In an effort to prove that alcohol is not required to have fun, Tarleton State University’s School-Wide Activities Team (SWAT) sponsored the Second Annual Rootbeer Pong Tournament on Oct. 18 in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center.

 

SWAT officer Clay Stanford said the game they were playing was a spinoff of a popular drinking game known as “beer pong.” According to Stanford, the reason for playing this altered version of the game was to show students they could have fun while still making the right decisions.

 

Teams of two rotating partners threw ping-pong balls into their opponent’s cups that made the shape of triangle. When a person made a shot into a cup, the opponents had to pull that cup out of the triangle. After both teammates shot the ping-pong balls, then the other team had a turn. During each game, teams could call for one “re-rack” which means that they can rearrange the shape of the cups into a staggered line or a straight line. The teams played with six cups for each round, and when a team made all the shots in the opponent’s cups, they won.

 

Student Rachel Curry was on the team that won the first game of the night. She said that although there was no prize for the game she won, she was excited to win.

 

There was also a table that had 21 cups on it, where students tried to make as many shots as they could in a row. Many students tried for the goal, but only two people had a streak long enough to write their names down on the list. Eventually, Paige Herring was the winner of that game with seven consecutive shots.  She won a $25 gift card.

 

After the tournaments, speaker Rick Barnes spoke to students in the TSC ballroom about making positive decisions with alcohol.