and is often played among classmates, teammates, and club members. Pong tables are too large to fit in most dorm rooms, and such spaces are also subject to much greater college regulation of alcohol.

Pong enjoys a high standing among Dartmouth students. It is sometimes regarded as the predominant social practice on campus, and participation in pong arguably is more characteristic of Dartmouth students than participation in any similar activity characterizes students at any other American college. At least one member of Dartmouth's Board of Trustees (Stephen Smith) has stated his affection for pong [http://www.dartblog.com/data/2007/07/007414.php] and has derided perceived administrative concerns about water pong. [http://www.stephensmithtrustee.com/page/1/] Failed verification|date=November 2007

Students regard pong not only as a drinking game but as a sport and a social outlet rolled into one, a competitive social activity. The goal of playing pong is generally not solely to get drunk, but to compete, for several reasons: (1) the best players may drink the least; (2) in a crowded basement, no more than a quarter of the people present could possibly play at once; and (3) "water pong" (pong played with water instead of beer) is a popular alternative among those who do not drink.

Gameplay

General Rules

Like table tennis, pong requires one side to serve the ball and the other side to attempt to return the serve and begin a ralley. A side loses points any time the opponent hits the ball against one or more of its cups of beer. Defending the cups is not permitted: once the opponent hits the ball, the ball must strike something on the other side of the net before it can be hit by the defending player.

No "official" codified version of the rules of pong exist, although the rules described here are generally accepted by most players. Rules that are most likely to vary from house to house regard the number of serves, the availability of certain types of saves, and the possibility of hitting the ball off the environment (surrounding walls, ceilings, body parts, etc.).

"Disputes": Pong is considered a "gentleman's game" and is pervaded by a friendly spirit. Questionable acts may be judged by a Roman Council of spectators, or the possible perpetrator may choose to avoid judgment by drinking a beer and then serving to restart play. In tournament rules, debate over a call is often settled by a chug-off (generally Thunderdome.)

Equipment

Pong requires a table, a median, paddles, a ball, cups, and beer, usually Keystone Light.

"The table" is not a regulation ping-pong table but is made from one or two sheets of plywood, usually measuring 5'x9' or 5'x10'. The sheets are propped up on supports such as sawhorses, garbage cans, or frames specially built from lumber or steel pipes.

"The median" of some type is usually placed across the center of the table. Since the height of the "median" is unimportant, the "median" is usually made of a two-by-four, a hockey stick, a ski, or a broom handle.

"Paddles" are commercial ping pong paddles that have been modified. Pong paddles usually have their handles removed. Original sandpaper surfaces are most common, and paddles with rubber faces usually have the rubber removed and their faces sanded. Paddles are usually generic and have house names or identifying designs drawn on them. Pong forgoes the use of paddles with handles for several reasons. First, the paddles are treated roughly and often lose their handles over time; removing the handles at the start creates a fair set of equipment. Second, players may throw their paddles at the ball after it has hit a cup, and paddles without handles fly and roll better. Third, the palm grip that is encouraged by a handle-less paddle works to keep the ball traveling in a lofty arc as required by "lob" rules.

"Cups" are usually 12oz clear plastic cups arranged in a predetermined pattern.

"Beer" or water (for water pong) or sometimes cocktails (for tails pong) fills each cup approximately 5/6ths of the way full before each game. Pong has classically been played with keg-served "Beast" or "PBR" but in the current "post-keg/SLI" era, Keystone Light is the nearly universal standard beer.

The Main Forms of Pong

Two general families of pong rules have dominated since the mid-1990s:

*"Lob": This form, which is susceptible to great variation in setup, is characterized by the movement of the ball in arcing trajectory toward the opponents' side, where the hitting player hopes that the ball will hit or sink into a cup of beer. After a serve, teammates (in a doubles game, which is the typical form) alternate turns returning the volley, allowing the ball to bounce once on their side of the table before making contact for the return. "Low" hits across the table, as determined by any player but generally set at the shoulder height of the shortest player, constitute unacceptable form and are not counted if they lead to scores.

