Beirut Or Beer Pong: Can You Decide?

By: Tara Maroney

Posted: 4/21/06

For a game that seems so universally played, no one seems to agree on a set of rules, penalties for table misconduct or a name. People seem to be divided into three categories: those who passionately call the game beer pong, those who only refer to it as Beirut and those who don't really care one way or the other.

There are almost an equal number of groups dedicated to each name on Facebook. Beirut players consistently argue that true beer pong is played with paddles, and thus the game being played on college campuses is Beirut. Beer pong fans argue that Beirut is a city in Lebanon, and not a game.

The premise of the game is simple. Two people or a team of two compete against one another to shoot ping pong balls into cups. Ten (or six) cups are set up on opposite sides of a long table in the shape of a triangle. If the ping pong ball lands in a cup in front of your opponent, they remove the cup from the triangle and drink it. The first team to hit their ping pong ball into all of the cups wins. The loser then must finish the contents of the remaining cups on the table, according to www.beirut-guide.com.

"I usually call it Beirut because it sounds cooler," said Mike Sortito, an 8th-semester molecular and cellular biology major. "I call it both but Beirut usually. I think it's bogus because there is no difference between Beirut and beer pong in my way of playing."

Sortito may not have a strong preference in the name, but other students do.

"[I call it] beer pong because that's what my friends have always called it [in] high school and college," said Stephen Smith, an 8th-semester acting major. "I think Beirut's a stupid name. The name sounds stupid. Beer pong makes sense. There's beer and there's ping pong balls. Beirut is for people who want to be pretentious about their drinking habits."

The other side of the argument is a historical one, or so claims one student.

"You call it Beirut because we dropped bombs on Beirut in the Gulf War in 1991," said Meredith Pickett, a 2nd-semester student at Tufts. "Throwing a ping pong ball in a cup is like dropping a bomb, or so they say. We here at Tufts are a totally Beirut school, if you call it beer pong you look silly. We have a different game called beer pong - it involves paddles and actually resembles ping pong, except with drinking."

On a recent trip to Texas, Pickett tried to convince friends that the game was called Beirut. She said she was largely unsuccessful.

Another difficulty and challenge of the game is the rules involved for playing it. According to all the parties interviewed, the rules change by location and house rules should always be observed.
Most individuals play with 10 cups, but some people change that to six for parties or when they are running low on cups. Some also vary the rules depending on who is playing. Smith's rules were the only that didn't allow women to blow the ball out of the cup. Sortito does and has funny regulations for men who try to do it.

"Females can blow a ball out of a cup if it hasn't hit the beer yet," Sortito said. "Men aren't allowed to do that and must play the game on their knees if they try it"

Sortito and Smith agreed that any ball that was bounced could be blocked by the opponent, and if it made it into a cup, it was worth two cups instead of one. Even the rule of re-racking the cups caused discrepancies. The cups can be realigned when a team is down to six, three, two and one according to Smith. Sortito offers re-racks at six, four, three and two. Sortito had one other notable rule that may not be universal at every table.

"Sometimes we play overthrows, where if a team throws over the table and hits no cups then they are penalized a cup," Sortito said. "And overthrows caught, where a member of the opposite team must catch an overthrow with one hand to call the penalty."

Regardless of location, it seems that picking a name and picking rules depends on the house.

"The Beirut/beer pong debate ... it's regional," said Ashley Pritchett, a 1st-semester Emerson student. "Location, location, location."

This weekend, and always, watch out for rule changes between tables. The 16-ounce cups are an indication only that a game is being played. Check for posted house rules and obey them. The house always solves the disagreements in play.