What You'll Need
You need a long table (8 feet is standard, but any table works), 20 plastic cups (10 per side), 2 ping pong balls, and beer or drinks of choice. You'll also want water cups for rinsing balls.
Setup
Arrange 10 cups in a triangle (4-3-2-1) at each end of the table. Fill each cup about 1/3 with beer (or whatever you're drinking). Set a water cup to the side of each triangle for ball rinsing.
How to Play
Two teams of 1-2 players face each other across the table. Each team takes turns throwing ping pong balls at the opposing team's cups.
- If a ball lands in a cup, the opposing team drinks that cup and removes it.
- Both players on a team shoot each round.
- If both players make it, balls come back — shoot again ("heating up").
- Bounce shots count as 2 cups but can be swatted away.
- Elbows/wrists must stay behind the edge of the table.
Winning
The first team to eliminate all of the other team's cups wins. The losing team drinks all remaining cups on the winner's side. Most house rules allow a rebuttal — the losing team gets one last round of shots to try to force overtime.
Tips & Strategy
Aim for the back cups first. They're harder to hit later when the triangle gets smaller. Use a consistent throwing arc — high arc shots are harder to block but more accurate. Call "island" if a single cup is isolated from others — sink it and they remove 2 cups (most house rules).
Re-rack wisely. Most rules allow 2 re-racks per game. The best formations are diamond (4 cups) and line (3 or 2 cups).
Variations
Death Cup: If someone is still drinking a cup and you sink the ball in it, game over instantly.
Civil War: 3v3, no turns — everyone shoots as fast as they can. Chaos.
Strip Pong: Instead of (or in addition to) drinking, losing players remove clothing. 21+ only, obviously.