Beer Pong Tournament Rules and Formats, the BRCH Way

A beer pong tournament runs on three decisions: the table rules, the bracket format, and the re-rack rules, and getting them settled before the first throw is what separates a tournament from a mess. BRCH's first ever event was a Beer Pong Tournament on June 22, 2021, and this guide sets out the rules and formats the way an organizer runs them.

The table rules

• Two players per team, six or ten cups per side in a triangle, one ball per player per turn
• A made cup is removed. Hitting both shots in a turn earns the balls back for another round
• Elbow rule: your elbow stays behind the edge of the table on the throw
• Bouncing counts double in casual rules and is usually banned or worth one in tournament play. Pick one and write it down
• Last cup brings redemption: the losing team shoots until it misses, and a comeback forces overtime cups

Bracket formats: single vs double elimination

Single elimination is fastest and cruellest: one loss and you are a spectator, which suits a short night and a big field. Double elimination gives every team a second life through a losers bracket, which suits a field that travelled to play. A 16-team single-elimination bracket runs 15 games and crowns a champion in one solid evening block. Double it in time before you choose double elimination.

Re-racks, and keeping the night moving

• Allow one re-rack per team per game, at six, four, or three cups, into a tighter triangle or a diamond
• Cap game length. A stalled game stalls the bracket, so organizers call the remaining cups after a set time
• Print the bracket where everyone can see it. The standings are the entertainment between games

The BRCH edition

The Beer Pong Tournament of June 22, 2021 is where BRCH began: the event record describes a competitive tournament that brought people together and planted the seeds for everything that followed, from Pub Golf to the White Party series. Games formats ask a crowd to play rather than watch, and the pub golf explainer is the other half of that lineage. Both sit on the Pub Golf hub.

More scored formats that survive a real party are in Party Games for Adults.