*"Slam": The structure of slam resembles that of two-person volleyball. Traditionally, this family of variants involves two teams of two players. On each team, one member is stationed at the narrow end of the table as the "server." The other team member stands as the "slammer" half-way along the long end of the table. A round of play commenced with a server serving the ball as low and as fast as possible; the opposing server attempts to defeat the fast serve with an upward "set" to his partner. The "slammer" then attempts to "slam" the ball against the serving player's cups for a point. If "lob" is a conversational game, "slam" is a cutthroat one. The cup setup for "slam" tends to exhibit far less variation than for "lob." "Slam" seems to be an older version of the game and is played by alumni of many houses, often with paddles that have handles. It is sometimes still played by current students at Phi Tau and Alpha Chi Alpha but is largely absent or even unknown at most other houses. During the early 1990s, it was the characteristic form of several Greek Houses including Bones Gate, Alpha Theta, and Phi Tau, and is still the game of choice for Alpha Theta and Phi Tau alums.

etup

There are four common cup arrangements, and any particular house is likely to be extremely loyal to only one of them. More obscure variations on these forms are listed later in this article.

*Shrub: This common arrangement is used at the majority of Greek houses. It requires seven cups: six in a triangle placed in the middle of the table, a paddle's width from the edge of the table, and a single cup "stem" behind them. (Note: when playing on short tables (and in some houses with long tables, as at Psi Upsilon fraternity), the stem usually is placed on the back edge of the table)
**Tree: This variant of shrub uses eleven cups: ten in the triangle and one for the "stem". It is commonly played at Chi Heorot, Phi Delta Alpha and Gamma Delta Chi.
**Double-stemmed Tree: This arrangement is the same as tree, except it uses twelve cups: ten in the triangle and two "stems." It is mentioned here because it is the traditional standard formation of fraternities Theta Delta Chi and Alpha Delta.

*Two-Cup: Two-cup is a one-on-one game that requires a pair of cups at the center of the back line. A highly technical game that places a premium on defense, two-cup might be the most historically rooted form of pong [http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2005111701030] , although it is taken more seriously at some houses than others. Rules vary, but generally hits are tracked by a point system - often one point per hit, 2 to 4 points per sink. Some houses keep points on the table - if your opponent hits your cup but you then save the ball (successfully returning it to the other side of the table) there is then one point on the table, which is added to the score of the next scored upon person. The score to which the game is played (4, 16, 24, 50 and rarely 100 or "century") and the time when drinking occurs depends on the house and the game. Most often, though, cups are filled half-full and drank and refilled on hits and sinks.

*Line: This is a doubles version of two-cup that is played at Sigma Nu (where "line" requires eight cups) and Sigma Phi Epsilon (where a nine-cup line is called "Death," short for "Death Row"). The cups are lined up a paddle's width from the end of the table. In "line," players are sometimes required to regroup their cups or close the gap where their remaining cups end up widely separated. Unlike two-cup, no points are recorded in Line or Death, and there is no refilling of beers. As in two-cup, gameplay is very defensive in nature; the best Death players are usually the ones who can turn a hit to the front of their cups into a 'slam-save' hit on the opponents' cups.

*Ship: A game modeled after the classic board game Battleship. Each team gets a "five-boat" (five cups in a straight line), a four-boat, a three-boat, and a two-boat. There is no universal set of rules for the placement of the boats on each side of the table, though certain houses and organizations have adopted their own specific arrangements. When a boat has been reduced to half volume (two and a half cups for a five-cup boat, etc.) it becomes "sinkable" (at Chi Gamma Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Epsilon all boats are sinkable when they have less than two and a half cups). A subsequent sink in a sinkable boat will require the sunk team to drink all remaining cups in that boat. One cup, the "mine", requires your opponent to drink when they hit it. At Tri-Kap, Chi Heorot, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Zeta Psi, and Sigma Nu, the mine is refillable, but at Chi Gamma Epsilon it is not.

ervice

"At the start of play": Usually, the new team at the table serves first. Often, it is considered polite for one team to volunteer to serve first. If the winner has left or it is the first game of the night, service is often determined by a mini-game similar to Beirut ("let's throw for serve"), in which the players take turns throwing the ball at their opponents' cups. The first team unable to match or exceed the result of the previous throw (in order of increasing desirability: missing, hitting a cup, sinking a cup) serves first.

