Talk:Dartmouth pong

Untitled

I think that this was getting too big in the Beer Pong article and thus needs its own article. The current amount of text and level of detail in the other article should probably be maintained but all future expansions should take place in the separate article. 129.170.202.3 22:38, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

AFD debate link

This article has been kept following this AFD debate. Sjakkalle (Check!) 14:37, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Variants

Should we reorganize the list of variants? It is getting unwieldy, but I'm not sure what the best approach for ordering it. Also, I would like to know who plays which ridiculous variant, like Pearl Harbor, Battlestar Galactica, Stonehenge, etc. Schi 18:26, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I went ahead and tried to categorize things as I thought appropriate, based on which common games they are based on, after fixing a bunch of little things. Thoughts? Adam Riggall 00:05, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, I've played Henge. It's actually a variant of Randomness, but that's okay.

Putting Pong in its own category apart from the main page (Beirut) is a good idea. Business school tournaments on the West Coast specify whether they are Beer Pong or Dartmouth-Rules Pong. --Skog 00:57, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Maybe this page is going a little overboard on the possible cup arrangements? They take up a ridiculous percentage of the article. If they're really that noteworthy, maybe it would be best to create a new page, List of Dartmouth Pong variants, or something, and leave only a few basic examples (shrub, tree, 2-cup, line, and maybe a representative giant one like forest). Also, one point of non-encyclopedic value: pong is the most amazing game ever invented. Can anyone find a source for that?

Oh, and does anyone know enough to add content on where else pong is played (properly)? I've heard rumors that there's a bar in Manhattan, but I don't know where it is. Feeeshboy 00:17, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Intramural

I remember reading about pong being an intramural sport at Dartmouth. I'll put in a bit, but if anyone else has more info or sources, please add. --Yarilo2 17:32, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

I strongly doubt it was ever sanctioned by the college, but student-organized intramural tournaments did take place during the late Eighties and probably other times as well.--Skog 00:59, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

→I found a bit confirming what i wrote in the Dartmouth Independant (i linked to it in the article). I think i remember the Dartmouth going into more detail on it. From what I can remember, the college later claimed it didnt know the game was played with beer, but rather expected it to be played with nonalcoholic liquids (a "wink wink, nudge nudge" might have been implied here)Yarilo2 04:51, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

"Pong" is listed on an old intramural scoreboard in one of the dorms, although I forget what year that particular dorm won. I would think that should qualify. I'll see if I can track down the scoreboard again to get the exact location and year. Adam Riggall 14:19, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Here's also an article in The Dartmouth saying that beer pong was an intramural sport: http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=1997101601020 . And most dorms won in the intramural beer pong at some point - if you go into most of the older dorms on campus, they still have their old 'trophy boards' up in the entryway. "Beer Pong" is frequently a listed item. I'm a current student, so I can take a photo and upload, if that would work for proof. --_└ ^Smith120bh/_TALK ^┐ 01:36, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Great, thanks everybody =] Yarilo2 04:06, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Smith120, I guarantee you have never seen "Beer Pong" listed on any of the trophy boards in the dorms. They list "Ping Pong" at most.

--Editing 20:16, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Actually, Beer Pong is listed, I think in New Hamp and North Mass —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.170.94.234 (talk) 20:36, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Really? Generally it's not listed on the official boards unless someone has written it in with a pen or something. Could you check?--Editing 19:47, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Ref cleanup

I'm working on converting the external link refs to footnote refs; I'm removing the following cites for the following reasons, let me know if you can fix them or if I've removed anything in error:

• [1] - duplicative of immediately preceding NYT cite.
• [2] - broken; 403 forbidden error.

schi ^talk 22:44, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Reference sense?

Someone needs to take a look at the reference problem regarding origins. The entry lists the NYT article and an article from The Dartmouth. The Dartmouth article then points out basic factual errors in the NYT article--rather invalidating it a reliable source on the history of the game--but then attempts to buttress its claim... by sourcing Wikipedia... which turns around and footnotes the Dartmouth article! Also, an "unofficial college historian" remembering playing the game as an undergrad does not establish provenance. It doesn't mean that Dartmouth pong ain't a good entry, but someone does need to fix the sourcing problem if the entry wishes to continue to make these claims of origination. --Patchyreynolds 14:48, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

The article contains published recollections from the 1950s written independently by two alumni. Those recollections establish that pong was being played then, and unless you can come up with evidence that it was played earlier somewhere else, the common belief that pong originated at Dartmouth does not seem unreasonable. The NYT article is no longer being used to establish origins, only the present belief about origins. --Editing 20:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Phi Tau the first purpose-built pong arena?

