Rules

AALTO BEER PONG

OFFICIAL GAME RULES

Updated 29.1.2026

Game setup
1. 10 cups per team
  1. Cups are placed in a triangle formation with the tip of the triangle facing the middle of the table. with it’s back row three (3) centimetres away from the back of the table (roughly 2 finger widths)
  2. Cups must be placed against other cups without overlapping
2. 1 water cup per team (for washing the balls)
  1. The water cup is placed on the closest quarter of the table against the top right corner
3. 2 ping-pong balls
4. Water is poured evenly into all the cups, about three (3) finger widths up from the table
Referees
1. Official games are played with referees
2. Referees are usually part of the ABP organization (administration, actives, committees)
3. Referees are humans and doing volunteer work
4. Make sure that the referee is actually following the game
5. If you think that the referee is too drunk or acting inappropriately, you can ask for another referee
6. Poor-mouthing and other non-gentlemanlike behavior might work against you
7. You can ask another opinion if you think that the referee is interpreting the rules wrong
8. You can’t ask another opinion about situations that only the referee has seen
9. Be a gentleman, the referees word is final
Basic Rules
1. Don’t be an asshole
2. The starting team is selected through rock paper scissors
3. Objective
  1. To throw ping-pong balls into the cups of the opposing team until they have no cups left. When a ball hits the liquid in a cup (excluding the water-cup), the cup is removed from the table. The cups must NOT be touched until both balls have been thrown
4. Turn
  1. After a starting team is chosen, they receive both balls and they can start the first turn
  2. A turn consists of the following phases: throwing and end of turn
  3. You may notify the referee if you think the opponent is taking too long on their turn
5. Throwing
  1. When throwing, the throwing arms elbow of the player must be behind the table at release
  2. A team has two balls for each turn and they can be thrown at any time during the throwing team’s turn
    1. One player CAN’T throw both balls
    2. If a ball is thrown before it is your turn, the throw is not counted and the ball is lost
  3. If both players successfully throw a ball into a cup, the cups are removed (and re-racked if the remaining cup amount is suitable) and the throwing team gets another turn (both balls)
    1. If both balls fly into the same cup, an extra cup is selected to be removed by the throwing team (2 total)
  4. If a ball is thrown into the cup by bouncing (hits any surface except a cup or a ball) an extra cup is removed
    1. A player is considered a surface
    2. Regardless of the amount of bounces, only one extra cup is removed
    3. If the ball is in possession of the opponent before dropping it into a cup, it is not considered a bounce and only one cup is removed
    4. The throwing team chooses the extra cup to be removed
  5. If a player makes three successful throws consecutively, the player that has thrown three in a row is then allowed to continue their turn and keep on throwing until they miss
  6. If a ball flies into the water cup, a new throw is given to the thrower
  7. If a player accidentally drops a ball into one of the player’s own cups:
    1. If it is the opponent’s turn the cup is removed and the ball remains with the team
    2. If the ball is dropped during the player’s turn the cup is removed and the ball is given to the opposing team
    3. If the ball bounces into a cup, the same as above, but an extra cup is removed
6. Blocking
  1. If a ball is bounced from any surface (including the cups), the defending team is allowed to block or catch the ball after it has hit anything
  2. The player is not allowed to block if he was not behind the cups during the throw
    1. If the blocking player was not on their own side at the start of throw, a single penalty cup is removed
      1. The penalty cup can be part of a streak or award a new turn/throw
      2. If the block was unintentional, a new throw is given to the throwing player
  3. If a throw that did not bounce is blocked, it is counted as a successful throw
    1. A penalty cup can be part of a streak or award a new turn/throw
    2. If the direct throw is accidentally blocked while trying to block a bounced shot or while washing a ball, instead of removing a cup, a new throw is given to the throwing player
    3. If the ball is clearly outside of the table, it can be captured
7. End of turn
  1. Turn ends when both players have thrown and no more throws have been awarded
    1. If the defending team has captured the first ball, they are allowed to throw it right after the second ball leaves the throwers hand. If the second ball causes in any way an extra throw, the prematurely thrown ball doesn’t count and is lost
  2. At the end of turn cups that were hit are removed, and a possible re-rack is completed
8. Re-rack
  1. At the end of a turn the cups must be rearranged into a triangle formation when there are 6, 3, and 1 cups remaining (with one cup, the cup is placed in the middle of the back of the triangle)
  2. The new triangle is placed in the center of the table, with it’s back row three (3) centimetres away from the back of the table (roughly 2 finger widths)
  3. If there isn’t enough cups to form a complete triangle, the resulting rack should represent a triangle where cups would have been removed primarily from front to back, and secondarily from left to right (from the re-racking team’s perspective)
9. Adjusting
  1. At the start of a turn either team can request for the formation to be corrected to the original formation
  2. Between the turns the table may be maintenanced by clearing excess water etc.
  3. You may require to remove anything from the table except for the cups in play
10. Interference
  1. All kinds of interference is allowed to distract the opponent, as long as body parts and other physical objects are not at any point over the table
  2. Referee will intervene if the distraction is not deemed appropriate
11. Rebound
  1. After the ball bounces from the table or a cup, the throwing team may take the ball from the bounds of the table and a trickshot is awarded to the throwing team
  2. The ball must be thrown with a clear disadvantage for example with weaker hand or from behind the back.
  3. The player to catch the rebound is the only one allowed to throw the extra throw
  4. The player is not allowed to rebound if he was not behind the cups at the start of the throw
  5. Rebound throw is counted as normal throw so it can end a streak or award a new turn if both balls end up in cups
12. Island
  1. If a single cup doesn’t touch the rest of the rack, you can attempt to hit the lonely cup by saying ”Island” so that the opponents and/or referee hears this. If you hit the single cup after an island call, the hit counts as 2
    1. Bounce rules apply normally, so it is counted as +1 (3 cups in total). Otherwise the throw counts as 0, even if it hits the main rack
    2. “Single cup doesn’t touch the rest of the rack” -means that the cup is separate from other cups because other cups around the cup are already thrown
    3. If the island throw makes a non-island cup fall over, the cup is re-filled and returned to play
13. Spilling cups
  1. If a cup spills by a ball hitting it (falls onto its side or off the table), it is considered the same as making a successful throw, and is thus removed from the table
  2. Trying to intentionally spill cups by throwing is not illegal, but is generally frowned upon (leaves a mess)
  3. If a player spills their own cup, it is removed from the game
  4. If a player accidentally spills their opponents cup, the cup is refiled and replaced
14. Blowing
  1. While the ball has yet to touch the liquid of a cup but it spins inside the cup, the opposing team can attempt to blow it out in order to prevent it from touching the liquid or stopping to rest on another ball
  2. If the ball is blown into another cup, that cup and the original cup or cups are removed
  3. If the ball hits blowers face and goes back to the cup, it is counted as bounce
15. Redemption
  1. When a team has no cups left, they still have one turn to try to continue the game
  2. Both players must make a successful throw for the game to continue
  3. After a successful redemption, all but one cup is removed and the balls are given to the opponent
    1. Example: Opponent throws all 10 in the first turn. You and your partner succeed in the redemption. The game continues from 10-1 situation
  4. One bounce is NOT enough to continue the game
  5. If during a redemption a redemption throw causes the defending team’s last cup to fall over, it counts as a hit and the cup is returned to play filled with water
  6. If the defending team spills their final cup during a redemption, it is NOT returned to play and they lose the game