Las Vegas Weekly

January 6, 2009 · 9:04 AM

Bottoms up! Beer pong world champions net $50,000 at the Flamingo

By Robin Leach

World Series of Beer Pong.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Who knew that a four-day tournament of tossing a little white ping-pong ball into a plastic beer container would draw more than 800 fierce competitors from 40 states and three overseas countries?

For the past four days, 400 two-man teams have played a minimum of 12 games and shown why beer pong has grown from a one-time frat house and college baseball drunken giggle into a worldwide phenomenon.

Not only that, but respected ring announcer Bruce Buffer from the UFC officially called the action at the Flamingo, and the sport has its own sanctioning authority. Michael Popielarski and Ron Hamilton wound up the $50,000 beer pong world champions.

ESPN covered beer pong as a sporting event last year, and our contributing photographer Erik Kabik was on hand for the action and captured these unique photos for Vegas DeLuxe. Can lucrative network offers now be far behind? Maybe even add a category for fine wines and champagne just to vary the action?

The game is extraordinarily simple: Toss a ping-pong ball over an 8-foot table and land it in a plastic cup that has a level of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer in it. Obviously, the more balls that land, the more beer one drinks, and then the less balls find their target with accuracy!

Deceptively simple but dangerously difficult due to the beer drinking! Plus, there are rules to abide by! Who would have ever guessed?

For more information on beer pong and for World Series of Beer Pong contest rules, check out www.bpong.com. And for more beer pong coverage, check out our colleagues at www.lasvegasweekly.com.

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