Welcome to: NEMESIS

In my estimation the primary purpose of drinking games is to drink. Specifically, to drink faster than one otherwise would were they not playing the game. If you’re drinking at the same casual pace you normally would why don’t you drink while playing a non-drinking game? Like checkers, or whatever it is idiots play. I forgot of the existence of games that don’t involve alcohol around 12, so I don’t really know. Some would say I have a problem. I say it’s a solution. But I digress.

Games employ several tactics to encourage increased drinking. Most card games use the number system (Drink 7, drink double, finish your beer, etc.). This is faulty because it is dependent on the honor system, which doesn’t work at a party when people don’t know each other (or you have dishonest friends). It also focuses on quantity as opposed to quickness, so you end up with an impossible amount to drink and just quit. “Drink this whole beer!” “Ok, I will, while walking away and over the next 30 minutes. "

My favorite games take advantage of team pressure. The first team to finishes wins, so you have to drink as fast as you can or else you hurt your team. If not for yourself, do it for your country. Boat races, Flip Cup, Speed Pong, and NEMESIS are all based on this premise. Beer pong is turn based so no advantage is gained from drinking quickly.

NEMESIS, like Speed Pong, was born because beer pong is inadequate for the serious drinker. It has everything one could like about beer pong, only more of it. All who have grown accustomed to it can no longer play regular pong due to its vast inferiority.

Rules

NEMESIS is 21 cup 3 on 3 pong. The returning winners each pick a player from the challenging team as their NEMESIS. Each pair of nemesi share a ball, meaning there are 3 balls in play but a player will only ever shoot one of them. Every cup you hit is drunk by your NEMESIS and each cup they hit is drunk by you. You do not have to wait for your teammates to get their balls to shoot. Another way to look at it is 3 games of one on one sharing the same rack. Cups are racked on 10 and 6 only, so if you’re stupid and hit a cup before you rack you don’t get it. Your team does need all balls in order to rack. There is no redemption.

After spelling out the rules I’ve noticed it in no way conveys what NEMESIS is. It’s sorta like the Matrix; you have to experience it. 21 cups split equally means each person’s drinking 7, which is more than normal 1 on 1 beer pong or 2 on 2 ten cup. This, however, almost never happens. Someone inevitably gets 10 or more cups drained on them and has to sit in the corner to contemplate what their life has become, only they can’t because their brain has been washed away by a flash flood of frothy beverage. 21 cups gives a shooter ample opportunity to dial it in, and 3 or 4 cups can be sunk in a matter of minutes. This sets up prime opportunity for trash talking since you can hone your insults in on one person instead of two, with no denial that they are less of a man (or woman) than you. And since there are now 6 personalities involved instead of 4, the potential hilarity of verbal defecation is multiplied.

Strategy also comes into play. How should Nemesi be matched up? If one person is dominating their NEMESIS, they can be taken out of the game by their NEMESIS holding the ball, forcing a 2 on 2 game. This is hard for anyone with an ego to do, of which there is an overabundance in NEMESIS, but after drinking 6 cups in 5 minutes most are willing to consider their options. This tactic has caused several nonconsecutive arguments of a boisterous nature, but if you don’t like it don’t have teammates that suck.

Interested? Confused? Excitedly thirsty!? If you would like to experience the destruction of NEMESIS first hand and live in the Arlington area a 16 team tournament is being planned sometime in the near future. Contact me for further details.

3. 2. 1. NEMESIS!