March 18 - Hosting your own beer pong tournament
Rich

On April 11th, our friends over at Bohica Castle (our favorite local Albany party house) will be hosting a beer pong tournament, first prize is $200! We will be participating and we will be bringing some of our collapsible beer pong tables because its the least we can do for all the great times we have had over there ;)

Naturally our friends over at BC came to us and asked us the best format to run a beer pong tournament. Assuming there might be others out there who are interested in running and hosting their own beer pong tournament, I figured I would write an article about it since we've done it many times.

You can hold a beer pong tournament any place that has enough room for a few regulation beer pong tables. The dimensions of beer pong table range from seven to eight feet in length and 2 to 3 ft in width (our beer pong table dimensions are 7.5 ft by 2 ft). The number of playing surfaces needed can be determined by how many teams are expected to show up:

16 teams- 2 or 3 tables
32 - 4
64 - 5 or 6

The amount of pong tables you want to use is also dependant on how long you would like the tournament to last. If you want the tournament to wrap up at a reasonable hour so everyone can party afterwards, then use an extra beer png table. If you want the tournament to be going on during a party throughout the entire night, then use one less table.

A really laid back and casual tournament may not feel it necessary to supply the participants with beer and cups, but I feel if you're going to do this, do it right. Charge everyone a few bucks, pay off the beer and the cups, divy the rest up among the top finishers. A 32 team tournament will require 64 beers if your tournament is using 6 cups per game, 128 if you're using 10 cups per game. Depending on what beer you get, that could cost anywhere from 75$ to 150$. When I host tournaments I pay for cups but it is not a necessity, I just think its a little perk that everyone appreciates. Only costs about 35$ to supply 32 teams each with their own beer pong cups.

There are basically two ways to run a tournament, Bracket Style or Round Robin:

Bracket Style
Make sure you get a number of teams divisible by 8 so no teams get "bys". Single elimination is the most traditional way to play, which is setup like a NCAA bracket and the last team standing is the winner. Double elimination takes longer but a lot of times can be more fun because teams aren't initially hit with the anxiety of getting knocked out of the tournament. Keep in mind, double elimination tournaments tend to take twice as long and cost twice as much for beer.

Round Robin
More suited for tournaments with 8 or less teams. Each team plays each team once, the team with the best record at the end wins. These tournaments are really fun because everybody gets to play for the entire tournament regardless of their performance, and it is really the best way to determine who the best team is. In bracket style a team may have one bad game and get eliminated, but in round robin the best beer pong team generally wins.

Whichever style you decide, investing in a whiteboard is never a bad idea. You can get one that hangs on your wall and is big enough to fit 32 teams at Walmart for like 12$ with the markers and re use it for all future events.

Beer pong tournaments are fun time for all involved, but its important that you do it right. Make sure that all the contestants are legal drinking age and never let anyone drink and drive, both things can be traced back to you and could land you in some serious trouble. As long as you handle things responsibly, you should have no problems.

...And of course if you are looking for some great beer pong tables to host your tournament, you've already found the right place ;)