October 16, 2005

Dartmouth Is Pong

As I energetically roused myself from bed this afternoon, I opened up my New York Times to find this:
"Beer pong seems to be the drinking game du jour. Legend has it that the game, also known for some reason as Beirut, started years ago at a Dartmouth College fraternity party."

Well, not quite. The beer pong they speak of is not the beer pong we play. Ours is an activity that deserves its own article, not some passing mention in an article about games, binging, and corporate sponsorship. The story I've heard, between the Review's take on things and discussions with "frat historians," is a little more complex. It involves ping pong evolving into speed pong, then slam pong, then finally something resembling our current pong, which was then bastardized across the country into Beirut, maybe.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, today's popular Beer Pong pong on the college circuit is a misnomer as it is really Beirut. Beer Pong did start at Dartmouth and we played a variation of lob beer pong (not slam) at Dickinson in the early 90's before Beirut took over. Here are some old school Beer Pong web sites to check out with Video and pictures of the 'original' social sport:
    Kaino Beer Pong
    Philly Beer Pong
    World Beer Pong

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