Two opposing teams of players take turns to throw a series of ping pong balls across the table, trying to land them in the opposing team's cups of beer.
When successful, the receiving team has to drink the beer in that cup before removing it from the table. A team wins when all the other team's cups have been eliminated.
The following are required:
Bouncing / Swatting - If a ball hits the table and then goes into a cup (even by accident), the cup that the ball goes into is removed, as well as another cup of the defending player’s choice. If there are only 2 cups remaining, the bounce only counts as one cup, so it’s fairly useless to bounce on the last 2 cups….unless you’re simply trying to be a tough guy. We’ve heard some of the manlier men out there claim “Bouncing is for bitches” but we like this rule as it helps keep focus to the game, therefore speeding things up.
Fingering / Blowing - You may have heard the expression Guys Finger, Bitches Blow during a rule summary at the beginning of a game. Fingering is when the ball is spinning inside of a cup and the defending team pulls it out with his/her finger. Blowing is when the ball is spinning inside of a cup and it is blown out by the defending team. If not specifically called at the beginning of the game, neither fingering nor blowing count. This is due to the cheapness of the rule and the easiness of a player to blow out the ball, even after it has come into contact with the beer. If you don’t believe it just try putting a ball in one of the cups and blowing it out, it’s not very difficult (especially for those experienced sorority gals).
On-Table Rollbacks - After shooting if the ball rolls back to the shooter without hitting the floor (you may also grab it mid-air), they can shoot it again behind the back. The shot counts as one cup if made.
Rebuttal - After the last cup is hit each player from the losing team has a chance to hit the remaining cups. Each player shoots until they miss, the order in which this is done does not matter. If there are racks left over they may be used now. Once both players miss and there are remaining cups, the game is over. If the players manage to hit all remaining cups the game goes into a 3 cup overtime.
Twice per game, each team can request the cups to be rearranged at the start of their turn. This is known as re-racking, racking, or reforming. Racking may take place when you have remaining cups in the amount of 6, 4, 3, or 2. If you get balls back after making 2 in a row, it is still considered your turn and you may not get a rack. If requested, Last cup may always be pulled back and centered.
Each team can request to “re-rack” as many as two times during a game. As already mentioned, this means they can rearrange the cups in their favor but this can only happen when six, four, three or two cups remain on the table.
Successfully eliminating all your opponents' cups means you win the game of Beer Pong. A tied Beer Pong game occurs if both teams remove the final cup on their final throw. In this case, extra time gets played with 3 re racked cups.
The winner is the first team to eliminate all three re racked cups. You may need to play further rounds of overtime if further draws occur until you get a clear winner.