The fourth annual edition of the “World Series of Beer Pong”, a frat style drinking game recently turned popular, is coming to Las Vegas in 2009. Hundreds of teams are expected to gather at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino from January 1^st- 5^th to battle for the $50,000 grand prize. The five-day event, presented by BPong.com, will be the largest of its kind, the 2007 tournament attracted almost 600 contestants from 39 states and three different countries. In addition, twenty-one satellite competitions will be held in several locations inside the U.S., with the final satellite taking place in New York City on December 16^th, 2008.

 “It's a pastime with a very loyal following. We introduced beer pong to the Las Vegas Strip a couple of years ago at O’Sheas Casino and it continues to be immensely successful for us.” said Flamingo’s vice-president of marketing, Suzanne Trout.

“Beer pong” involves two teams that face-off from opposite ends of a long table. Each team has 10 plastic cups arranged in a triangle at their side of the table, then both teams take turns attempting to throw ping pong balls into the other team’s cups. The first team to full all the cups with at list one ping pong ball wins the match.

In most frat-style “Beer Pong” games, all cups are filled with beer and a member of the defending team has to drink a cup’s contents when the opposing team lands a ball in it, however, drinking is not mandatory during the “World Series of Beer Pong”.

During a BPong.com-regulated game, twenty-four ounces of beer or water is split between six of the 10 cups .The remaining four cups are filled with water and no one drinks the water from these cups during a regulation game. According to the tournament rules, all cups may be filled with water instead of beer and competitors can choose if they want to drink the contents or not.  

2008 world champion beer pongers, Jeremy Hughes and Mike Orr, are expected to make their best effort to defend the title, regardless of what the cups are filled with. The tournament is open to anyone, male or female, ages 21 or older. All teams are welcomed to register online before December 5^th, the Tournament’s registration is set at $1,000 per team, and includes four nights at the Flamingo Las Vegas.