Does anyone know whether the new 2003(?) Phi Tau house as a room dedicated to pong in the basement? I assume it does. Is this something new that deserves mention in the article? Maybe some houses added pong rooms in the Eighties, or Dragon's new building included a pong room (I don't think it did). --Editing 20:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Quoting 'The Dartmouth Independent' school newspaper, "In fact, Geoff [Hill ’87 of Sigma Nu] went on a road trip to Dartmouth in 1986 and taught it to the Sigma Nu chapter here. Although Dartmouth’s Sigma Nu has a dedicated Beirut room, the brothers state the room has nothing to do with Lehigh." I think that you will find many chapters that now have dedicated Beirut rooms and I think without direct proof, it would be hard to determine who was first. Utexasscott (talk) 17:59, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Beirut is not pong. Beirut is recent at Dartmouth, and Sig Nu's Beirut room is less than 10 years old. Dedicating a room to a game is not the same as building a room from the ground up with that game in mind. -Truthier06 (talk) 16:09, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Rename?

The thrust of the lead and my personal knowledge tells me that this game is not really played beyond Dartmouth. In that case, shouldn't it be Pong (Dartmouth) rather than Dartmouth pong? Students at the College don't call it "Dartmouth pong," and students at other colleges don't call it anything, so no one really calls it that at all. Dylan 13:07, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Go for it. Students at professional schools across the country do call it "Dartmouth-Rules Pong" sometimes, since they have to differentiate it from Beirut when they have pong tournaments in one form or the other (or both). --Editing 19:45, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[hoyatalk2.proboards48.com/index.cgi?board=bluegray&action=display&thread=1188452321&page=3] [blondejustice.blogspot.com/2005/08/5-questions.html] [www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/London/blog-55284.html ]

Second. Not known as Dartmouth pong. Change to Pong (Dartmouth). Utexasscott (talk) 18:05, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon's playing of pong -- in AD, the major source for Animal House -- seems to be a comment on the stature of the game. [3] [4] Should it get a mention? --Dartmothian (talk) 17:48, 1 February 2008 (UTC)]

Jargon

I'm removing this quote from the "Pong Today" section, because it basically doesn't mean anything: "Watching or competing in pong instead allows students to participate in a familiar, flexible, and multilayered framework for the organization of both group dynamics and individual social interactions; a mere social gathering is not enough, they might say." 129.170.205.80 (talk) 01:27, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Formal Census

The formal census claims a couple sororities don't have house pong rules. Yes, but what rules would they use if they were to play pong? Abitharsh (talk) 20:15, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Is "joust" at BG a joke? Could someone explain it or fit BG's style into one of the two recognized families? Is there any house that only plans slam any more, as BG did? Does anybody rage any more &c. &c.? --Truthier06 (talk) 16:12, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Photos/diagrams

Could someone somehow illustrate the cup formations? I played some beerpong at Dartmouth in the early 70s, but we never had more than one cup per player that I recall. Some of these descriptions make it sound like there are so many cups you can't miss them. OldPine (talk) 20:30, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Not a game guide

This article is full of unsourced variations that clearly did not fit the intentions of Wikipedia (Wikipedia:GAMEGUIDE#GUIDE). There is no question that the Dartmouth pong #Gameplay and Dartmouth pong #Variants sections need citations or else they will be removed. FerrousCathode (talk) 02:02, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Question about service rule

There's a confusing rule set in the service section of this article. It states that hitting an opponent's cup on a serve scores the serving team 1 point and makes the opponents drink 1/5 or 1/2 of that cup of beer. Later in the paragraph it states that hitting an opponent's cup on a serve scores the opponents 1 point. I would think the correct rule would be that hitting one of your OWN cups on a serve would score the opponents one point, but I've never played this game before and have no idea what the rules are. Little help?

question moved here from merger discussion by Pongmeister (talk) 21:12, 24 April 2009 (UTC)