Title: Shotgunning

General Information about Item:

• Type of Lore: Drinking Game
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: America
• Informant: Anonymous
• Date Collected: May 5, 2019

Informant Data:

• The anonymous informant was born and raised in Michigan in the 1950’s. He says that he had a mid-west upbringing. No association with the military. Origins from northern Europe (British/German). Growing up he was a practicing Lutheran but not currently. Lived in the mid-west and now in New Hampshire. Currently married with children. Education includes a PHD and a BA.

Contextual Data:

• Informant declined to share much contextual information, but narrows the time-span of when he learned this game to when he was in college. He also describes that there were relatively few drinking games when he was younger and believes that drinking games only became relevant after his generation.

Item:

• One pierces a hole in bottom of a beer can and places it to one’s mouth so it shoots into the mouth with lots of foam spraying. The item used to pierce the can was usually a key because a lot of people didn’t carry pocketknives. The way to fail the challenge is to not drink the entirety of the can. If the drinker was successful in drinking the entire can, onlookers would cheer.
• Drinking was more social rather than competitive. Shotgunning happened at parties. The informant indicated that a variation would be drinking directly from the tap of a keg of beer. This keg would usually be cheap beer.

Informant’s Comments:

• The professor said that Dartmouth is the place where beer pong originated from (this was later verified). He also indicated that the school’s unofficial mascot is Keggy the keg. “A joyful character”.
• He thinks shotgunning is done for youthful exuberance, to relieve boredom, and as a social challenge.
• When the Professor was asked how he interpreted the experience, he responded with, “People have no respect for beer because they want to get drunk quick, so they buy cheap stuff”

Collector’s Comments:

• Note that there is a large degree of data gaps because the information that the informant was willing to give was limited (so as to preserve their anonymity).

Collector’s Name: Kyle Carlos

Tags/Keywords:

• Ritual. Drinking Game.

Title: Beer Pong

General Information about Item:

• Type of Lore: Drinking Game
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: America
• Informant: Anonymous
• Date Collected: May 9, 2019

Informant Data:

• (Note: Some information was not recorded in order to maintain anonymity)
• The anonymous informant was born in 1978, grew up in Connecticut, and received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth. She has lived in the Czech Republic, Boston, and now lives in Hanover, NH. Her Grandparents were in the military which she felt had a large influence on her due to the stories she heard from them growing up. She had an East Coast upbringing and indicates that her family origins are European countries, likely England and France.

Contextual Data:

• This drinking game was observed between 1996 and 2000, during the informant’s undergraduate years at Dartmouth. The game was observed in one of the college’s fraternities.

Item:

• Ping pong with plastic cups filled with beer. You hit (volley) the ball back and forth and if you get the ball into your opponents cup they have to drink it. You use regular regular ping pong paddles, but with the handles removed. In stead of  a ping pong table, you use a 4×8 plywood that’s painted – sometimes with frat symbols. The cups are lined up in a V-shape, with the wide end closest to each player. One would win once the opponents sides cups were filled.

Informant’s Comments:

• The game was played for fun, to pass time, and get drunk. The game was played this particular way to maintain tradition. When asked for her interpretation of the experience the informant explains that back then, it was harmless fun and a way to socialize in a loud basement without talking. The informant also says that drinking games now create problems such as sexual assault and alcohol abuse which is very concerning.

Collector’s Comments:

• Informant does not drink a lot nor does she play a lot of drinking games now or in her undergraduate years.

Collector’s Name: Kyle Carlos

Tags/Keywords:

• Ritual. Drinking Game.

Title: Power Hour + Cornhole

General Information about Item:

• Type of Lore: Drinking Game
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: America
• Informant: Anonymous
• Date Collected: May 26, 2019

Informant Data:

• This anonymous informant from the Art History department learned these games while they were in their twenties. They would hang around with friends, playing games and drinking. The informant was born and raised in Southern California.

Contextual Data:

• These games were played at backyard grills and cookouts. They didn’t necessarily develop in institutionalized fraternities, but rather seem to be played and passed down during casual social events of young adults.

Item:

• Power Hour: “Find a good playlist and play each song for one minute. At each minute mark, change the song, then take shots of beer. Do this for a full hour.”
• Cornhole: “Throw beanbags at a hole in a wooden stand. You get points every time you get the beanbag in the hole. Whoever gets the fewest points each round has to take a shot”

Informant’s Comments:

• “Even a game such as cornhole can become a drinking game if you add stakes to it (loser takes shots, buys next time, etc).”
• These games are “played for validation [of drinking habits], but also mostly for the social aspect – Drinking games are just one part of the ritual of being around friends with food and games, having a good time.”

Collector’s Comments:

• It was interesting that the informant listed cornhole, which is not typically a drinking game, as one. It exemplifies this informant’s view that a drinking game is primarily a way to have a good time with friends, and only secondarily a method for getting intoxicated.
• Power Hour also seems to be a non-standard drinking game. It doesn’t really have an element of competition – it seems to be more just about having a good time enjoying the music (and drinks) with your friends. Although, because Power Hour doesn’t have much of a competitive aspect, it could potentially fall into the category of games that exist as an excuse just to get drunk. I don’t necessarily think so though, because the emphasis really seemed to be on socializing, rather than the drinking aspect.

Collector’s Name: Michael Steel

Tags/Keywords:

• Ritual. Drinking Game.