"At the restart of play": Play must be restarted by a serve after the ball bounces twice, misses the table during a volley, or hits or sinks in a cup. To restart, the player in error must serve.

"Requirements of a valid serve": A serve must bounce on the recipients' side of the table, preferably in a diagonal direction (in doubles play). The mantra to test a valid serve is "paddle, table, table."

House custom gives the server either two or three opportunities to make a valid serve before turning over the ball to the opposing team. Where two chances are permitted, the first error may be termed "one bad," the second "two bad." A serve may not hit the opponents' cup, and such an error generally costs a point against the server (thus requiring the server to drink a half-cup). In some houses, "aces" are permitted, sometimes including an ace scored by a "dirty serve": squeezing the ball casually off the paddle with the thumb of the paddle hand, sending the ball bouncing very low across the net. (Such play is reputed to be employed only by even-numbered class years in at least one house.) Scoring an ace by bouncing the ball obliquely off the edge of the table is sometimes called a 'Johnny Bones' or a 'Bender.'

In some houses, if the serving team has only one half-cup remaining, it might receive "infinite" chances to make a valid serve. However, if a team exercises this right, it is sometimes a custom that the serving team must drink their last half cup and replace it on the table. Since the cup standing on the table is empty, making a save off that cup is often difficult.

coring and victory

There are two types of score: hitting or sinking a cup. One may also lose a point during service, as discussed above, but failing to return a volley or complete a serve does not count as a score.

*"A Hit": The ball strikes an opponent's cup or the beer within it but comes to rest somewhere other than inside that particular cup. This requires drinking a set amount of beer from the cup, usually one quarter or one half.
**Saving a hit: Either partner on the opposing team may avoid the score through a "save," that is, by returning the ball with up to one bounce. "Low" saves that do not meet the arcing standard of "lob" are permitted, but "low" saves that then go on to hit a cup opposite are not counted as hits in some houses. (Some houses do permit "slam saves," where the saving team attempts to "slam" the ball into the opponents' cups to score a hit.) A player does not need control of his paddle in order to make a save, and he may "throw save" by throwing his or her paddle at the ball when a save would be out of arm's reach. Play does not stop after such a save. At some houses, there is no calling low after a throw save.

*"A Sink": If a cup is sunk, i.e., a ball comes to rest inside the cup, the opposing team must drink the entire cup.
**Saving a sink: At some houses, the opposing team is permitted to attempt a "blow save" by blowing the ball out of the cup if it is still spinning around the rim. This type of save is frowned upon in most houses, but if it is allowed, usually requires the saver to return the ball over the net or the shot will be counted as a hit.

"Additional scoring rules":

*"Playmaker": The term "playmaker" is used in some houses to refer to a center cup of a formation. When a player makes his or her first return to the opposing team, the receiving player has an opportunity to sink the playmaker. Service to the other team does not count as a return. This privilege is extended to any player making his first return. If the player sinks the opposing team's playmaker cup, that team must drink the entire back row of the formation (for the tree formation the back four cups and for the shrub the back three cups). A save does not count as a player's first return.

*"Electricity": Some houses (only Sigma Nu and Zeta Psi) allow "electricity," a variant rule under which, if the ball hits multiple cups before bouncing a second time, a half is drunk from each cup that was hit. If the ball ultimately sinks, the opposing team must drink a half from all the cups that were hit as well as the full cup which was sunk. Typically, the ball must make a visible bounce between cups for the rule to be invoked.

