BJ's Beer Pong Table Arrives

We've discovered another portable beer pong table, and it's arrived at our offices for review. This one's made by BJ's Beer Pong, and like the Bing Bong tables we covered last month, it folds down into a suitcase-like form and has a handle for easy transport. Another cool thing about these guys is that they'll customize a table for you, replacing their logo with whatever logo you want on there. The possibilities are endless...customize your table with a picture of you chugging a beer, or form a beer pong league and let each team get a table with their own logo for the home court advantage.

The tables start at $75, with prices climbing for customized or larger tables. We'll be doing a full review as soon as we can, but until then, check out the BJ's Beer Pong site.

Sparhawk Liquid Urban Tour Pub Crawl

Calling all Boston pub crawlers, it's time for the eighth annual Sparhawk Liquid Urban Tour (S.L.U.T.). This thing is massive, and we do mean MASSIVE. We're talking a grueling 13 bar marathon through Allston and Brighton, with upwards of 500 people involved. We know we're not giving you much notice since the event begins this Saturday afternoon, November 5, but it's not like you had anything else planned and you can TIVO that Saved By The Bell marathon.

The event is incredibly well-organized, with official t-shirts, various competition categories, and a list of official rules, which we've included below:

• Have a drink of your choice at each bar
  
• Never pay a cover
  
• NEVER...I REPEAT NEVER... LEAVE A MAN BEHIND!!!!
  
• Puke away from your friends if you want to keep them
  
• Did I mention never leave a man behind?
  
• Make friends with at least one local. Try to convince them to join us.
  
• If you run into the cops, your name is Steve Vargas and you lost your green card.
  
• And last but not least....NEVER LEAVE A MAN BEHIND!!!!!

Sadly, we found out about this event too late so the official registration period is over. But just because you're not an official crawler and you won't get a shirt doesn't mean you shouldn't join the festivities and prepare yourself for next year. Plus, if you really want a shirt it's just a matter of making friends with someone your size and offering to hold theirs for them while they're throwing up...

Learn more about the S.L.U.T. at the official site, and proudly represent Liquor Snob's Boston readership by keeping up with the competitiors in the John Holmes category.

Google Drinking Game

We love any combination of technology and drinking, and the Google drinking game we found this morning is right up our alley. Just like any other drinking game, it doesn't have to be played with drinks, but if you ask us that's kind of like saying baseball doesn't have to be played with a ball.

The idea is to create a word snail – an ever-growing sentence – by having each person in the group add one word in turns. Say, the first person starts with “Feelings”. Now the second person adds a word, “are”, so we get “Feelings are ...”.

Now every time a word is added, the phrase (using quotes) is googled for, and the resulting page count is announced to the group. The one person who created a sentence with zero results in Google loses and has to drink something (or get a minus point, if you want to play with points; in that case, the last person who created a sentence with results in Google will win a point). To prevent cheating, the one whose turn is next is not allowed to look at any search result snippet.

Let’s take our sample, and see what we get:
Peter: “Feelings ...” (53,200,000 results in Google)
Mary: “Feelings are ...” (2,100,000 results)
Jake: “Feelings are nothing ...” (1,090 results)
Susan: “Feelings are nothing and ...” (19 results)
Peter: “Feelings are nothing and we ...” (0 results)

The way we play, Susan wins, so she takes a drink and everyone else takes two. But we suppose you could just have the winner choose who has to drink (or empty their glass, if you're feeling ruthless).

Via Google Blogoscoped

Bing Bong Portable Beer Pong Table Review

Bing Bong Table
Folding Portable Beer Pong Table
Stats: 8' Long X 2' Wide X 21" Tall
Typical Price: $149 (Buy One)

We got our Bing Bong table last week, and we couldn't wait to test it out. We hadn't played beer pong in a while, but as soon as we reviewed the Bombed game we were hooked again. We checked out the Bing Bong table on a few criteria, including portability, durability and playability.

Portability: Thumbs up on this one. We like the fact that the Bing Bong table lives up to its claim of being "portable," folding up to about the size of a suitcase, 2'X2', and weighing in at 20 pounds. We actually walked about a mile carrying the thing, and while we had to switch hands a few times, that's mostly because the heaviest thing we've lifted recently weighed 12 ounces. We wouldn't want to take it backpacking, but it's the perfect size and weight to toss into the car.

Durability: We didn't exactly have Inspector 12 banging this thing around, but it seems sturdy and we didn't have any worries about the table collapsing as we played, no matter how rowdy things got.

