The Game of Pong
Every great party, or just fun weekend, has a game of pong set up. Some people fill their solo cups with water and some fill them with beer. If you play with water, you can just sip on a drink while you play. Many people are better at pong in a drunken state while others can kill it sober. Sometimes the rules of pong depend on the house you’re in, but most rules are the same.
The Rules of Pong
1. Elbows can’t be over the tables, they must be behind it.
2. If the ball is bounced and made in the cup, two cups are taken away. However, the ball can be smacked away on a bounce.
3. If a person misses a cup and the ball has not hit the ground and they get it back, they get to take another shot. Guys would have to throw it behind their back and girls would have to throw it with their opposite hand, or just do another trick shot.
4. If you make a trick shot on your first shot, two cups are taken away.
5. If both balls are made in a cup by the two people on a team, the team gets the balls back for another shot. However, you can’t rerack at this point because it would be considered the middle of the turn.
6. A team or person can only have one rerack, but if there’s only one cup left, you can call “gentleman’s” which means the cups gets centered at the back of the table.
7. When on the last two cups, if you make both in a row, you win.
8. When on the last cup, if you make both balls in a row, you win.
9. If you only get one ball in the last cup, the other team or person gets one more shot. If they have more than one cup left and they make a shot, they get the ball back and they get to shoot until they miss.
10. If both teams get one ball in the last cup, they go into overtime, which means they rerack three cups into a triangle. If they go into double overtime, they rerack another triangle and then put another cup on top, this is called the “chandelier.” If you go into triple overtime, you rerack to the original six-cup triangle. Keep going until someone finally wins.
11. The way many people play is if a team or person doesn’t make a cup at all, they must do a naked mile.
12. When there is one cup by itself and then two or three together, that is considered an “island” so if you call “island” and make it into the cup that’s by itself, two cups get taken away.
13. If you get every cup except the three corners, it is considered the “Bermuda triangle” and you can’t rerack until you make one.
14. If you throw the ball and it bounces off of one or more cups and lands in another, every cup it hits gets taken away.
15. If someone makes a cup and you don’t move it and they make the next ball in the same cup, they automatically win.
16. If playing with beer in the cups, you have to drink the beer out of whatever cup the other team gets the ball in.
17. If you get a ball in a cup that’s already off to the side, yell “Social!” then everyone must take a sip of their drink and do a little dance. You don’t have to, but it’s fun.
18. If you throw the ball into a cup and it spins around the rim before sinking to the bottom, you can blow it out or finger it out.
Shapes for Reracks
1. Triangle
2. Cleft- backwards triangle
3. Diamond- vertical or horizontal 
4. Square- which isn’t the best because there’s a hole in the middle
5. Rhombus
6. House- a square with another cup in front
7. Straight line
8. Orion’s Belt- the cups organized in a curved fashion to look like Orion’s Belt
Trick Shots
1. Opposite hand (for girls)
2. Behind the back
3. Eyes closed
4. Off the wall
5. Off the ceiling
6. Off the person across from you
7. Anything creative you can think of
Pong is a really fun game and people always have a blast playing it. It’s also a great way to entertain guests. So make sure to play the next chance you get, it’s all in the flick of the wrist.