"Victory": Pong differs from most games in that both sides start with a certain number of points and try to avoid reaching zero. A player or team wins the moment the opponents' last cup is eliminated. Therefore, although hits and sinks can be correlated to specific points amounts, score is usually marked, if at all, by the amount of beer remaining in the cups. The amount of beer or number of cups retained by the winner is irrelevant, and a new game requires a full setup again.

Particular players or teams may be known to regularly throw their paddles at the cups of the winners immediately after losing a game. Therefore some players habitually protect their cups following the achievement of the winning point.

Tournaments

"The game achieved such popularity during (the early 1970s) that the College sanctioned pong as an intramural sport; beer pong was the only college-sponsored drinking contest in the country. However, in 1977, the College decided no longer to support the endeavor." [http://www.dartmouthindependent.com/archives/2004/09/second_test.html]

Various all-College tournaments have occurred over the years. Gamma Delta Chi fraternity has begun a Sophomore Summer Masters Tournament (also known as the Inter-fraternity championship) to which it invites each fraternity to send two teams to play under house rules. Winners include:

2000: Psi Upsilon
2001: Psi Upsilon
2002: Kappa Kappa Kappa
2003: Theta Delta Chi
2004: Kappa Kappa Kappa
2005: Chi Gamma Epsilon
2006: Sigma Alpha Epsilon
2007: Alpha Delta
2008: Chi Gamma Epsilon

Variants

The main formations listed above have spawned a number of variations, generally including more cups. Some variants are more exotic and require the creation of additional rules, since they are based on historic themes or movies and are played in just one or two houses, often, on special occasions.

Two-Cup or Line-based variants

*Pong to 50: Two-Cup matches to 50 points, or 12.5 beers. Often played as matches one-on-one or two-on-two, and historically the standard house game of Alpha Delta, which may have been the first to popularize Pong to 50 as an essential tournament sport. While matches may take as little as an hour to complete, Pong to 50 tournaments often occur over an extended period of time, sometimes days. Another variant, two cup pong to 100, sometimes called Odie-Pong, was a variant popular in the 1980s, usually taking place over one morning.
**Speed: Speed is a historical and possibly pre-"lob" form of two-cup played with paddles that have handles. "Lob" rules regarding "low" shots do not apply, and volleys and serves are as low and fast as possible. 'Speed' is a game of reflexes, not stamina. This game is popular at Phi Delta Alpha fraternity but is generally only played with alumni, who view modern "lob" as a bastardization of the original game.

*MegaDeath: This variant of "death" requires two pong tables to be put together and contain 60 beers per side. Teams of 5 play each other. This is a termly ritual at Sigma Phi Epsilon, where class years play each other after finals.

*Dam: 2 rows of Death, one in front of the other, with one row on top. When opposing team creates a separation in the cups, this is called a "dam break" and the defending team must drink every cup touching the break. This formation is played at Sigma Phi Epsilon and was invented by a Gamma Delta Chi.

*Wall: Line, played with cups lining the edge of the table closest to the player.
**Great Wall of China: Cups lining all edges of the table.
**Table: Cups covering the entire surface of the table. To make service possible, a team must initially hit its own cups --scoring against itself -- and clear out a patch of table off which it can hit the ball.

*Four-Cup: A four-player variation of Two-Cup, frequently played at Phi Tau, in which there are two cups in the center of each side and one on each corner. Unlike two-cup, however, there is no point system; simply half a cup is drunk on a hit, and a full cup on a sink.

*Randomness: Two-Cup or Line played with more than four players, each occupying an irregularly-shaped portion of the table. Spare lumber and hockey sticks are used to divide the table. Strategy is involved in placing the cups: if they are close to the center or the walls, they are harder to hit, but harder to defend. Group dynamics also affect play, as multiple ostensibly independent players can gang up on another. Once a player is out, one of his walls is removed and then neighbors expand into his space. This game is the formal antecedent of Henge.
**Rotating Randomness: A variant of Randomness that requires players to move one space clockwise after each point. Strategic cup placement now involves the possibility of defending one's own cups twenty percent of the time or less.

hrub-based variants

*Sequoia: One more row added to a Double-stemmed Tree, leading to a triangle of 15 cups, plus the 2 for the stem. 17 cups per side.

