Beer pong is a drinking game played at most fraternity parties.  You need twenty-four red cups, two ping pong balls, and a long table to play.  The cups are placed in a pyramid formation starting with one cup, then two, then three and then four totaling eleven cups on each side.  The cups are filled about 1/3 with beer, and one of the remaining two cups is placed on each side of the table and filled with water (this cup is used to wash the ping pong balls after each throw).  There are two teams each with two people.  Each team starts with a ball. One player from each team takes a turn attempting to throw the ball in one of the cups.  Whoever makes a ball into a cup first gets to play first as a team.  Both balls are given to the team that shoots first.  If a player makes a ball in a cup, one player from the other team has to drink the beer in that cup.  If both players make their balls in the cup, both players have to drink from the cups they made and the team gets to shoot again.  If both players make their balls in the same cup, they get to shoot again and the other team has to drink not only the cups they made but also three other cups.  After one team makes all the cups, the other team is allowed a rebuttal.  As long as one of the team members makes a cup, the team gets the balls back.  As soon as the team misses a cup, the rebuttal is over and the other team has won.

My informant learned this game when he pledged a fraternity at the University of Southern California.  He learned it from his fellow brothers in his fraternity house.  This game is usually played at every party they have, and the house even has tournaments of this game.  He often plays with the same partner and says that many people play with the same partners once they have found someone they make a good team with.

My informant says the rules of this game can vary from fraternity house to fraternity house.  At some houses, they use more cups and make a larger pyramid.  At other houses they make the other team drink all the cups surrounding the one cup both players make.  At some fraternity houses, this game is known as “Beirut.”  My informant says that this game can also be played with drinks other than beer, such as mixed drinks.  He also says he has seen a variation of this game in which chasers were used in the cups, and the players took shots when they had to drink and used the chasers from the cups.

This game can be played by anyone but is mostly found on the college scene in fraternities and in dorms.

“Ride the Bus”

Ride the Bus is a drinking game that uses a whole deck of cards.  Twenty-one cards are placed face down on a table in a pyramid formation: six cards, then five, then four, then three, then two, then one.  The remaining cards are equally dealt out to the players.  The row of six cards means one sip, the row of five means two sips, the row of four means three sips, the row of three means four sips, the row of two means half a drink, and the row of one card means one full drink.  The dealer starts by flipping over the bottom right card.  If any player has a matching card, he or she can put down the matching card and give any other player however many sips that row is worth.  For instance, if the card flipped over was on the row of six cards and I had a card that matched, I could make any other player drink one sip of their drink.  If a player has two matching cards, he or she can give any other player twice the amount of drinks that the row is worth.  After all the cards are flipped over, any players who still have cards left have to ride the bus.  The dealer gathers all the cards and reshuffles them.  Then he lays out six cards face down.  Number cards mean no drinks, a jack means one sip and the dealer lays down another card, a queen means two sips and the dealer lays down two more cards, a king means three sips and the dealer lays down three more cards, and an ace means four sips and the dealer lays down another four cards.  This continues until the dealer has flipped over all the cards.

My informant learned this drinking game at his fraternity from his “big brother,” a brother in the house who acts as a mentor.  Some of the brothers in the fraternity were playing drinking games one night and his “big brother” had the group play Ride the Bus. My informant says he plays this game from time to time when they want to have a low key night with friends.

My informant says this game can be played by anyone who drinks.  Although it is mainly found in fraternities and on college campuses, other people enjoy playing the game too.  Some people enjoy playing this game with a small group of friends in a quiet room, whereas some play it with strangers at big parties.

My informant says there is a strategy to the game.  The key is to play your cards later in the game, when they are worth more drinks.  For instance, rather than play a jack on the row of six cards where it is only worth on sip, wait until a jack is flipped on the row of two cards where it is worth half a drink.

Vince first played this game in October of 2006 his first semester in College. This is a game of memory and speed. The game is played in a circle. Each person in the circle has his or her own hand gesture. Vince said when he played it that he did a rowing motion and that was his hand motion for the whole game. After each person picks their hand gesture, everyone rapidly taps on the table and starts saying thumper, and the they increasingly say it faster and faster. Then as it peaks the leader of the group, who is usually the person who suggests playing the game, chants out “WHAT GAME ARE WE PLAYING!” and every one else answers back by saying “THUMPER!” Next he says “WHY DO WE PLAY THIS GAME!” and everyone else answers back by saying “TO GET MESSED UP!” Next he does his own hand gesture and does someone else’s, and then that person does his own and passes it on to someone else. This goes on until someone messes up, by doing someone’s hand gesture incorrectly or stutters in between. At that point the person who messed up takes a long sip of his beer or non-alcoholic drink. Vince says that it is the most fun when people have drank for a long time and they are intoxicated a bit because it is harder for them to remember each person’s gesture and pass it on. He also says that the game is best when there are more than 10 people, then it is harder to remember all the 10 gestures. Vince plays this game at least once when he is partying at his frat. He usually plays with girls and some of his friends.

Vince’s frat brother, Chuck, who I also interviewed, told me of another version of this game. He said that instead of just doing you gesture and another peron’s gesture, you have to remember each person’s gesture before that, and you make up gestures as you go instead of having set gestures for each person. He says that this game is harder than Vince’s version because of the amount of memorizing that has to be done.

This game can also be compared to the childhood game I played where we would pick a topic (i.e animals) then one person would say an animal and then the next person would say another that starts with the last letter of the animal the pervious person says. It is similar in the way that it is a memory game.

Captain Dickhead

Rules: Each person draws a card from the pile

Each card has a rule that must be obeyed

If a person does not want to obey the rule, then they must drink a beer

If a person gets an Ace, that person has the power to tell anyone to do whatever he or she wants them to do (referred to as Captain Dickhead)

My informant first heard about this drinking game at a fraternity party at Cal State Long Beach.  My informant played this drinking game at a party with his fraternity brothers.  My informant said the game is really fun.  My informant said the game is called “Captain Dickhead” because whoever gets the card with the ace can tell anyone who is playing the game to do something very embarrassing or ridiculous.  Therefore, the person with the card of ace is considered “Captain Dickhead.”  My informant said that this game makes drinking alcohol more interesting.

My informant said that there is another variation of this game called “King’s Cup.”  In this game, everyone must pull a card as well.  However, it is a little different in that in the middle of the table there is a big cup that is filled with alcohol.  As everyone pulls a card, whoever draws the last card with a king on it has to drink all the contents in the cup no matter what is in it.

Many people play different variations of this game so that drinking alcohol is more exciting.  My informant stated that “Drinking games help people loosen up and relax.”