In short, Beer Pong is a game where you try to throw a ping-pong ball into a cup filled with a small amount of beer. This simple, yet intense game has spawned an entire industry around it and its very own world series competition. So, where did this collegiate party (and tailgate party) sport come from? What exactly are the origins of the long enjoyed and heavily competed non sport? Read on for a brief history.

According to Wikipedia, the original game of got its start in the 1950s at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Back then, the game was played on an actual ping-pong table with a net and players used paddles to hit a ping-pong ball into one or more cups of beer on the other side of the table. Table Pong was so popular at Dartmouth that the game was actually sanctioned as an intramural sport in the early 1970s. This fact gave Dartmouth the distinction of being the first (and only) college to ever sanction a drinking game. Unfortunately for the players, their sport's heightened status was rescinded in 1977.

The game as we know (and love) it today is actually the result of dropping the paddles in favor of simply throwing the ball into the opponent's cups. While throwing the ball is probably easier than using a paddle, it is still a task that requires much skill to perform. This far more popular interpretation was dubbed "Beirut" in the 1980s. The actual origin of this newer name is disputed. There are some who believe it originated at Bucknell University and yet others who believe that it was in fact Lehigh University (among others) instead. Wherever the name came from, most people still refer to this more recent game variation as Beer Pong, even though the game is significantly different.

Recently, Table Pong has reached an all new level of popularity among college students and tailgate party goers, spawning an entire industry of specially designed products like folding Beer Pong tables, dorm room sized tables and even inflatable tables (not to mention a Morgan Spurlock documentary). Starting in 2006 and continuing every year since, there has even been a World Series of Beer Pong in Nevada where players square off in a huge tournament to win a large monetary prize.

It's surprising that most people are unaware of Beer Pong's humble beginnings 60 years ago in Dartmouth's frat houses. To think that something that started out as a casual social activity eventually evolved into a semi-mainstream sport with its own world series boggles the mind.