*Tower of Boot: This arrangement is a Shrub on top of a Tree, with three cups on top of the Shrub, and finally a single cup on top of the 3. The formation is 4 cups high and includes 22 cups per side. This game is known at Gamma Delta Chi and Chi Heorot.

*Kallmann Tree: This arrangement uses a stem of 9 cups (3 x 3). The tree then consists of a triangle of 44 cups, the two back rows with 8 cups each and each successive row containing one less cup than the last, making the total cup count 53 cups per side. The game is played by four people (two per side). Specific to Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, the game is typically played following a particularly gruelling midterm or final, or to kick off a big party weekend.

*Red Dawn: Two tables placed side-by-side, with a 12-cup Tree at each corner pointed toward the center. It is played with four teams of two people each, though typically the two pairs across from each other cooperate. This game is played as traditional pong, except that it is full contact when the ball goes out of bounds, sometimes resulting in scrums on the floor. Play usually starts with one team serving easily to set up their partner team, who tries to hit the Tree of one of the opposing teams. Players from that team are allowed to screen the shot or try to distract the player as long as they do not touch the ball or player. This game is played at Theta Delta Chi fraternity.

*Social: Social is played by as many people fit around the table (or multiple tables side by side). Each player has a set formation of cups (often a shrub) and a paddle. Lob rules apply but you can hit it at any other player's cups rather than just to the other side of the table. In addition, if the ball is hit off the table on any shot other than a serve, a player can hit the ball towards any other player — if it hits the target person's body he or she drinks half a cup; if the target catches the ball the hitter drinks a half a cup; if it misses no one drinks and the game progresses.
**Black Forest: Several variants are known by this name. At some houses this simply refers to a game of Social where each player has a Tree as his or her formation, often played on two or more tables placed side by side. Other houses play modified Social rules that dictate where players are allowed to hit the ball. At Psi Upsilon fraternity, players on one side of the two tables try to hit the Trees on the opposite side.

*Diamond: A compromise between Two Cup and Shrub, this four-cup formation may be used to pre-game or friendly one-on-one duels. The row of two is placed one paddle width from the back.

hip-based variants

*Brutal: Ship, with the addition of a six-boat and a seven-boat. 27 cups per side, plus the mine.

*BattleStar Gallactica: Ship, Death, and Tree all on the same table at once. 34 cups per side, plus the mine.

*TowerStar Gabootica: Ship, Death, and Tower of Boot all on the same table at once. Requires at least two 30-packs of beer to play. 44 Cups per side, plus the mine.

*Pearl Harbor/Midway: Two tables placed side-by-side, with a Ship formation plus a six-boat and seven-boat each quadrant. Each quadrant is manned by teams of three players, with only two players playing at any given time. Gameplay follows traditional Ship rules, with the additional that, as in Social, players can hit towards any quadrant. 27 cups per side, plus the mine.

*Keg-Kicker: Two tables placed side-by-side, with boats from 2-boat through 15-boat placed on each quadrant. Gameplay follows Midway rules. As the name suggests, this game requires a complete keg to play, as well as 4 or 5 hours. 119 cups per side, plus the mine.

*Amphibious Assault: Played at Gamma Delta Chi only. Two tables are put together. Each team plays with a set-up of Ship and War.

*War: If Tree is the checkers of pong, War is the chess of pong. A game that originated in Gamma Delta Chi in the mid 1990s by brother Zod. Each side has 10 cups of full beer. Seven "soldiers" near the center back of the table, 1 "cannon" each on the back left and right corner of the table, and 1 "general" 1 foot away from the net. Opponents only drink on hits, and sinks capture cups and bring them to your side. The cannon represents your ability to slam. If the ball goes off the table, opponents may slam the ball, off the floor, back at your cups for hits. Every team must have a general, and once teams start losing cups, they move cups from their cannon and soldiers to replace the general. Aces are worth half of a beer. Note that the sink = capture rule will sometimes result in the superior player drinking more; this can swing the momentum around as the game progresses.

