Many Dartmouth students, believe it or not, are actually as competitive about their Pong ability as they are about their grades. We find this to be vastly superior and don’t play Pong solely as a means to get drunk to us it is a recreational activity first, a drinking game second.
This paddle version is much more fluid, requires players to possess a sufficient level of hand eye coordination, and heightens the level of athletic competitiveness in a game. Now, almost universally so, the game of Pong at Dartmouth is played with a continuous back and forth of high arching paddle shots where a hit on a cup costs a half a beer and a sink the whole thing. I imagine that the constant breakages in play this style presents eventually led to the switch to lob shots, which slows the game down and makes it more about finesse and less about brute strength.
At first the game was played at full speed with high velocity, close to the net shots. It was eventually discovered that it was actually more fun to aim for the mugs of beer rather than follow traditional Ping-Pong rules. If you believe certain sources, the invention of Beer Pong can be attributed to table-tennis playing Dartmouth fraternity members who would rest their beer mugs on the table while they played. The history of American Beer Pong has almost mythological qualities. Since the game was first conceived at Dartmouth-teams using padd l e s to return the ball back and forth across the table rather than each team taking turns throwing it-we claim our version as the original and most pure manifestation. A superior Pong player will almost never lose to an inferior one if their partners are more or less equal in skill, while in Beirut, drastic upsets can and will occur on long enough time-lines. Hitting cups with regularity doesn't come until much later. I have introduced many first timers to the game over the years and it usually takes a full game before the person has even grasped the concept of how to serve and return the ball fluidly.
Hand someone a Pong paddle on the other hand and ask them to make difficult lob shots from a variety of angles and locations, having never done anything similar before, and most of them won’t be able to even keep the ball on the table. Anyone should be able to come within a foot or two of the cups after a throw or two. Hand someone a Ping-Pong ball and ask them to throw it at a grouping of cups ten feet away and anyone who has the use of their arms and can see further than a few feet will be able to play with some reasonable amount of success. It's easy enough to get the basics down so that anyone can play a game and the skill gap so minor for the majority of players that most games result in toss ups. Not to knock Beirut, but it is a much simpler game that requires less setup, space, and equipment-this adaptability is also probably why it is much more popular. When high school and college kids refer to Pong, as in: “Come over to my place, we're going to play some beer-pong in my dad's garage!” the game they are actually referring to is what we call Beirut, where teams take turns throwing the ball across the table at their opponent's cups. Having played both versions extensively, I can tell you quite honestly that our version is light-years more fun. One variation in particular, called Beirut, has become a familiar staple across the country and can be found under every nook and cranny where young adults are prone to binge drink. Thats all, thanks for making this awesome app!!!!There is a special connection between this drinking game and Dartmouth students and a certain pride in the fact that our school was likely the origin for all existing forms of Beer Pong. Also, I would LOVE an infinite mode like how the app used to be when it was new, 10 pts isnt enough sometimes. The jump mode is interesting, but the "demo" you get before you pay is too short.
Although, there used to be a glitch with breakout where you could still access the levels without paying, despite the popup that appeared when you won, and when it got patched I got stuck on the music note level, but idk doesnt matter that much, I just have to buy the breakout mode to fix it. I do thing that its a bit annoying you have to pay for each one, but theres no ads so the dev has to be paid somehow. Breakout, invader, and the new jump modes are all cool, It also tells you to do something in settings that doesnt exist, so you cant make it return to the app when you turn your apple watch on. The "watch" mode for pong doesnt work anymore, the AI for the right side does nothing. I adore this app! It has multiple different games and is pretty fun.