Rage Cage

Rage Cage is an American drinking game derived from Speed Quarters. Like its predecessor, equipment includes quarters and 16-ounce plastic cups (often Solo or Dixie brand), the game play involves frenetic pursuit, and the penalty for failure is forced drinking. Rage Cage is unique in that the price of failure is unusually steep and sometimes unavoidable, gameplay does not pause as players drink, and the speed of drinking is critical for survival.

Set-Up

To begin, ten to twenty cups are placed in the center of the playing table. These cups are referred to as "Drinking Cups." Four to eight players surround the table. Each Drinking Cup is partially filled with beer (often two to four ounces). The Drinking Cups are constantly refilled during game play.

Two empty cups - the "Shooting Cups" - are given to randomly selected players at opposite ends of the table. These players are the initial "Shooters." Each Shooting Cup is always in the possession of a single shooter (contrasted by the Drinking Cups, which are always communal). When game play commences, each shooter must attempt to bounce a quarter into their Shooting Cup.

Pursuit

Play may begin on a verbal command or with a friendly tap of the two quarters by the shooters (the "Tap & Go"). Once play begins, each shooter must bounce their quarter into the cup. A shooter successful in doing so may pass the quarter and the Shooting Cup to the player to the immediate right. This player becomes a shooter. There is one notable exception to this passing rule: When a player bounces a quarter into their cup on the first try, they may pass the quarter and the Shooting Cup to any other player at the table, except the other shooter.

If the shooter accidentally bounces a quarter into one of the Drinking Cups, it is their responsibility to retrieve the coin after imbibing the liquid therein. The game is to continue normally, as drinking the contents of the cup to retrieve the quarter is deemed appropriate restitution for the error. The consequences for the shooter are threefold: He loses valuable time, allowing the other cup to approach his own; he must drink, which somewhat diminishes his capacity to do so later; and he subjects himself to often-overwhelming mockery and social stigma. This mockery is considered both fair and just.

In the course of normal gameplay, a quarter will occasionally fall from the playing surface. If the quarter was dropped due to a negligent hand-off by the passer (the player who just made the shot), the game will pause momentarily so that the quarter may be recovered by the new shooter. This is one of the only situations in which gameplay stops. The new shooter is allowed one uncontested shot, whereupon gameplay immediately resumes. If the quarter is dropped from the table under any other circumstances, the player in possession of the quarter must retrieve without any pause in gameplay.

"The Cage"

The failure penalty in Rage Cage can be levied when the two Shooting Cups are held by consecutive players. If the player on the left successfully shoots before the shooter on the right does so, they cannot pass the Shooting Cup immediately to the right - this would give a single shooter both cups. In this instance, they must "tap" the Shooting Cup of the player to the right (by briefly placing his own Shooting Cup inside the other Shooting Cup) and then pass his own Shooting Cup to the second player on the right, on the other side of the slow shooter. The shooter who was passed over must drink the contents of one drinking cup before being allowed to shoot again.

The "Rage Cage", or simply "Cage," specifically refers to systematic, repeated punishment of the slow shooter, and can be incurred at this point. If the player who is now the right-most shooter (this is the player who just received a Shooting Cup from the successful shooter) makes their first shot, he may pass the Shooting Cup to any other player - including the player immediately to the left of the slow shooter. The slow shooter, who was passed over again, must imbibe the contents of a second Drinking Cup.

The slow shooter is now in the same position that they began - a Shooting Cup to the left and a pressing need to shoot successfully. If they fail to do so before the other shooter, they are repeatedly passed over, and forced to drink devastating amounts of beer in a very short amount of time.

While the slow shooter may escape the Cage by successfully shooting a single time, they are often unable to shoot due to the large backlog of penalty beer. Drinking one's way out of the Cage is an advanced maneuver.

