Our version of Beer Olympics has gone major renovation in the Games Department. We took a lot from our predecessors over at WWF (Winter Wonderland of Fun at the Poconos) but defined the rules, changed the order of the games, and added a few to balance and round out the list. Our current games list, in the order that they are played, are:

IZZY DIZZY (aka Dizzy-Bat)

CUP RACE (I’m not sure where we got this one…)

BEER PONG (actually Beirut. Beer Pong is played paddles)

QUARTERS (a Beer Olympics staple)

FLIP CUP (aka Flippy Cup)

ANCHORMAN (another staple as well as a Penn State must)

RELAY (our abbreviation of previous playoff rounds)

// MAKING THE CUT

Beer Olympics I & II taught us more than any theorizing (yes, it’s a word …i checked Websters) could. Some games work in theory and fail in practice while others turn out amazing. Izzy Dizzy is one of those games. It sounds terrible, but it’s probably the most exciting of all the games. Ultimate Kings died after Beer Olympics I as well as a drinking version of one of our favorite games – Taboo. Quarters is a necessity, but it’s so hard to make the game fair when most people don’t ever play. These are just a few examples of what we think about when we look to establish a series of games that promotes complete particpation by all team members, fairness, fun, drinking, and healthy competition.

// TIME

Another big part of game planning involves the flow and feel as we work our way down the list. Both Beer Olympics I and II were incredibly and horribly long. Five or six hours? Try 12 to 14 hours. Not only did each game take too long to set up, but we irresponsibly had to make a beer run in the middle of the events (which is time-consuming, momentum-killing, and above all, reckless and dangerous).

For Beer Olympics 3, we’ve considered our time constraints extensively. A normal human should not need to imbibe unbelievable amounts of alcohol for 12 hours. It’s probably not healthy or safe. So after much deliberation, we decided to spread the events out over two days (sort of).

Friday night is now designated as Part One of the Beer Olympics events. The seeding rounds played in a Round-Robin Tournament will be held at 8 or 9 PM. The events played on Friday night include: Beer Pong, Quarters, and Flip Cup. The final rounds will be played in order on Saturday as planned. Our reasoning behind the split is simple – take time out of Saturday’s events without affecting the Main Event.

// VOLUME

Drinking volume is also another major factor in determining how the games should be played. If we don’t drink enough, it gets boring. If we drink too much, it gets crazy. Our best strategy, for now, is to estimate, in ounces, the approximate range a person would have to drink.

Winning teams drink more during certain event because they play more games (i.e. Flip Cup and Quarters). Teams will collectively drink about the same amounts in drinking intensive games (those that require no particular game skills) like Anchorman, Cup Race, and Izzy Dizzy (I guess there’s skill in Izzy Dizzy, but everyone drinks about the same amount). And then there’s Beer Pong, where the winners drink less than the losers, maybe.

So in the end, we have to guess. But I think we’re getting there. In previous events, I don’t know if it was the ungodly length of time or if it was an unreasonable volume. Considering that there were a decent amount of people still standing and drinking afterward, I think we’re good on volume and just need to work on time.

//FEEDBACK

As always, please let me know if you have any ideas for improving the games or any thoughts at all. Even if you think the idea is stupid, tell me anyway because you never know where things will lead…

_chris