Baseball

Baseball takes the one skill from Quarters, bouncing a coin into a cup, and gives it a scoreboard. Innings, outs, runners on base, a team that bats and a team that drinks for every run against them. Of all the party drinking games that need a table, it is the one that can last the whole evening without anyone getting bored, because the score means something and the drinking is spread out over a lot of small cups.

What you need

• 4 small cups or shot glasses, the bases
• A quarter (any heavy coin bounces, but a quarter is the standard)
• Beer to fill the cups, plus a drink per player for the runs against
• A long table with a hard, flat surface a coin will bounce off (no tablecloth)
• Two teams of 2 to 6 players each

Setup

1. Split into two teams and decide who bats first. Flip the quarter. The visiting team bats in the top of each inning, the home team in the bottom.
2. Line up the 4 cups in a straight row pointing away from the shooter. The nearest cup is a single, the next a double, then a triple, and the far cup is a home run. Leave about a hand’s width between cups so a quarter can miss one and still reach the next.
3. Fill each cup with beer. A third full is enough, because the cups get emptied and refilled almost every at-bat.
4. Mark the batter’s box. Every batter shoots from the same spot at the near end of the table, about an arm’s length from the single cup. Tape on the table stops the creep forward.
5. Pick a scorekeeper. Runners on base, outs, and the inning all live in someone’s head or a phone note. Without a scorekeeper the game dissolves into an argument by the third inning.

How to play Baseball

1. The batter bounces the quarter off the table toward the cups. One bounce, the same as Quarters. A quarter that flies straight in without bouncing is a foul and counts as a strike.
2. A quarter that lands in a cup is a hit. Single, double, triple, or home run depending on the cup. The batter takes that base and any runners already on advance the same number of bases, so a runner on second scores on a double.
3. The batter drinks the cups beyond the one they made. A single means drinking the double, triple, and home run cups. A triple means drinking just the home run cup. A home run means nothing to drink, which is the point of trying for it. Fish the quarter out, refill, and reset before the next batter.
4. A miss is a strike, and three strikes is an out. The batter who strikes out drinks all four cups, then the next batter steps up. Three outs and the teams swap.
5. Runs score as in baseball. A runner who is pushed past third base comes home for one run. For every run scored against them, every player on the fielding team takes a drink.
6. Runners can try to steal between batters. Before the next batter shoots, a runner challenges a fielder (the catcher) to one cup of Flip Cup. Win and the runner moves up one base; lose and the runner is out. One steal attempt per batter.
7. Play nine innings, or the number you agreed on. Most runs wins. If it is tied after the last inning, play extra innings until it is not.

Variations and house rules

• Beer Pong Baseball. The college version, and the one most people mean by “beer baseball”. Use a ping-pong ball and four cup stacks of one, two, three, and four cups for single through home run. The fielding team drinks the stack that gets hit and refills it, and a ball that misses is an out rather than a strike. The rest of the rules, including innings and stealing, are the same as above. If your group already plays Beer Pong, this version needs no explaining.
• Graded cups. Fill the single cup a quarter full, the double half, the triple three quarters, and the home run cup all the way. The longer shot costs more, which makes the batter’s choice of target a real decision.
• Drink the hit too. Some tables make the batter drink the cup they made as well as everything beyond it, so a single means all four cups. Harder, and it turns a single into the same punishment as a strikeout.
• Pitcher’s cup. Add a fifth cup beyond the home run cup. Land the quarter in it and it is a home run plus every fielder drinks their own cup too. Rare enough that the game does not change, loud enough when it happens.
• Fly-outs. A quarter that bounces clean over the cups and is caught by a fielder, one-handed and before it touches anything else, is an out regardless of the strike count. Keeps the fielders awake.
• Little League. Six innings instead of nine, or three for a pregame. The game still feels complete because every inning has both teams batting.
• Quarters steal (our house rule). Instead of Flip Cup, the runner and the catcher each get one bounce at the single cup. Runner makes it and catcher misses, the runner is safe at the next base. Catcher makes it and runner misses, the runner is out. Both make or both miss, nothing happens. Faster than Flip Cup and it keeps the game to one skill.

Tips

• Use shot glasses or 4-ounce cups. A strikeout is four cups, and a bad inning can have three strikeouts. With pint cups the losing team is in trouble before the fourth inning; with shot glasses nine innings is a long, manageable game.
• Wash the quarter. It spends the whole game in beer and on the table, and it passes through a dozen hands an inning.
• Settle the cup spacing before the first pitch. A tight row makes doubles and triples much easier, which is a fair complaint once someone is behind by six runs.
• Have the scorekeeper call out the situation before every at-bat (“runner on second, one out”). It sounds like overkill and it is the single thing that stops disputes.