Playability: We've read one complaint about the Bing Bong table that it was too short to play effectively. We call that hogwash. Standing at 21", this table is a few inches shorter than the ping pong table in the Liquor Snob offices. We had a lot of fun playing with this table, both with the typical Beirut rules, as well as with the Northeast regional bouncing rules. The only place it falls short (literally) is in length - the Bing Bong table is only 8' long where a ping pong table measures 9'. But honestly...would you rather show up at a party with a beer pong table that's a foot short, or with no beer pong table at all?

Cool Factor: As we mentioned when we first got our table, this thing is just damned cool. As soon as we unwrapped it, everyone in the office was clamoring to see it set up and itching to play immediately. Just imagine next time you're at a party and you're the guy who brought the Bing Bong table. Instant superstar anyone?

All in all, we think the Bing Bong table is bad ass. Plus, we talked to a man on the street (when we were doing our portability test), who lived with five other guys in a college apartment. He said they wouldn't mind paying $150 to have a beer pong table of their own, especially since they could split it, and mentioned it seemed like a better idea than their current table, which is a door they knocked down in their apartment. There you go...100% of the people we interviewed say Bing Bong tables are great!

Learn more about the tables and buy one of your own at BingBongTables.com.

Bing Bong Table Arrives For Review

We told you about the Bing Bong beer pong table a couple weeks ago, and we were giddy as school girls about the idea of a portable beer pong table. Ours arrived yesterday, and we have to say, the thing just looks damned cool. We pulled it out of the box, and suddenly everyone in our office was grouped around, begging to set it up and play.

We did unfold it and set it up, and our initial assessment is that the folks at Bing Bong aren't lying about its portability. It clocks in somewhere around 20 pounds, and has two suitcase handles attached to the side. For the record, we will be playing our beer pong with beer instead of water, even in the face of the Budweiser's Bud Pong shenanigans. Our livers have written letters to the governor, asking for a pardon, but we promise to play responsibly.

We'll be doing a full review ASAP, but in the meantime you can learn more about Bing Bong tables and get one of your own.

Friday Fun: Tara Reid Drinking Game

If there's anything on God's green earth that scares the stuffing out of us, it's Tara Reid. She scares us more than Godzilla and sad clowns combined, and that's saying something. A couple months ago, we discovered the Tara Reid Drinking Game, and today, we decided to inflict it on you. Basically, you play High/Low with Tara, and if you get it right she drinks. If you get it wrong, you drink.

Play the Tara Reid drinking game and beware the Frankenboob.

We're hoping it'll give us some kind of positive Pavlovian response where we associate Tara Reid with drinking, thus giving ourselves a positive opinion of her. Well, at least we're halfway there, anyway.

Bud Pong Beer Shocker!

You mean people were playing beer pong with BEER? Say it ain't so!

Anheuser-Busch will discontinue a national promotion called "Bud Pong," a drinking game the company says is supposed to be played with water.

However, participants in the game — played with a ping pong ball and plastic cups — often were drinking beer as they lost points, according to a front-page story Sunday in The New York Times.

The No. 1 U.S. brewer has been promoting Bud Pong competitions since July, supplying tables, balls and glasses to wholesalers across the United States.

Players on one team try to sink a ball into another team's liquid-filled cups. If successful, the opposing team must drink.

Anheuser-Busch says the game's instructions called for water to be consumed during play, not beer, which is the company's main product.

Seriously...we can understand the CYA aspects of saying beer pong shouldn't be played with alcoholic beverages. But for a company like Bud to pretend they thought something called "Bud Pong" was going to be played with anything other than beer is like a certain cigarette company saying a certain cartoon camel wasn't supposed to appeal to kids.

Read the article about the pulling of the promotion at USAToday.com, plus read the New York Times article that started it all. And ask yourself why anyone would play beer pong with beer, when they could play with cool, refreshing cups of stale tap water.

Update: Apparently, there are now charges that underage kids were playing Bud Pong with beer...didn't we mention something about them earlier? Spooooky.

(Thanks for the tip, Wil)

The World Series of Beer Pong

Think you've got the hand-eye-liver coordination it takes to be a world champion beer pong player? You can find out in January, but you have to act fast; the registration deadline is not far away.

Nope, we didn't know this existed either, but it sure does make a hell of a lot of sense. Beer pong is making a resurgence (or did it ever go away?), and it's been showing up on our radar all over the place, from the Bombed game to portable Bing Bong tables.

