Pong and Its Discontents

This blogger, after reading the D's recent "The Story of Pong" feature, calls all of us Dartmouth students audacious asshats. See, we disdain Beirut, and he really likes it. "[W]ith their love of Beer Pong, Dartmouth kids have irrationally lost sight of the whole point of drinking games in the first place - trying to get as fucked up as possible as quickly as possible."

The author complains about the length of time it takes to complete a game of pong (45 mins, he says--clearly he's never played with anyone very good) compared to Beirut, which takes 10 or so. Seriously kills a buzz, waiting that long.

Does he have a point? Fuck no.

I do have a theory though about why pong is preferred to beirut--it separates the men from the boys (to use a loaded metaphor) more efficiently. You can walk up to your first game of Beirut and, with good hand-eye coordination, play well. Pong requires experience, practice, and skill. This means that frat boys sit at the top of a natural hierarchy, and that's where they like to be. No one wants to get embarassed on their own turf.