*Borg: A single 4x4 square ship. As of 2007, two regulations exist: (1) If at any time the entire core (middle four cups) is removed, any remaining corners are also consumed. 16 cups per side. Typically played as best of three. (2) Any cup that is completely separated from "any intact majority of remaining cups" crumbles away into outer space (players immediately drink it). For example, if the second row from the top is removed during play, any remaining cups in the top row are also drunk.

*Wheelhouse: Invented by two Dartmouth students (an '01 Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity member and an '00 non-affiliate) dissatisfied with the monotony and simplicity of many pong games, "wheelhouse" is a game designed to require quick thinking and clarity of mind despite decreasing levels of sobriety. A "center cup" is placed in each corner of the table (2 on each side) at a distance of two paddle-lengths from the side and back edges. Six (6) "outer cups" are arranged in a circular formation around each "center cup" at a distance of 1/2 paddle-length creating 2 "wheels" on each side. Each two-player team alternates lobs in a fashion similar to most other games in an attempt to eliminate the 2 "wheels" of their opponents. However, for each player only the "outer cups" of the "wheel" diagonal from him (at the start of play) are "safe to hit." Similarly, only the "center cup" directly across from him is "safe." All other cups (the diagonal "center"," and the "outers" directly across) are considered "mines" and result in either a half or whole cup drink penalty. Therefore, targeting the wheel at one's opposite diagonal corner is encouraged while attempts at a wheel directly across require increased accuracy. Once a player has eliminated all of his/her "safe cups" the remainder of the opponent's cups are open to hit. Play becomes increasingly fast-paced yet ofttimes confusing since every cup is a mine for "some" player and all mines are refillable.

History-based variants

*Vietnam: A game based on the Vietnam War and involving 90 cups per side. Vietnam is played on two or three tables arranged adjacently, one side arranged in a Tree formation representing "America". The other side is arranged at random representing the "Viet-Cong" or "VC". This variant is rarely played due to the excessive amounts of beer required. In the current version played almost exclusively at Panarchy, 45 cups are used per side. Every time a VC cup is "removed from play" (sunk or hit twice) it is immediately refilled and placed back on the table in a place of the VC's choosing, with a running tally of "removed cups" kept. The Americans play out a 15-cup side, which is set in a Sequoia formation with no stem. Every time the entire stemless Sequoia is removed, a new one is added. There is also the "Tet Offensive," where after 20 cups are "removed" from the VC side, the VC form a standard Tree (11 cups) placing the other 4 wherever they'd like. As each cup from the VC Tree is removed it can be replaced anywhere on the table. While the game is designed for 45 cups per side in total, the game can be extended by rounds of 15 to suit the number of players per side (which generally number 3-4 involving a rotation.) Vietnam is part of the Panarchy Epic Pong Series.

*Gettysburg: A special form of pong created by the Panarchy Class of 2004 in tribute to the epic American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. The game involves two tables and four score and seven (87) cups a side . With the two tables arranged adjacently, the game is played with three players on each side. The ball may be hit by any player on a side at any time. Serves rotate in order down the line. Gettysburg is usually played with a team of 4-5 players on each side allowing for a rotation. The battle is divided into three "days" with increasing cups per side. The formations aim for historical accuracy and include highlights like the Union fishhook on Day Two around Little Round Top, in which the cup on the end (which would represent Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain) cannot be hit, only sunk; Pickett's Charge for the South on Day Three in which all 32 cups are stacked in a 4 x 8 rectangle centered at the far back end of the table. After every four cups are removed, the back line of the formation (or whatever remains of it) is moved to the front as the charge continues towards the center. As an additional rule, Days One and Two are complete when "all" of either the Union or Confederacy's cups are removed. When the forces reconvene for the following day, all remaining cups from the earlier day on the victorious side remain, i.e. if the Union wins Day One with three full cups and one half cup remaining, they set up their Day Two formations and leave those four cups on the table in as close to their original positions as possible. Gettysburg is part of the Panarchy Epic Pong series.