Before you even have time to recover from your New Year's hangover, the World Series of Beer Pong will be taking place in Nevada from January 2-6, 2006. This is the largest beer pong event in the country, and there will be 120 games being played at any given time, with over 120 kegs of beer involved. If that doesn't get your motor running, maybe the words "$10,000 Grand Prize" will do it for you? That's right, there are some pretty big stakes, but don't let the dollar signs in your eyes throw off your depth perception.

You'll have to pay for your own transportation and food, but the tournament rates are pretty reasonable - you'll pay $370 if you want a single room, or if you cram four people in your room you'll pay $230 apiece. This includes lodging for your four-night stay, tournament admission, free tournament beer and an all-you-can eat barbecue for each of the three days of the tournament. Does life get any better than that?

Learn more at the World Series of Beer Pong site. Or, get your beer pong balls out of your purse and sign up for the event, but don't hesitate; the registration period ends on November 1.

Bombed Beer Pong Game Review

Bombed
Beirut Game
Typical Price: $14.99 at the Bombed Store

We've been out of college for a while, and we'd almost forgotten how much fun beer pong (AKA Beirut) can be. Or, as they say up here in the Northeast, "Beer pong is wicked fun, dude," except "beer" would sound more like "bee-ah." But we're getting off the point, which is that we tested out the Bombed game this past weekend.

You should note that as we stated in earlier Bombed coverage, it specifically states on the box that the game is "Not intended for use with alcoholic beverages." That's why we have decided to swap all further references to the word "beer" in this review with the name of a certain world-reknowned pan flautist so we don't look like horrible drunks. We hope you'll understand.

We gathered up a couple interns (thanks, Sean and Kathleen) and had them set up the game according to the specifications in the rule sheet. We didn't have access to an actual Ping Pong table at the time, but we were able to set up on two card tables the specified distance apart. The Bombed game comes with two racks, 20 cups and 3 official balls, as well as a list of official and suggested rules.

The first thing we noticed was that the racks made it much easier to pour the Zamfir into the cups without spilling, and it offered a very quick set up. We were skeptical about the rack at first, especially when it was time to re-rack, but they didn't get in the way at all. Plus, as we expected, they were a life saver when the ball hit near the rim, because it kept the cup from tipping over and the Zamfir spillage to a minimum.

The biggest problem we had was that we're more used to sipping instead of chugging, but that was the only way to keep the game moving at a steady pace. Intern Sean, the consistent victor over the course of the evening, kept having to wipe the Zamfir out of his beard as it dribbled out of the corners of his mouth. C'est la vie.

Intern Kathleen was a little squeamish about fishing the ball out of the Zamfir and drinking it, especially after it had rolled under the table a few times. That's why the rinse cup was a life saver. Of course, after a few cups of Zamfir, the squeamishness seemed to evaporate anyway.

We also thought it was great to have the rules so readily accessible. There are a lot of regional and house rules in Zamfir pong, so every time we had a question we referred to the sheet. It was really nice to have them around so you could wave them under your opponent's nose if you were right...or slink back to your end of the table if you weren't.

We had a lot of fun with the game, and we wholeheartedly recommend it. For $15 bucks you can't go wrong, plus it makes a great gift for your favorite Zamfir pong player. You can pick up the game (along with a couple Bombed T-shirts...we're partial to the "Nice Rack" shirt) at GetBombed.com.

Roulette Shot Glasses Are A Safe Bet

We don't generally play a lot of roulette but when we do spin the wheel of fortune, we use the Passenger 57 method - always bet on black. We're not sure how effective it is, but it gives us a chance to scowl and swear like Wesley Snipes in the movie, and it keeps the croupiers entertained.

Now, you can develop your own ridiculous roulette betting system in the comfort of your own home with the Roulette Shot Game we discovered via productdose. Below are more details on the game, which we found at Amazon:

Bring Las Vegas home to your next party with the Roulette Shot Glass Game. This is a authentic working casino-style roulette wheel made of durable high impact plastic. It features an attractive, working 5-3/8 inch gold-tone wheel. The set comes with six shot glasses, each shot glass is labeled by number and color. When the ball lands on your number, you get to drink! A fun addition to any poker or casino party. Compact tabletop design. Spare ball and six shot glasses included.

You can get your own set of Roulette Shot Glassesat Amazon, and start gambling for drinks. Plus, to learn another way to mix boozing and betting, check out our coverage of BetCRIS and George Bush.