Blood Pressure Blog

Party games are an essential component to any large or small get together, having power to revitalize a struggling and boring party. Depending on people or groups of friends, each social circle naturally diverts to a habitual repetitive slate of party games. For example, a small group of 4 or fewer guys gravitates toward Call of Duty or Madden while casually enjoying some beers. On the other hand, a large friend group of 20 people will be taking Everclear shots while forming teams to screw over a select subsection of people during several rounds of flip cup. As numerous ways to pass the time exist, I believe drinking games in particular live in their own separate tier in the pecking order of household party entertainment, due to their inherent ability to forecast a 100% chance of debauchery and 100% chance of a hangover if you do choose to consume alcohol. Yet, not all drinking games are created equal, and therefore I’m here to tell everyone that Stack Cup is the single greatest drinking game created because it holds several key advantages over similar counterparts.

First of all, for those who don’t know, Stack cup truly a global game, taking several incarnations in the form of Rage Cage, King’s Cup, or Boom, which might be the single most electric names for a drinking game giving me enough energy to run through a wall. I’m a big proponent of “grow the game”, but I feel like my work here is already done. Anyhow, as a quick refresher of the rules, players stand in a circle around a table with one full “bitch cup” in the middle, surrounded by several half cups. 2 players must take cups from the middle and attempt to bounce a ping-pong ball into their drink cup. If successful, they pass the cup to the next person in the circle. The goal is to stack your cup onto the next person’s cup. The last person to get stacked must drink the “bitch cup”. Though that’s a pretty barebones description of the game, check out the video here for a better understanding.

Another thing to mention, I’m not undermining the greatness of beer pong or other games in general. I don’t want flak from beer pong bros or the die-hard community, and I admit that these games also inhabit the same S-tier of party games along with stack cup. However, I believe there are some minute differences that make stack cup truly an elite game. 

First, stack cup is a true test of athletic ability. If beer pong is playing golf, stack cup is playing in the Wimbledon Final. Forget the FitnessGram Pacer test, stack cup incorporates all aspects that are required in an athletic competition – endurance, speed, reflexes, and patience. Stack cup is one of the greatest training exercises for predicting scenarios with respect to athletic competition, requiring readiness and analysis to predict how the game can continue without spending your night with your head in the toilet. There are practically no differences between running a 40-yard dash and stack cup, both require precise movements, and likewise being the quickest results in success as well as screwing the competition. 

Stack cup is generally a better social experience than games such as beer pong. Stack cup is an excellent game to play with any number of people, from a small group of 4 friends, to an entire rager party of 15+. Beer pong is just 4 bros throwing balls into a cup that take the game wayyyyy to seriously, half the time searching for the ball on a sticky party floor. I’m not a math guy, and a huge advocate for not doing math in public, but playing stack cup statistically means that you have a greater chance of having more friends. Meanwhile all the alpha sigma sigma (AΣΣ) – don’t call your fraternity a frat you wouldn’t call your country a cunt – beer pong Nazis enforce elbows over the table like NFL lines people measuring downs with an oversized traffic cone. 

Piggybacking from the first point of the game being an athletic sport, stack cup, in its purest form, is not a team sport. Though us Americans drool over team sports and the competitive nature of such, the fact remains that there is no “I” in team but nor is there an “I” in beer, meaning that each person on a team needs to be on the same page. However, with the general nature of parties being a scream fest where any form of authority is undermined and cast into the corners, communication within a team can become as difficult as away opponents playing in the now defunct Georgia Dome, where pumping crowd noise was commonplace. Stack cup is not like this. Each person controls their own destiny – you want to spend your night dancing on the balcony, you can… you want to exert your dominance to absolutely obliterate your 5’5’’, 130 lb friend, you can. 

For all the Pre-COVID degenerates, stack cup is the best pre-game banger. Not only does everyone in the circle end up drinking quite a lot, but it also keeps the entire group energy at an all-time high. Other games such as beer pong, again, struggle from the limited number of possible participants, and games such as Ride the Bus go against the principles of “high energy, low expectations” just on the single virtue of being a card game.

Though stack cup may not, well, “stack up” against card games with respect to sheer variations, don’t be fooled, there are several incarnations of stack cup that are played around the world where drinks are consumed. The most intriguing variant in my opinion is slap cup, where, instead of stacking cups, you slap the other person’s cup off the table, forcing them to crawl around on the ground on all fours like they’re looking for lost airpods at the gym. This game not only increases the excitement level, but can also add a layer of physicality and dexterity to an already quite unassuming game.

Stack cup is the most underrated drinking party game. Not only does it keep an entire party entertained, but it gets all members sufficiently sloshed, as well as introducing a layer of friendly competition in which the collective ends up screwing one person. Stack cup doesn’t require any special items and is possible to play on any sort of elevated surface, pissing in the face of beer pong and beer die enthusiasts that spend hours researching wind speeds and elevation like some real Weather Channel “save the penguins” sort of shit.  I’m not taking away from any other party games, because each is special in their own right, but for the go-to “do it all, one stop shop”, you cannot go wrong here.