Game rules

How to win

In most games of World Wide Pong, you win the game by sinking all of the opposition’s cups. After you have sunk all the cups, the opposition will usually have the opportunity to redeem themselves (refer to the redemption rule), and if they fail to redeem themselves, you win!

However, there are some specific country abilities that require you to defeat the opposition in a certain manner. For example, you must sink a specific cup to win, or sink cups in a specific order. Make sure you read you opposition’s ability to know if this is required.

Types of shots you can perform on your turn

• Normal shot

This should be obvious. A regular beer pong shot. Get it in a cup.

• Bounce shot

If the ball bounces on the table before going into a cup, that shot is worth two cups. The opposition must remove the cup that it landed in, and one more of their choice.

After the ball bounces, it can be defended (e.g., swiped away). However, if your opposition interferes with the ball before it bounced, the ball counts as going in and your team can choose one cup to remove.

• Rim shot

Similar to a bounce shot, but the ball bounces off a cup (or numerous cups) and into another. All cups that were “rimmed” along the way must be removed. A rim shot can be defended after it has bounced.

• Celebrity shot

Invite a spectator to take your shot. There is no additional benefit if this shot goes in – this rule is used to keep the game moving during bathroom breaks, or to keep the audience engaged.

• Trick shot

Instead of shooting normally, get creative and add a layer of difficulty to your shot (e.g., bounce it off the roof). If your (difficult) trick shot lands in a cup, the opposition must drink that cup and one more of their choice. A trick shot can be defended after it has bounced on the table or a cup, and if successfully sunk, a trick shot cannot be used again that game. 

Any player may challenge whether a trick shot was sufficiently difficult. If that player can replicate it on the first try, the shot is void and the player must attempt a new trick shot. 

• Rebound trick shot

Any time you shoot and the ball bounces/rolls back across the table, your team can lunge to grab the ball. If you successfully grab the ball before it hits the ground, you are awarded an additional shot on your turn. You must take this shot as a trick shot, however, if you sink the ball, it is only worth 1 cup. 

• Balls back

If your team lands ALL of your shots across different cups (it can sometimes be more than two with abilities), balls back is triggered. The opposition drinks the appropriate number of cups, then your team receives two more shots (even if more than two balls were sunk initially).

• Grenade AKA Explosion; bomb.

If your team lands ALL of your shots in the same cup, a grenade is triggered. The opposition must drink this cup and all cups that are directly adjacent to it. Balls back is not awarded if a grenade is triggered. 

Some notes about triggering balls back and grenades:

• If your team has three shots per turn, and you sink two in different cups (but miss the third), you do not receive balls back. Only those two cups are drunk.
• If your team has three shots per turn, and you sink two in the same cup (but miss the third), you do not receive balls back nor a grenade. Only one cup is drunk.
• If your team has three shots per turn, and you sink two in the same cup and one in a different cup, balls back is awarded.
• If your team has two shots per turn and you sink one, miss the second, but are able to successfully sink a rebound trick shot, you do not receive balls back. Only those two cups are drunk.

The basic rules

• Re-racks AKA: Re-arrange; re-formation.

At the start of your turn, you can ask the opposition to re-rack their cups. For most countries, a re-rack can only be called when your opposition has 3 or 6 cups (triangle numbers). If you decide to call one, your opposition must rearrange their cups into a triangle pointing towards you. Some countries have special re-racks, so read the country abilities carefully. See also: Unrecommended house rules

• Re-set

If cup/s are knocked out of position, you can ask for them to be re-set to the position they moved from.

• Redemeption AKA: Revenge; Rebuttal.

Redemption is triggered when you sink the opposition’s last cup. Before the cup is removed, the opposition get a chance to rebut by sinking a cup themselves. The number of chances they get is equal to the number of shots your team took that turn (i.e., if you shot twice, the opposition get two chances). If the opposition successfully sink one of your cups during redemption, neither your cup nor their cup is removed, and the game continues at the start of your turn. If they do not land a redemption shot, you win!

If you sink all of your opposition’s cups but haven’t used all of your allocated shots, you may forfeit the remaining shots to give your opponent less chances. Alternatively, you can shoot to try trigger a grenade or balls back. The automatically win with no redemption if:

a) you trigger a grenade and it removes all remaining cups, or

b) you sunk all cups, trigger balls back, and now have no more cups to shoot at.

You cannot call a re-rack or use any abilities during redemption.

Optional house rules

These rules should work regardless of what countries are played. Feel free to include these in your games:

• Airball AKA: Overs.

If you shot misses the cups and table completely, the opposition can shout “airball!”, and you must forfeit all remaining shots on your turn.

• Balling your own cups

If you drop a ball into your own cup (or slap it in, your trick shot falls in, etc.), it must be drunk immediately and you do not get to re-shoot.

• Bitch cup AKA Death cup.

If you sink a cup and it is not immediately drunk by the opposition (i.e., they hold it or set it aside) you may shoot for this ‘Bitch Cup.’ If you sink this cup, you automatically win. The opposition does not receive a redemption. Drink your cups.

• Blowing the ball

The defending team may blow a ball out of the cup if it is spinning and has not yet touched the liquid in the cup. If it is blown out of the cup, is dry (the opposition or a spectator can confirm this), and does not enter another cup it is successfully defended. If it enters another cup, it counts for two and the defending team must drink both cups. Some also allow using fingers to scoop the ball out.

• Eyes

Instead of random chance, both teams can use skill to see who goes first. Set up 6 cups in a normal triangle and choose one person from each team. While maintaining eye contact, both players shoot the ball. If both (or neither) player sinks a shot, their partners then shoot with the same method. This continues until only one person gets a shot in.

• No refills

If you hit an opposition’s cup with a ball and it falls over, this counts as going in and the opposition must drink the remaining contents and remove it from the game. This rule prevents filling the cups with less liquid than required. However, if the ball is ditched to deliberately knock over the cup (AKA Baseball), the shot does not count, the cup is refilled, and the shooter does not get to re-shoot. If there is confusion on the intended nature of the shot, consult a spectator, or re-take the shot.

• No refills, part 2

If you knock over your own cups (such as, attempting to defend a bounce shot and missing) they are not refilled and are removed from the game.

Unrecommended house rules

These rules are unbalanced or just aren’t practical. We recommend you keep these in regular beer pong:

• Alternative re-racks

Instead of just triangle numbers (e.g., 3 and 6), you can re-rack the opposition’s cups at any point and into any shape. This doesn’t work with countries that have unique setups (e.g., Chile & Vietnam).

• Island AKA: Iso.

Once per game, each player chooses a cup on the opposition’s side that is by itself (touching no other cups), and call “island!”. If they then sink that cup, the opposition must drink it, and one more of their choosing. This is unbalanced for countries that have cups that move closer, or are closer, to the centre of the table (e.g., Ecuador & Greece).

• Heating up

If you sink an opponent’s cup two turns in a row, you can announce you are ‘heating up’. If you sink a third cup in a row, you can shoot continuously until you miss. This doesn’t work if your country allows for numerous shots on the same turn (e.g., North Korea). We have instead included this mechanic as a standalone rule for Spain.

• Ring of fire

If you sink the centre cup and all three corner cups (leaving a ring), your team automatically wins with no redemption. How are you going to play Ring of fire against Paraguay?

• King Me AKA: Miracle.

If you land a ball on top of three cups, the game is automatically over. How are you going to play King me against Paraguay?