 "Photo: Nathaniel LaRue")
Sink it. Drink it. Win 50,000 dollars.
On a typical weekend night, many K-State students find themselves hunched over ping pong tables, engaged in an effort to win at the popular drinking game of beer pong. While most partiers play in an effort to become more intoxicated, two K-State students are on a mission to give beer-pongers a more rewarding reason to play.
Nic Rogers, junior in business administration, and Michael Mahan, junior in political science, were introduced to the game early in college, and after a long year of phone calls and e-mails, the duo made what could be the investment of a lifetime. Rogers and Mahan have toiled over rules and red tape to organize Kansas’s first ever satellite tournament to send players to the World Series of Beer Pong (WSOBP) in Las Vegas for a chance to win 50,000 dollars.
The event, which has been “a year in the making,” said Mahan, will be held in Lawrence at Crimson and Brews on Oct. 3rd.
Although the organizers are K-Staters, they felt holding the event in Lawrence would make the tournament accessible to more teams. Teams of two can enter the tournament, and, in true beer pong fashion, rules are going to make all the difference.
Mahan said that tournament play must follow the official World Series of Beer Pong rules, which might look a bit different to those in most college play. Some of the rules that seemed to stand-out to Rogers and Mahan were those stating that after six cups, consolidations are automatic, “bounce shots” only count for one cup, and only three cups can be pulled, or removed from the starting formation of a “ten-cup tight triangle,” per turn as stated in the WSOBP rules found on the Series’ Web site, bpong.com.
Perhaps the most drastic difference from the game’s college appearance is the lack of beer in the standard 16-ounce cups which must replaced by water for official tournament play. This rule made Rogers and Mahan’s dream of hosting a satellite tournament possible before they even turn 21.
“We’ve kinda always had this dream to win the World Series of Beer Pong, but we can’t participate until next year’s Series,” said Rogers.
They hope to make money off this and other tournaments to play themselves in the next few years. Mahan turns 21 in December, but Rogers – his would-be teammate – won’t make the deadline to participate in the World Series in Las Vegas being held Jan. 1-5, 2010.
According to the Web site for the WSOBP, last-year’s tournament hosted almost 600 players, and is looking to host even more this year. Mahan said only about 20 scheduled qualifying satellite tournaments take place around the U.S. each year.
Their parents might be a bit skeptical of their ambitions, but Mahan and Rogers are definitely ready to make their dream a reality. With hundreds of dollars invested in the official WSOBP 8-foot tables, cups and balls, plus the thousand-dollar prize that will pay for the winners trip to Las Vegas and entry into WSOBP, Mahan and Rogers don’t see this as a one-time thing.
Although the tournament play will utilize cups filled with water, players still must be 21 by January 1, 2010 to play and win the $50,000 in Las Vegas, according to Rogers.
“The tournament is over our fall break, and [the K-State football] game is in Kansas City that weekend, plus KU has a bye-week, so we thought [Saturday, Oct. 3rd] would be a good day,” said Rogers.
Teams of two can enter online at the tournament Web site, kansasbeerpong.com, for $40, or at the door for $50. Interested players can find information through the Facebook group “Satellite Tournament.”
