Beer Pong - As Young Adults Drink to Win, Marketers Join In - New York Times

Edward 40-Hands, now that is collegiate fun at it's finest!

"Budweiser is not the only brand using games to sell alcohol. One recent Miller campaign featured spin the bottle, and its distributors have promoted beer pong tournaments as well, although the company says it has no corporate strategy to market the game.

Henry Wechsler, director of the College Alcohol Study at the Harvard School of Public Health, said he was 'aghast that companies who posture themselves as promoting responsible drinking promote drinking games, which by their nature involve heavy drinking.'

As for the Bud Pong water defense, Dr. Wechsler said: 'Why would alcohol companies promote games that involve drinking water? It's preposterous.'

Drinking games seem to be most popular among college students, and according to four recent academic studies that surveyed more than 6,000 students nationwide, 50 percent to 80 percent play them.

Some games are based on luck and revolve around cards and dice. A few are simply organized binges, like 'Edward 40-Hands,' in which players tape 40-ounce malt liquor bottles to their hands. Others, like flippy cup and beer pong, take a little skill.

In beer pong, each team stands at the end of a table in front of a triangle of cups partially filled with beer. Players pitch the ball into the other team's cups. When a player sinks the ball, the other team must chug the beer and remove the cup from the table. When a side runs out of cups, it loses." (more) As Young Adults Drink to Win, Marketers Join In - New York Times