Queen of the Table

Beer pong dates back to the 1950s or so, depending on which historian you want to believe. Beer pong chroniclers are rather scarce, however, so many tend to lean on the mother lode of important minutia –– Wikipedia. Dartmouth College alumni claim to have invented the game but with paddles. Students at Bucknell University argue that they invented the game. Bucknell bills itself as a private liberal arts college, which sounds like the perfect breeding ground for athletic alcoholism.

Either way, some college kids with way too much time (and beer) on their hands invented a game that is still being played. Heck, it’s even taking over Las Vegas. In 2013, former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman declared beer pong Sin City’s official sport.

The internationally recognized governing body of beer pong is BPONG, the standard bearer for both world-class organized competition and the manufacture of high-quality tables and equipment. College athlete-turned-engineer-and-lawyer Billy Gaines founded BPONG in 2001. The motto he still uses on his Twitter page: “Ripping beer pong out of college basements and taking it mainstream.”

Gaines claims to have hosted the first complete online source for the pong population, as well as creating the country’s top tournament, the World Series. The game was and still is rooted in the consumption of booze in a festive atmosphere. The difference is that now you can play in public relying on established rules and standardized cups, balls, and tables.

Almost everyone under the age of 50 has played a game of beer pong. Although some seem to stress the rules of the game, it’s not that complicated. You literally throw a ball into an opponent’s water-filled cup.

Pong is hardly a politically correct sport. Binge drinking among young people has been a growing problem for years. A multinational group whose members advise governments on economic growth released a study last year that shows binge drinking is increasing among young people. The 34-nation Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development characterized youthful binge drinking as a “major public health and social concern.” Earlier this month, 18-year-old Canadian resident Brady Grattan died of alcohol poisoning after playing beer pong using hard liquor.

TABC regulations discourage drinking alcohol out of the cups in official tournaments or at bars hosting games.

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Official games include 10 cups filled with water, one 8-foot table, four pingpong balls, a referee, and a 20-page World Series of Beer Pong rulebook. Organizations and organizers around the nation must register with BPONG to host official World Series of Beer Pong tournaments, which must include a satellite game. A satellite game allows players to win entry fees to the World Series in Las Vegas and follows the nationally set rules and regulations of BPONG.

Pretty much anyone can become an organizer, but it does take some time to get a following of players to come to your events. Organizers must know the rules and know how to host a good event.

Morris and Kerry often participate in official tournaments to try to get their hands on free tickets to the World Series and win some big money. They frequently travel to tournaments hosted by Rob Bailey, the organizer of the North Texas Beer Pong Tour, because they know the games are legitimate and fun.

Official World Series of Beer Pong tournaments are generally one-day events that last about five to 10 minutes per game, depending on if you win or lose.

Players play in a series of about 15 games if they make it to the end.

The game allows for double elimination, meaning you can lose only twice in the tournament.

Pong gear includes two 40 millimeter 3-Star Tournament Grade BPONG Balls in addition to the cups.

Bailey has played in the World Series all 11 years. The thirtysomething LasVegas native turned Texan has been organizing weekly tournaments in Austin for the past nine years using primarily social media. He knows the sport well and believes Morris would make a great competitor at this year’s World Series.

“I think [Morris] has a great chance at winning,” he said. “Plus, I would love to see someone from Texas win.”

Bailey said he wants to spread the game across Texas and share the positive side of beer pong because he believes it is an excellent social sport, which is great for meeting new people.

There are very few tournaments in North Texas because of many reported swindles and frauds. Local players often travel to Austin, San Antonio, and Oklahoma to play. Bailey is in the process of expanding the tournaments into North Texas. He thinks if he can show that beer pong is a real sport and not just an excuse to binge drink then he can break the stereotype.

“One thing that I can not stress enough is that there is a big misconception about beer pong,” he said. “Too many people do not look at it as a sport. Too many people see it as just a college drinking game.”

All kinds of people from various occupations, ages, and backgrounds play in Bailey’s events, he said. There are some notable people in the beer pong world who are not just drunken frat boys and young girls looking to get wasted. Players involved in the North Texas Beer Tour include pharmacists and high-level executives from big companies like Apple.

Kevin Kessler, a 35-year-old executive from Philadelphia, has been ranked as high as fifth in the nation by BPONG and has won the World Series before. Kessler is not your typical player. He is something of a celebrity, a well-known ponger in the community, although he laughed when asked about his celebrity-like status. Kessler, who is married with a child, has been playing professionally since 2006 and has no plans of stopping anytime soon, he said.

“It is a lot of fun and a great conversation starter,” Kessler said. “A lot of people do not even know about this. But there are not enough people for it to become any bigger than it is and there is just no audience for it.”

Kessler said it is hard to promote the sport due to its negative image. (Don’t count on MADD as a sponsor.)

Morris, though, is a believer. She doesn’t care that some acquaintances tend to judge her for making a sport out of beer pong or that great pongers get no mainstream recognition. Morris has not felt this passionate, this engaged, and this pumped full of adrenaline since playing setter for the varsity volleyball team at Jacksboro High School more than six years ago.

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