By Dave Goosselink
What do you get if you cross beer with ping pong? Well, in Dunedin you get a game called beer pong.
It's played on a ping-pong table with plastic cups and a few beers, and a group of Otago players are desperate to prove that it's every inch a serious sport.
The guys may look like they are at a dress-up party, but there is a serious intent behind the crazy costumes.
Over 30 teams lined up for "The Ashes" Beer Pong tournament in Dunedin – but it was no free-for-all.
A full-time statistician is on duty to organise the teams into pools and playoff slots during the 15 hour event.
“The top four teams will play all the way through the night, but the teams that don't quite make the cut; they'll get in eight games each,” says Brett Robertson.
There is little downtime, with eight tables on the go at once.
Players have to try and land their beer pong balls into the opposition's cups, using the game's key three shots.
“But I tell you, they're the hardest three shots you've got to learn, and you've got to do them repetitively over the day,” says contestant Nick Horstein.
There's your basic high arc, or rainbow shot; the fastball or dart has a bit more pace on it and finally the cheeky bounce shot, to try and catch your rivals offguard.
There is some serious competition; some teams have been training for weeks, testing out their trick shots and exercising their coordination.
But organisers dismiss suggestions beer pong is just an excuse for binge drinking.
“The people that will do very well in this tournament today will be the ones that stay as sober as they can, because hand-eye coordination and drinking don't really go together, and that's what we want for pong,” says tournament organiser Nic Sullivan.
Amongst all the testosterone, one of the tournament's few female competitors was enjoying the chance to upset the boys.
“They underestimate my ability, but I show them what I've got,” says tournament newbie Janneke Hoek.
This is the seventh tournament run by the group, whose long term goal is to send a team to the World Beer Pong Series in Nevada.
“It's exciting, definitely exciting, and the world series is definitely the ultimate goal in the end,” says Jamie Osbourne, a beer pong veteran.
For the moment though, the prize remains the prestigious local trophy, and the recognition of being the last men – or women – standing.
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