Beer Pong is America’s drinking game. It’s the go-to form of party entertainment from high school through college (and beyond, no judgment). Trick shot videos abound on YouTube, with the most popular garnering millions of views. Hell, there’s even an official sanctioning body, the World Series of Beer Pong, that holds a tournament in Las Vegas with a $50,000 cash prize.
But in Hong Kong, everything is different thanks to a single added rule: the double cherry rule. A double cherry happens when both members of the team make the front cup on their first shot. Six cups are immediately removed from the game, and the team that made the front cup gets to shoot again.
If it’s been awhile and you need some brushing up, here are the official rules for beer pong: Two teams of two people set up 10 cups in front of them in a bowling pin formation. Each team gets two shots — one for each person — and tries to toss a ping pong ball into the opponents’ cups. When a cup is made, the opposing team has to drink the beer in that cup and pull it from the table. Whoever makes all of the opponents’ cups first wins.
Various other rules have been added and taken away after years of fraternity house treatment, and the rules vary based on the house rules of where the game is played. A player can be “on fire,” meaning after he or she makes three cups in a row, they get to shoot until they miss. There’s “island” were if a person makes a cup that’s not touching any other cups, the opposing team has to drink two cups. There’s also “death cup,” which ends the game if someone makes a cup that has already been made.
The list goes on. There’s even a similar American rule to the double cherry rule called “explosion.” For explosion to happen, you have to play by the rules that no cups are removed– whether it’s made or not — until after both members of a team shoot. An explosion happens when both members of a team make the same cup. Every cup touching the cup that both members made is taken out.
The official rules from the World Series of Beer Pong strips the game down to the basics. But if you’re playing Hong Kong rules, get ready for quick turnover.
“Money-hungry companies are ruining the essence of the game,” Kirin Tso, the founder of the Hong Kong Beer Pong Association, told the Wall Street Journal. He claims the rules were put in place by bars who just want to sell more beer. Which might be true. But if you’re in a time crunch and want to play beer pong, or you’re just a killer shot on that first cup, double cherry is a game changer you can appreciate.
