Drinking Pong Drinking Game Rules

Setup:

The traditional setup for Drinking Pong is made up of six cups orientated as a triangle on either side of the table. This arrangement is shown below. Drinking Pong can be played with many different cup formations such as triangles made up of 10 cups or any other shape you want to play with. Drinking Pong can also be played in teams of two or more.

Rules:

To start the game, you need to decide who throws first. You can either play a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” or you can play “Snake Eyes”. To play “Snake Eyes” one player from each team throws a ball at the other teams’ cups while the two players look each other in the eyes. First one to sink a cup starts the game as the first thrower.

The first team starts by throwing a ping pong ball at the other team’s cups. The thrower cannot extend their elbow beyond the edge of the Drinking Pong Table. When you’re playing one-on-one, each player throws two pong balls, otherwise each team member throws one ball each.

If both balls from a team’s turn land in separate cups then they get the balls back to take another turn. If both balls from a team’s turn land in the same cup then the opposing team drinks three cups (the cup that was sunk, and two extra cups of the defending team’s choice) and the balls are returned to the throwing team for another turn.

The first team to eliminate all of the opposing team’s cups wins.

Bounce Shots & Trick Shots:

Bounce shots are encouraged but can be blocked by the opposite team. This means the “defending” team much be on alert to block any bounce shots. Sinking a bounce shot counts as two cups. The defending team drinks the cup that was hit and one extra of their choosing. Bounce shots are risky but the reward can be great if the other team is caught off-guard.

If a ball rolls back to the throwing team’s side of the table after a shot, the throwing team can grab it and take an extra trick shot. A trick shot includes any kind of shot with extra difficulty (behind-the-back, bounce-off-the-roof, left-handed, etc.). A trick shot is worth one cup.

Redemption:

After one team eliminates the other’s cups, the losing team has a chance to redeem themselves and continue playing. The losing team get’s one throw to try to sink a cup. If they sink it, the losing team stays alive with one of their cups remaining on the table. Play continues as normal upon hitting a redemption shot.

Optional Rules:

1. Explosion: If a team sinks two balls in the same cup it is referred to as an “explosion”. The other team drinks and removes every cup that is touching the “exploding” cup. Balls are still returned to the throwing team for another turn.
2. Redemption Shots: There are plenty of different rules regarding redemption shots.
   1. One redemption shot for each person on the redeeming team.
   2. Two redemption shots for the redeeming team.
   3. Two redemption shots for the redeeming team, but both shots have to sink for redemption.
   4. The redeeming team must “match” the shots from the winning team. For example, if the winning team hit both of their shots on the previous turn, then the redeeming team must do the same to achieve redemption. This is my personal favourite rule for redemption.