Healthy Tailgating / Troubling Tailgating Traditions - Alcohol Games
Alcohol use norms at football tailgates are well known and researched. Binge drinking (5+ drinks for males, 4+ for females) is common, and often encouraged by ritualistic game day traditions such as alcohol drinking games. Unfortunately such games can have serious consequences to health and safety insofar as they encourage alcohol misuse, and can drive a host of alcohol-related problems from individual alcohol poisoning to violence and sexual assault. For these reasons many universities and venues around the United States, including the Rose Bowl stadium, do not permit the playing of alcohol games during events.
The below games were all observed at the UCLA-USC football tailgate at the Rose Bowl on November 17, 2012. The most commonly played drinking games viewed in the stadium parking lots were: Beer Pong, Flip Cup, Beer Bong, and Keg Stands.
The below games were all observed at the UCLA-USC football tailgate at the Rose Bowl on November 17, 2012. The most commonly played drinking games viewed in the stadium parking lots were: Beer Pong, Flip Cup, Beer Bong, and Keg Stands.
Beer Pong - One of the most popular drinking games among college students locally and across the nation, "Beer Pong", "Pong" or "Beirut" was the most common alcohol game observed at the UCLA football tailgates in 2012. In a nutshell, the aim of the game is to toss ping pong balls into the opposing team's beer-filled cups. If a player is successful at doing so, his/her competitor must down the full contents of the cup before play may resume. Once one team has successfully landed balls into all the opposition's cups, and the losing side must consume any remaining cups on the table (i.e., all the winning team's remaining cups, which could range from 1 to 10).
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Keg Stands - Keg stands are a form of alcohol game that involves a keg of beer and a handstand. Put simply, the person "playing" the game does a handstand on the top of a keg, generally with the help of others (as pictured on right), and is fed beer from the keg hose as long as they can continue drinking. Click here to see a video of a keg stand on the Brookside Golf Course during the Nov. 2012 UCLA-USC game.
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Beer Bongs - Beer "Bongs" or "Funnels" are either be single- or multi-person devices designed to facilitate the high speed consumption of beer. These relatively simple devices consist of a funnel connected to a plastic tube or hose. One player generally holds the funnel above the drinker to allow gravity to assist the rapid consumption of the beverage. The aim is to drink the full contents of the funnel as fast as possible. Generally this consists of one or more beers, but may also be mixed with other types of alcohol.
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Flip Cup - Another popular alcohol game at tailgating parties is "Flip Cup", which consists of consuming a cup of alcohol as fast as possible, and then successfully flipping it upside down on the side of a table. As soon as one player does so, his/her teammate may begin the same task, and so on until all the players on a team have done so. The team whose players are able to drink and flip their cups with the greatest speed is declared the winner.
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