*War of Northern Aggression: A single-game variant based on the respective flags of the North and South. The North side sets up 13 cups in a conjoined circle, with a single cup in the center, representing Lincoln. The North may refill their entire circle at any time, so long as at least seven cups remain in the circle; they must refill all 13 cups any time they re-rack. Lincoln can only be killed on a sink; when the ball is in the air, the South side must yell "Booth!" If the ball sinks, Lincoln dies, and the North can no longer refill their cups. The South sets up 17 cups in a cross, a la the Confederate Flag. The cup in the middle of the cross represents Robert E. Lee, and is filled with whiskey. Lee gets refilled once after being sunk the first time. No other cups on the South side can be refilled. The four cups at the end of each "arm" of the cross represent the four Confederate generals: Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, James Longstreet, and Nathan Bedford Forrest, respectively. They must be sunk or hit twice before the other cups on the respective arm can be hit. If the North hits the cup on an arm where the general still remains, the South serves but does not drink. The game ends when all the cups on the South or North are gone (if the North chooses to stop refilling), or when the players for the North can no longer play. War of Northern Aggression is primarily played at Sigma Alpha Epsilon, but occasionally at Bones Gate and Gamma Delta Chi.

*D - Day: A tribute to World War II's Battle of Normandy and another member of the Panarchy Epic Pong Series. Like Gettysburg, D-Day is played on two tables involving two teams which compete with three players on table at a time, and strives for historical accuracy. The German side should use one cup of Becks per five cups of "base" beer (usually Keystone Light). On the Allied side, different units also require different types of beer. Canadian units use Labatt Blue, the small handful of Scottish and Irish units (or a small number of British units) should be played with Guinness. British units in general can be apportioned at the team's desire between Newcastle Brown Ale and Olde English Malt Liqour.

*Henge: This mid-1990s tribute to Stonehenge is a version of Randomness that requires each player to stack his eight cups into two trilithons of three cups each plus a couple of outlying "rocks." He must "drink down" to any cup in the base of a trilithon if it is hit. In such situations the player does have the option to "pull the cup," hoping that the top cup lands upright, but this is difficult and involves significant penalties for failure. Any beer the player does not want to drink he may put into a single empty cup called "the Tourist." Each player may site his Tourist anywhere within his section of the table to start, and he must drink from it and move it to a different location whenever any player cries "Tourist Move!" and does the same for his own Tourist. Henge may be played indoors or outdoors on one or more tables by almost any number of players above about three. It involves substantial ceremony and accoutrements, including a soundtrack of the smooth sounds of John Watanabe, one of those motion-sensitive cackling plastic Halloween witches at the center of the table, a horse brass specially engraved after a player pilgrimage to Stonehenge, and costumes that allow the Druid Salute.

Formal Census By Building (2007)

This list is intended to describe in a snapshot the present state of pong at Dartmouth in 2007, with a focus on house rules, in order to allow comparisons at a later date.

References

External links

* [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~thepress/read.php?id=898/ "Perhaps The Most Dangerous Game" (Rules & Directions)] in the "Dartmouth Free Press"
* [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dcare/pdfs/dartmouth-drinking.pdf "Students' Social Life at Dartmouth College: Reflections in Their Looking Glass"] A study of the alcohol consumption of Dartmouth students by Dartmouth Professor of Anthropology Hoyt Alverson
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/national/16games.html?ei=5090&en=f211462fda65140a&ex=1287115200&partner=a-b&emc=rss&pagewanted=all "As Young Adults Drink to Win, Marketers Join In"] in the "New York Times"
* [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20811F9345F0C748CDDA80994D1494D81 "A Frat Party is: a) Milk and Cookies; b) Beer Pong"] in the "New York Times" (full text [http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/81/notes/nyt11.00.99.html available here] )