The “elbow rule” states that the shooter’s elbow must remain behind an imaginary plane extending upwards from the end of the table at all times throughout the throwing motion.
This rule is highly controversial, in fact most large scale beer pong tournaments have all but dismissed the rule all together, due to the fact that it is incredibly difficult to enforce the rule effectively. That being said you will still find many supporters on both the pro-elbow rule and anti-elbow rule sides of the debate.
Elbow Rule Pros:
- It eliminates the advantage that taller/longer-armed players might gain by leaning or extending their arms over the table.
- It makes the game more challenging.
Elbow Rule Cons:
- Elbow rule is almost impossible to enforce.
- Watching your elbow position and arguing about it wastes time and detracts from the game.
- Faster games are better when you’re trying to finish a tournament or people are waiting to play on the table.
As in any sport, certain body types can give competitors an advantage. For example, the NBA has an average height of 6′ 7″, with the tallest player topping the charts at 7 ‘6″. Taller players are closer to the basketball hoop which in theory gives them a higher percentage chance of making a shot. Unless you’re Shaq and you’re standing at the free throw line. Then we all know what’s about to happen.
Being tall in the NBA may be an advantage, but it doesn’t keep “little guys” like Rick Nash (6′ 4″) or Tony Parker (6′ 2″) from tearing it up and winning championships. These same factors apply to beer pong. It’s all about using your skills and abilities in the most effective way possible within the rules of the game.
In beer pong, a long wingspan and excellent hand-eye coordination could be your advantage. (For the record, I would take hand-eye coordination over huge wingspan if I had to choose.) And as long as leaning is permitted within the rules of tournament or house game you’re playing at, you should take advantage of it. More power to you, keep on leaning!
Pro-Elbow Rule or Anti-Elbow Rule… You know what we think, what do you think?
January 4th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I like how ur first pic of leaning is done on a 5ft-6ft banquet table. We play on a 8ft table. And on the pic of elbow accepted, from that angle I could easily yell elbow and argue that his elbow crossed, and so could the guy on the other side of the table. The person throwing the ball has noway of knowing for sure weather his elbow crossed or not, neither does the guy at the other end….but the other guy IS gonna yell out elbow, the guy throwing WILL say that elbow did not cross and there WILL be noway to prove either argument…..so y keep a rule u can’t enforce, if u can’t enforce it there are gonna be tons of teams that will take advantage.
By the way ever year the world series of beer pong grows, with more and more teams coming out…..last year it was around 415 teams this year it’s close to 500……so bitch all u want, but official tournaments are gonna continue to NOT use elbow rule and have no reason TO use the rule.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
There simply cannot be an elbow rule in large tournament play because it can’t be enforced. It isn’t practical. That said, elbow rule is a perfectly fine way to play in house games when you can have ‘judges’ watching, and no one can fault people for playing with it.
The problem, however, is that there is a serious split between tournament players and casual players, and it threatens the future of pong — if everyone playing at home plays with the elbow rule, they either won’t want to play in official tournaments because they disagree with the rules OR because they simply can’t compete. This isn’t to say these people suck at pong, but if you only ever played the game with the elbow rule, it will be difficult to adjust come time for tournament play. A lean shot is a very different animal from one without a lean.
If we want to turn more people on to official tournament style beer pong, there needs to be more parity. But since we simply can’t institute an elbow rule in official play, the change will have to come in a different form. Casual players need to be encouraged to try our rules at home, so that they will be more used to them and more interested in joining the national pong community.
Some want to keep going without an elbow rule, but to institute longer tables, the argument being that if you lean on a 9 or 10 foot table it’s basically like playing elbow rule on an 8 foot table. The problem with this is that people have invested a lot of money in the ’standard’ 8 foot tables that are around now, and changing might not be financially worth it. A better suggestion is to have lines drawn a foot or two behind the edge of the table that you aren’t allowed to cross. This acts like an elbow rule, though its true taller players will still be able to lean further.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:37 pm
I am impressed by the way you handled this topic. It is not often I come across a blog with newsworthy articles like yours. I will bookmark your feed to stay up to date with your forthcoming updates. I like it and do preserve up the good work.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
it’s actually steve nash
March 20th, 2010 at 12:12 am
lol a number of the remarks visitors submit are a bit spacey, now and then i wonder if they realistically read the post and threads before posting or if perhaps they basically read over the title of the post and prepare the very first thing that pops into their brain. regardless, it is really useful to browse through keen commentary every now and then in contrast to the identical, outdated post vomit which i quite often notice on the web i’m off to enjoy a couple of hands of zynga poker good bye
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:20 am
Simple, at house parties guys should obey the elbow rule, girls can choose rather they want to or not. Or simply tape a line on the floor that your feet can’t cross, (while your team is shooting) about 2 feet from the table and let people lean all they like.
April 25th, 2010 at 3:21 am
Now THAT IS what I call an insightful position on things. What I would suggest though is talking to other people actively involved in the scene and bring to light any conflicting points of view and then update your site or create a new article for us to stew over. I hope you’ll take my advice, I’m looking forward to it! Try to cover off on some graffiti characters as well if you can, they’re quite popular at the moment.