The American college experience is steeped in many traditions that make it the magnificent endeavor that it is today. One of those traditions is the sport of Beirut, commonly referred to as beer pong. While I could write enough for a thesis paper on the sport of Beirut, this is neither the time nor the place. However, I can review a number of fun and free Web sites that feature Beirut video games.
While you may laugh and disregard these simple games as a dorm geek's fantasy gone wrong, think about them the next time you are stuck with the topic "What U.S. History Has Taught Me" for your 20-page history paper.
We will start with a high profile Beirut game, hosted by PlayBeirut.net. It features a Flash game where you can play arcade style, tournament style or madness. In arcade style, the ultimate in antisocial drinking games, you compete against yourself to score the highest points possible in one game. Statistics include points based on cups sunk, air balls and a time penalty, as well as the longest streak of cups made and missed. The tournament and madness modes, as well as weekly, monthly and all-time high score lists, are available to paying members - however, $12.95 is getting harder and harder to come by these days.
Overall, PlayBeirut.net's game is the most complete, but you have to pay to unlock the goodies. If $12.95 is roughly half of your bank account, it might not be prudent, but if you can find enough spare change in the couch of your favorite frat house, it might be a worthy investment.
With intuitive game play and a relatively advanced game altogether, PlayBeirut.net gets my nod for best overall game plus a bonus nod for developing an online head-to-head game. However, PlayBeirut.net gets a disapproving head shake for charging people $12.95 to play a game that most of the Computer Science majors at the College could probably make in half an hour.
Next, we have two beer pong games hosted by TerrapinTables.com. These guys are hardcore. Not only do they have a 2D arcade style game similar to that on PlayBeirut.net, they also have a 3D Beirut simulator available for download. The 2D game features narration by the most amazing man in television history - the one and only Homer Simpson - and uses a classic arcade-style set of controls to simulate the difficulty of combining physics and alcohol. Interesting features include customizable game options and realistic physics, like PlayBeirut.net. However, the game lacks the depth and nice flash graphics of PlayBeirut.net.
The 3D game is truly something else. q Looking more like an army ordinance-training simulator than a simple Beirut game, the 3D game provides an insight into the physics of beer pong that you just do not get from your average game of six cup. With user-adjustable power, angle, hand location and azimuth, as well as an AI capable of some amazing trick shots, TerrapinTable.com's Beirut game is actually pretty fun, especially for those of you that get aroused by matrices and inverted sine waves. The one drawback, however, is that you may not be able be able to download the program, whereas with PlayBeirut.net's game, you can play on any flash-equipped machine.
Finally, on Beer.com's Game Break Web Site, we have Peer Pong, which combines two beer bottles and the classic game of Pong to provide the player with minutes of sheer entertainment. While the game's not very amazing, the bottles make a cool noise when the cap hits them.
Also found on Beer.com are a number of great free games including a fantastic German one where you race tiny RC cars around a track in competition with a chicken. Ah, those Germans, what will they think of next?
Beirut will never be truly represented in a video game. There is just no substitute for a night of falling down grimy house stairs, waiting in line for a cup of crappy beer and then waiting for hours at the table to finally see the look on the host's face when you nail redemption on his hiney. However, these three games all bring fun elements to the table and each one is worth a try. Just don't forget to drink a big glass of water when you are done.
