Becoming a Pong Pro: Students Aim for Sport Status

The inside of Brewing Rivalry. Photo by Peter Lazaravich

An on-looker might wonder why the heck a game of beer pong is being played in broad daylight, in the middle of a store. Welcome to Brewing Rivalry, the new beer pong mecca on Forest Avenue in Tempe,which lends support to a more professional name for the game.

Brewing Rivalry opened its doors on Oct. 1, offering a supply of beer pong equipment and a venue for newbies and veterans alike to hone their skills. James Curtis, co-owner of Brewing Rivalry, says beer pong stores are usually online, but his store is the “first brick and mortar location.”

“Everyone’s familiar with beer pong as a house party game,” Curtis says. “We’re trying to turn it into a legitimate sport.”

There is already a World Series of Beer Pong that is held in Las Vegas (grand prize is $50,000). Curtis says he wants to let anyone who wants to train be able to, as long as they’re at least 18 years old. “If it’s supposed to be a sport, why can’t you be an 18-year-old kid and play it?” he says.

At Brewing Rivalry, however, the beer pong competitors will train with cups of water instead of beer. The store will hold nightly tournaments at 8 p.m. where people come in and register at 7 p.m. It costs $5 to participate, and there will be local sponsors providing snacks. When there’s no tournament, it’s open play, so anyone can come in and shoot around, Curtis says. They just have to buy the ping-pong balls.

The Art of Beer Pong

Aim High. Photo by Peter Lazaravich

Curtis says he thinks beer pong is more of a social game, as opposed to just a way of getting drunk.

“It’s just a good game to play, but as a sport it should really be legitimized,” Curtis says.

Even though he’s not a huge drinker himself, Curtis says he just loves to play for the competition, and he ” loves it when it’s organized and when there are tournaments.”

He chose to open Brewing Rivalry at ASU because it’s one of the largest universities in the country. “I said, ‘Hey, if we’re going to cultivate the sport, it has to be here.”

Curtis wants to give back to the college scene that created the game of beer pong, allowing them to practice in a fun surrounding at Brewing Rivalry. “My dream is to have a couple pro college students who can play beer pong professionally as a career,” he says.

Playing beer pong is a good way for students to relax, especially since they’re in a stressful academic atmosphere, he says. “It’s fun to compete in a relaxed environment instead of in class.” Interest in the beer pong tournaments has mostly come from male students, but since it is a co-ed sport, Curtis is trying to get more girls involved. “It’s hard to find them,” he says. “They’re scattered out there.”

What’s Needed to Compete?

Everything sold at the store is professional, tournament-level equipment, right down to the ping-pong balls, Curtis says. The three-star balls are molded better, giving them a straighter flight path. They will be sold in packs of three and cost around $2. “I want college students to be able to get the equipment they need for the professional sport,” he says.

The cups are clear with ridges that allow competitors to fill them up to a certain line, and the clearness shows that the store only uses water during its competitions. The portable, eight-foot tables are priced at $80, and customization is also available. “You can get an ASU table or put your favorite logo on it,” he says.

College students don’t have to worry about ordering supplies online, Curtis says, because they can get all of their equipment in one spot at Brewing Rivalry, without shipping and handling costs. “I really want people to be able to afford it with their college budget,” he says.

Brewing Rivalry will start a delivery service in November, making it easy for someone in the vicinity to get the supplies they need for beer pong. “We have a golf cart to deliver equipment, and people can call us instead of driving if they’ve been drinking,” he says.

Cups Off Campus

The fiercest of competitors. Owners Drew Reyner and James Curtis practice their beer pong skils. Photo by Peter Lazaravich

Along with Brewing Rivalry, Curtis also helped set up a beer pong sports club for ASU students called Cups Off Campus. It’s an unofficial club, he says, because ASU won’t recognize a beer pong organization. “But it’ll be identical to if it was an official club,” he says. Each dorm will have a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, and the dorms will compete against each other on club nights. The membership fee is $20.

The second floor of Brewing Rivalry has a big, open space where club members will have their meetings, Curtis says. Then they’ll practice beer pong with water downstairs with the equipment.

Tyler Tripp, an entrepreneurship junior and Cups Off Campus coordinator, says he likes how Curtis is looking at beer pong as an actual sport instead of just a bunch of kids playing it to get wasted at a party. “I think there’s a stigma right now associated with beer pong,” Tripp says. “No one really wants to accept it as a sport right now.”

One of the goals of both the store and the club is to try to remove the negative connotation associated with the game. “We’re trying to promote it as a pastime that you don’t have to do to get drunk,” Tripp says.

Ethan Roy, an industrial engineering freshman and Palo Verde Main’s Cups Off Campus president, says it’s fun to compete and bring it to another level. “It’s like any other sport, you have to use your mind and body,” Roy says.

Like Tripp, Roy says thoughts of beer pong shouldn’t always be derogatory. “You don’t have to think of underage drinking when you think of beer pong,” he says. “We need to take steps to improve people’s perceptions of the game.”

The Future

Curtis says his ultimate goal is to cultivate the game of beer pong as a legitimate sport. “We’re just focused on bringing out the talent in Tempe,” he says.

If there are thousands of dollars up for grabs in a beer pong competition, then no one really cares what’s in the cup, he says. “We’re not aiming for the Olympics just yet, maybe someday. Anything’s possible,” Curtis says, laughing.