"Behold, Pong Beer," says Kim Bhasin at Business Insider. In case college kids don't have enough options for cheap swill, a brewing company has designed a beer exclusively for beer pong. You know the game, where competitors loft ping-pong balls, preferably coated in the dust found under frat-house couches, into a pyramid of wide-mouth cups brimming with Keystone Light or Milwaukee's Best. The company estimates that 50 percent of college students play beer pong, and that beer pong-related products have raked in $20 million in sales. Here, a guide to the latest in America's favorite drinking game:
How is Pong Beer different from other beers?
Pong Beer's principal distinction is the "Rack Pack," a 30-pack of beer that comes with two ping-pong balls for the "low, low price of free," says Nick Rallo at The Dallas Observer. Two 30-packs gets you a "Reload," a convenient package of 16-ounce cups and four ping-pong balls.
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How will Pong Beer fare against its competitors?
The 30-pack itself costs $18, which "seems quite high in comparison to other brands," says Jerod Morris at MidwestSportsFans.com. "For Pong Beer to succeed, it will have to undercut the Keystones of the beer world" by selling at lower prices. After all, taking on Keystone — the "unofficial king of beer pong brews," according to Bhasin — will be no easy task.
Will Pong Beer's transparent gimmickry hurt it in the end?
Remember that "beer pong is a tradition passed down from parents to kids, older siblings to younger siblings, upperclassmen to underclassmen," says Morris. It's hard to imagine bequeathing something so "calculated," particularly for such a "decidedly imperfect" game.
Sources: Business Insider, The Dallas Observer, MidwestSportsFan.com
