Beer Pong History: A Timeline From Ping Pong to Vegas
Beer pong started as actual ping pong with beer on the table at Dartmouth in the 1950s, lost the paddles at Bucknell and Lehigh around 1980, and went pro with the first World Series of Beer Pong in 2006. Here’s the whole story, from Victorian parlors to Vegas.
Beer pong history timeline
- 1880s: Ping pong is born. Table tennis starts as an after-dinner parlor game in Victorian England. Nobody puts beer on the table. Yet.
- 1950s: Dartmouth adds beer. Fraternities at Dartmouth College start playing ping pong with cups of beer on the table, using paddles and a net. Dartmouth still plays it that way and still calls it “pong.”
- Late 1970s–1980: The paddles come off. Bucknell University’s Delta Upsilon fraternity claims it was throwing the ball by hand in “throw pong” by around 1980.
- 1983–1985: “Beirut” gets its name. Lehigh University’s Theta Delta Chi picks up the throwing game and names it “Beirut,” during the Lebanese Civil War. The name sticks across the Northeast. The whole story.
- 1990s–2000s: Beer pong goes national. The throwing game spreads to campuses everywhere, and outside the Northeast, “beer pong” becomes the name everybody uses. Every house starts writing its own rules.
- January 2006: The first World Series of Beer Pong. BPONG runs the first WSOBP at the Oasis in Mesquite, Nevada: 85 teams playing for $10,000.
- 2008–2009: Las Vegas, baby. The WSOBP moves into Las Vegas (South Point in 2008, then the Flamingo on the Strip), with a $50,000 grand prize.
- 2010: Record crowd. The World Series breaks its size record with 483 teams, including players from Ireland and Japan.
- 2014: Beer Pong All-Stars starts. We start writing down the house rules to settle the arguments at our own table. It turns into the 25 Rules of Beer Pong.
- 2015: Pity the Fool wins WSOBP X. New Jersey’s Mike Vit and Kris Fraser take the title at the tenth World Series. The final.
- 2016: Summer in Vegas. WSOBP XI moves to July at the Westgate Las Vegas.
- 2018: Official rules, version 2018. BPONG’s official rule set (v2018-03-001) becomes the standard for tournaments. Here’s how it compares to house rules: house vs. tournament rules.
- Today: Every house still has its own rules. From frat basements to bar leagues, the game’s the same and the house rules never are. Make yours with the house rules builder.
Who invented beer pong?
It depends which game you mean. The paddle version, still called “pong” at Dartmouth, traces back to Dartmouth fraternities in the 1950s. The throwing game most people play today started at Bucknell or Lehigh around 1980. Both schools claim it, and the argument isn’t settled. For the full naming fight, see beer pong vs. Beirut.
Why every house has different rules
Beer pong spread campus to campus and party to party, long before there was an official rulebook. Every house added its own twists: island, ring of fire, heating up, the bitch cup. That’s why rule #1 is still house rules, and why a tournament plays so differently from your basement.
FAQ
When was beer pong invented?
The paddle version dates to the 1950s at Dartmouth. The throwing version started around 1980 at Bucknell or Lehigh.
When was the first World Series of Beer Pong?
January 2006, in Mesquite, Nevada, with 85 teams and a $10,000 prize.
Why is it called beer pong?
It started as ping pong with cups of beer on the table. The paddles disappeared, but the name stayed.
Sources: The Dartmouth (2019), The Daily Princetonian (2004), World Series of Beer Pong (Wikipedia).