The pingpong table stood mightily on the front lawn of a fraternity house near the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one side painted with the red and white stripes of the American flag, the other with the Soviet Union hammer and sickle.
Beer pong – in which players make their opponents drink by sinking a pingpong ball in one of their cups – has been around for more than a decade. But in the last couple of years, it has reached unprecedented popularity – to the chagrin of college administrators who fear the game fuels binge drinking.