Although there may be easier ways to enjoy alcohol, beer pong has evolved in the basements of Greek houses since at least the mid-1950s, and some claim its origins go back to the beginning of time.
Chris Robinson '86, a historian for Alpha Theta coed fraternity, said he believes the game started with the introduction of disposable plastic cups in fraternity basements in the 1950s.
Previously, students drank from glasses or ceramic mugs and "those can be knocked over by the ball and send dangerous shards all over the place," he said.
An Alpha Delta fraternity alumnus, David Thielscher '54, confirmed the existence of the game during his time at the College.
"I seem to remember trying to hit ping-pong balls into glasses," he said. "We played mostly on the weekends."
But he said he was not sure if other houses played the game at the time, and if they did, "they weren't as good as we were."
The game was certainly not widespread. John Tukey '53, an alumnus of the currently-derecognized Beta Theta Pi fraternity, said, "We did play a lot of ping-pong and we did drink some beer, but I'm not sure we put it all together."
He said many students were still drinking beer from mugs that they received as freshmen or as members of senior societies.
Some believe beer pong came before the plastic cups, through divine inspiration.
In an editorial in The Dartmouth on Oct. 16, 1976 titled "Beer pong has origins in religion," the writer, an unidentified brother of Alpha Delta fraternity, stated that beer pong began with Creation.
Acording to the writer, Noah wrote the Ten Commandments of beer pong, which include the rules of the game as they are known today, as well as other rules such as "Thou shalt not condemn sleaze."
Although he did not know when the game was invented at the College, Gene Truex '96, an alumnus of Phi Tau coed fraternity, said the game developed out of students' laziness during ping-pong games.
"Students would set their drink on the table so they wouldn't have to move very far to get at it," he said. "Their opponents, sensing that hitting the cup sitting on the table was a virtually unreturnable shot, began to aim for it."
Developing the sport of choice
Alumni's stories seem to show that beer pong did not exist at the College before the 1950s.
Before then, the party scene was completely different.
Louis Oldershaw '39, a former brother at AD, said his house only had parties on important occasions like Winter Carnival. During that time, women from surrounding colleges took trains to the all-male school and the men had to vacate the fraternity houses to accommodate them. Oldershaw said chaperones stayed at the house with the women, so there was too much supervision for drinking games like beer pong to evolve.
The social rules were also different. Arnold Shapiro '37, an alumnus at the now defunct, predominantly Jewish Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity said, "Jewish boys didn't drink then."
But as supervision of the fraternities waned and rules were relaxed, beer pong came into existence around the mid-1950s.
Although it has been at the College for over 40 years, according to one alumnus, there was a hiatus in the 1960s.
David Tafe '65, an alumnus of Phi Tau, said fewer people drank beer during the 1960s due to the prevalence of drug use.
"I remember some weekends when we didn't even have a keg -- it was unbelievable," Tafe said. "The stores went down to half their sales of kegs."
But he said beer came back into favor around the time he graduated. And with increased drinking came rapid development of the game.
William Robb '67, a former president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, said he played "blow pong," in which you blow instead of using paddles.
Win Johnson '67, an alumnus of Chi Heorot fraternity, said his house played simpler games than the game "Ship" that the brothers play today.
On a more serious note, Johnson said, "I think everyone has to be concerned about a game whose sole purpose is getting drunk."
An Alpha Theta alumnus, Barry Abbott '72, said people played the game with both beer and scotch.
When a New Hampshire statute lowered the drinking age to 18 in 1973, more wild times ensued.
Ralph Blanchard '78, an alumnus of Gamma Delta Chi fraternity, said beer pong was an intramural sport between fraternities as well as dormitories when he was at the College. The award for a championship season was a keg, he said.
Blanchard remembered well the rules of the game: "If you knock your own cup over, you have to chug. If you sink the ball in someone else's cup, they chug. There were between four and five drinks to a cup. For singles, the cup was placed at the center white line, one paddle's length from edge. For doubles, the two cups were placed one paddle's length from the corner."
He said the rules were standardized so that it could be an intramural sport.
Mark Josephson '72, a Beta alumnus, said it was during his time that "almost every fraternity painted little circles on the tables for the proper placement of the beer."
With coeducation of the College in 1972, more women began to participate in the game. But most women played in mixed doubles in the fraternities since they did not have their own sorority houses yet.
Laurie Branch '79, an alumna of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, said all of the women in her house knew how to play the game because they had friends in fraternities.
"The women in crew were famous for their ability to hold liquor," she said. "You did not want to lose to them."
Houses soon began to create their own games.
Richard Akerboom '80, a Heorot alumnus, said his house played "fast pong," in which the object was simply to hit the ping-pong ball across the table without any attention to method.
Robinson said Alpha Theta played "slam pong," in which brothers hit the ball to knock cups over.
"Depending on the 'macho quotient' of the house, there were a various number of drinks per cup," he said. "We played five drinks per cup because we were a 'weenie' house. Others played four drinks per cup."
Webb Scales '86, a Phi Tau alumnus, said his house played "lob pong," in which the ball has to move upwards.
He said beer pong "was absolutely the sport of choice" at the College.
Most students would agree that his statement still holds true today, as nearly all Greek houses play the game, in one of its many forms, numerous times a week.
The game is so prevalent on the College campus that it has even made its way into the classroom.
Students in Computer Science 4 this summer created a World Wide Web page which lists the numerous variations of beer pong played at the College. The games differ in the number of beers required, how much beer must be consumed when points are scored and the types of shots permitted.
According to the social chairs of the College's Greek houses, the games of Ship, Death, Social, Tree, Shrub, Two-Cup and Line are the most popular today.
The four corners of the world
Robinson described beer pong players from 30 years ago to today as a "fanatical cult following."
The "cult" has spread the word about the game everywhere.
Ted Lippman '72, an Alpha Theta alumnus, said when he was at the College, he wrote to the New York Times and asked if there was a historical record about beer pong.
Although his parents were not happy when they read the letter in the newspaper and found out that was how Lippman was spending his time at the College, he received letters about the subject from as far away as Taiwan.
"Students had taken it to the four corners of the world having learned it here," he said. "It was just an amazing common bond between a lot of people."
Lippman said he is still affected by his pong experiences. "When I am playing ping-pong up here [in Northfield, N.J.], I can smell my fraternity basement -- it is so strong an image," he said.
Josephson said, "like Johnny Appleseed," students have taken the game to other colleges, including Yale University, Colby College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Penn State University and Lafayette College.
Many students interviewed said their friends at other schools play the game without paddles.
And others seem to have learned the game before they came to Dartmouth.
Bob Ryan '73, a Phi Tau alumnus, told stories of symphony members and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author playing beer pong at the College.
"One time, the Chicago Symphony was playing at the Hop. We did a reception for them with dainty sandwiches and all, but two guys from the viola section yelled, 'Where is the keg?' and asked 'Did you guys ever play beer pong?'" he said. "They took on everybody in the place until the wee hours of the morning."
During his sophomore year, Ryan said, Norman Mailer came to speak at the College and played beer pong in the basement of Beta after his speech.
