Beer pong is a popular game that primarily depends on a turn-based system where two teams of two play against each other. The fun of beer pong comes from the difficulty of shooting the ping pong ball into the cup, which creates a lot of tension and excitement as each shot made makes the challenge harder and harder. The added aspect of drinking alcohol and making the other team get more drunk adds to the excitement. However, I personally think that the primary source of fun is the difficulty and satisfaction of making it into the cups.
One of the most interesting things about beer pong is that it being a popular folk game, there are a lot of house rules that can vary from person to person and can create a variety of gameplay styles. For example, some people play with the rule that shouting “island” before shooting into a cup that has no adjacent cups allows for the opposing team to take out two cups instead of a singular cup while others play with the rule of “balls back” where a team gets another attempt at shooting if they both make their shots into a cup.
Beer pong doesn’t suffer too much from abuse, as the core mechanic of the game is quite simple. The only abuse or conflict that seems to come up is if the teams disagree on what rules imply how many cups should be removed.
However, one problem with beer pong is that the difficult of making a shot can become quite embarrassing for beginners and slow the game down to an unenjoyable pace. This issue is exacerbated when both teams are trying to make it into the last few cups, and the gameplay slows down to a halt, making the game feel like a chore to finish. To fix this, an additional mechanic could be added to make the final few cups easier for beginners to make or restrict the length of the game, so the flow of the game doesn’t slow down too much. For example, limiting the number of turns when there are four cups left for either team could work. Whichever team makes the most within the last four turns is declared the winning team, with the losing team having to drink all of the remaining cups. This would prevent the game from going on for too long.
Overall, beer pong is a fun and exciting game that brings people together through the challenge of shooting the balls into the cups. The tension and excitement of the game mechanics, combined with the added aspect of making the other team drink, makes it a popular choice for parties and social gatherings. Adding mechanics to make the final few cups easier for beginners would likely increase enjoyment for all players involved.
