Hi there! My name is Ben, and I've been a beer pong enthusiast and historian for over 20 years. I've spent countless hours researching the origins of the game, and I'm happy to share my knowledge with you.

While pinning down the exact date and inventor of beer pong is like trying to find a sober person at a college party – nearly impossible – we can certainly dive into the murky, beer-soaked history of this beloved pastime.

The game we know as beer pong has its roots in the 1950s and 60s on the campuses of Dartmouth College. However, before you picture frat brothers in letterman sweaters huddled around a ping pong table, the early version was quite different. This proto-beer pong was more akin to traditional beer pong, played with paddles and a net. Players would try to land the ball in their opponent's cups, which were filled with – you guessed it – beer!

There are two main competing origin stories from Dartmouth:

* The "Theta Delta Chi" Story: This version credits a group of brothers from the Theta Delta Chi fraternity with creating the game. Legend has it that they started playing with ping pong paddles and eventually transitioned to throwing ping pong balls into cups, thus birthing the modern iteration.

* The "Sigma Nu" Story: The Sigma Nu fraternity offers a different account. Their version claims they invented a game called "Goofspiel" that involved throwing golf balls into cups arranged in a triangle formation on a table. Over time, they substituted ping pong balls for golf balls, and the game evolved into what we now call beer pong.

Without definitive evidence, it's difficult to say for sure which fraternity deserves the credit. It's possible that both stories hold some truth, and the game evolved organically through various iterations and contributions from different groups of students.

Regardless of its precise genesis, beer pong spread like wildfire through Dartmouth and eventually beyond, becoming a staple at college parties and gatherings across the United States. It's since gone global, captivating beer drinkers and game enthusiasts worldwide.

So, while we may never know the exact date or the true inventor of beer pong, one thing's for sure: this simple yet endlessly entertaining game has left an undeniable mark on drinking culture and continues to bring people together for nights of laughter, competition, and maybe a little bit of spilled beer.

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According to Wikipedia, which is the definitive source for any kind of research, beer pong started at Dartmouth College sometime in the 1950s and 1960s. But at the same time, Bucknell University claims to have invented the game in the 1970s. They called it ��throw pong.��read more >>