Elimination (a.k.a. The "Tap Out")

If the above-mentioned slow shooter is unable to finish all of the penalty beers, they may "Tap Out" by tapping the table with their quarter. A player may also be tapped-out, or considered tapped-out, if they leave the table in order to vomit or any other activity that may interrupt the game's normal progress. This gesture, akin to forfeiture, removes the player from the game. The Shooting Cups are reset to opposite ends of the table, the Drinking Cups are replenished, and the game continues with one fewer combatant. Play ends when only one player remains. A player who has tapped out may not re-engage until a winner has been declared and new round begins.

History

This game is played widely in San Francisco-area colleges and occasionally in other parts of the United States. Though its origins are not clear, sources indicate that the game was invented at the Kappa Sigma fraternity at Stanford University. [http://www-daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/1/20/beerlympicsCompetitionForEveryone]

Some players of Rage Cage adhere to an alternative explanation of its origin. These players believe that the game was introduced to Northern California collegians by a traveler from Kentucky known only as "The Colonel." The Colonel allegedly attributed the idea to an entity he called "The Golden God" (a.k.a. "The Golden Gold"). It is unknown whether the Colonel believed the Golden God to be human or divine. This explanation is largely mythological and is not widely accepted as fact. The origins of the myth may relate to the major motion picture "Almost Famous", in which a substance-abusing lead singer jumps from the roof of a house screaming "I am a Golden God!" The term also held relevance in 16th century Mesoamerica, when the Aztecs believed Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to be a Golden God returning from the East (Quetzalcoatl), as their previous mythology had indicated he would. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzacoatl#Moctezuma_Controversy]

Lexicon

Terminology varies by region and demographic. Some common terms include:

• Zamboni (verb or noun) - The act of cleaning spilled beer from the surface of the playing table, or the implement used to do so (often a rag or paper towel). This act reduces the hydroplaning effect caused by the liquid on the low-friction surface. Responsibility to Zamboni falls on non-shooting players. The progress of the game may not be halted in order to Zamboni. The term is based on ice-resurfacing machines of the same name, used during intermissions of ice hockey games.

• Blitzkrieg (verb or noun) - An advanced shooting technique, or the act of shooting with such technique. A player begins the shot with their weight fully on the back foot. The player then leans his entire body forward, shifting weight from the back to the front foot. The arm is held rigid throughout this motion until after the quarter is released from the hand. The quarter is effectively carried by the momentum of the falling body. This contrasts with traditional techniques, in which propulsion stems from movement of the forearm. This technique is highly effective when implemented correctly. The present participle "Blitzkrieg-ing" is used to describe exceptional success with this technique, and is directly equivalent to the colloquialisms "In the Zone" or "On fire" in other competitive sports. Based loosely on Nazi Germany's lightning offensive during World War II, the technique is sometimes also known as "The Albright."

• Man-Wich (noun) - A con performed by at least two veteran players at the expense of a first-time player. The veteran players begin the Man-Wich by enticing the novice to play. The novice is then positioned immediately between the veterans during gameplay. Due to the combination of veteran skill and sophomoric audacity, the novice player is often caged repeatedly. The Man-wich can be quite traumatic for its subjects, and may result in the novice's steadfast refusal to participate in Rage Cage ever again.

• Albanese (noun) - One of several strategies of extracting oneself from a Cage. The Albanese specifically entails drinking with one's non-shooting hand while simultaneously preparing the quarter in the shooting hand. This reduces turnaround between the completion of the penalty drinks and shooting of the quarter. The Albanese is extremely difficult, but if performed correctly, the strategy can save a player from impending elimination.

• Hug & Go (noun) - A procedure for commencing gameplay, alternative to the Tap & Go. Popular among Rage Cage participants in The Castro (San Francisco Area) and West Hollywood (Los Angeles Area), this procedure may be used to express support for - or commitment to - alternative lifestyles.

• Robert (noun; French pronunciation rhyming with "Snow-bear") - A player who refuses to acknowledge they have tapped out. Though this error may be unintentional or caused by excessive alcohol consumption, it is unacceptable nonetheless. As in, "Stop being such a Robert and change that ridiculous shirt!"