Jimmy Buffett Concert Beer Pong. Alpine Valley, WI 2008.

According to the World Series of Beer Pong, the regulation table size is 8 × 2 feet (2.44 × 0.61 meters), and it stands 27.5 inches (69.8 centimeters) above the ground. Although the game is typically played on either a ping pong table or a folding banquet table, beer pong enthusiasts may create a personalized table for use by friends and visitors. In general, this will be a plywood board cut to proper size, sometimes painted with sports, school, or fraternity symbols and given a liquid-proof coating.

Beer pong (also called Beirut, lob pong, BP, etc.) is a drinking game in which players throw a ping-pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in one of several cups of beer on the other end. The game typically consists of two two-player teams, one on each side of a table, and a number of cups set up on each side. There are no official rules, so rules may vary widely, though usually there are six or ten plastic cups arranged in a triangle on each side. The number of players on a team can vary as well, from one to three or more.

When a ball lands in a cup, the defending team must consume all of the beer inside that cup. The cup isn't generally completely filled. It is also common to have a glass of water with the purpose of cleaning the ball between throws. An August 2008 Time article stated that cups were 1/4 to 1/3 full. The game is won by eliminating all the other team's cups before all of one's own cups are eliminated. The losing team must then consume all the beer remaining in the winning team's cups. The order of play varies – both players on one team shoot followed by both players on the other team, or players on opposite teams can alternate back and forth.

Today, beer pong is played at parties, North American colleges and universities and elsewhere, such as tailgating or other sporting events. The game is also played by high school students, despite the fact that supplying alcohol to persons under the age of 21 in the United States, or the age of 19 in most Canadian provinces, is illegal.

Although the preceding guidelines are common, the rules may be subject to a wide variety of modifications and additions that often vary based on the area of the country, the state, or even the house in which a particular game of beer pong is played.