Thirsty, Thirsty Hippos

Howdy Hippos!

Allow me to extoll the virtues of one of the most fun, rambunctious, hippo-themed drinking games of all time: Thirsty Thirsty Hippos!

No it's not Hungry Hungry Hippos with drinking penalties (although that would be awesome and should be seriously considered.)  Rather, it's fast-action beer pong on steroids.

Required Items:

• Four small tables of roughly equal height. Living room end tables or elementary school desks are the ideal size.
• Three ping pong balls.
• Lots of plastic cups and cheap, drinkable beer.
• A large open space. Basements, rec rooms, and grassy meadows work well for this game.

The Set-Up:

1. Arrange the tables in a square, approximately 6-10 feet apart. If there are only two small tables, you can use a standard folding table as one side of the square.
2. On each table, place six cups in a standard beer pong triangle formation. Fill 'em up.
3. Try to remove all breakable items from the immediate vicinity of the arena. Things tend to get a little rowdy.

Gameplay:

1. One player stands behind each table. They stay in the game until all their cups are sunk.
2. Players shoot at the cups of any of the other three players. If you sink a cup, that player has to drink. You must shoot from behind your table.
3. Balls are live unless they are in a cup, in a hand, or heading towards a cup. Miss a shot? Chase after it. See someone carelessly set a ball on their table. Snatch it away from them! Ball on the ground? Body check an opponent out of the way and dive for it! 
4. If your cup is sunk, you have to drink it all before you can chase after or shoot any balls.
5. Normal beer pong rules apply. No swatting before a bounce. Bounce-in = two cups. Double-sunk cup = immediate loss. A spilled cup is a drunk cup.
6. Mandatory re-rack at 4 cups.
7. If you sink a player's last cup, they lose. Play pauses as a new contender takes their place. For sinking the last cup, you get three bonus cups added to your rack.
8. If you have possession of all three balls, you can only hold them for 90 seconds before a delay of game is called and you forfeit the balls to the other three players.
9. Try not to seriously injure anyone. Minor injuries are fine.

Hope we get a chance to try it out some time! It's a blast!