It’s your last shot. You make eye contact with your opponents, and feel your palms starting to sweat as you lock your elbow and aim. The ball seems to move in slow motion as it glides through the stale air of some off-campus basement, finally descending effortlessly into the last cup of beer. You are a god.

Congratulations! You just won a game of Beer Pong… or is it Beirut?

The “Beer Pong versus Beirut” controversy has plagued the American social scene for some time now. Most can agree that knowing how to play a good game or Pong or ‘Rut is key to a fulfilling and well-rounded college experience, but some get into heated debates over what the game is actually called.

Where did this whole nomenclature argument originate? Beer Pong was originally a game played with ping pong paddles, as seen in Beerfest. The paddle version, which appears to be the original version of the game, was allegedly created at Dartmouth College, a school reputed for its students’ drinking prowess. It is rumored that the paddle-less adaptation of Beer Pong was formulated in the 1980s by either Lehigh University or Bucknell University in reference to bombs being dropped in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War, according to the Daily Princetonian.

College Humor conducted a survey to see what most people preferred to call the famous drinking game. The results: 77 percent of people call it Beer Pong, while 23 percent call it Beirut.
While East coasters have a tendency to call the game Beirut, arguing that Beirut sounds classier and that Beer Pong is too easily confused with the paddle version of the game, the rest of the country is more likely to call it Beer Pong.

“I call it Beer Pong,” says Claire Hannah, a Weinberg freshman from Kansas, “even though Beer Pong technically should be played with paddles.”

“I don’t really care what people call it, I just prefer ‘Rut,” said Weinberg freshman and Massachusetts native Wendy Lei.

Chances are, you’ll never get into a fist fight over these two names. Knowing the history may make for interesting conversation fodder, but in the end, both names are socially acceptable and it mostly just comes down to a matter of personal preference. If you’re sick of arguing over it, though, try one of these variations.

Strip Beer Pong
Setup:

1. You’ll need four players, a table suitable for beer pong, and 20 Solo cups.
2. Each team should use a sharpie to write an article of clothing on the bottom of each of their ten cups
3. Trade cups with the members of the opposing team who have also just completed step one.
4. Set the cups up in standard pyramid form and fill equal amount of beer in each cup.

Gameplay: Start playing as you would play traditional beer pong. Once a player sinks a ball in one of the opposing team’s cups, a member of the opposing team must choose to either drink the beer or take off the article of clothing written on the cup. But don’t yet pick up the cup with the ball in it: The ball must get in the cup a total of two times before the cup is removed from the game. The second time the ball gets in on cup, the opposing team must do whatever they chose not to do the first time the ball got in — either drink the beer or take off the article of clothing. If a team lands the ball in two different cups in one turn, the team gets to go again, just like in traditional beer pong. If both team members sink the same cup, BOTH members of the opposing team must take off the article of clothing under the cup, as well as finish the beer.This game always makes for a good ol’ raunchy time. Just remember not to put things like ’sombrero’ under the cup, unless in fact one of the opposing team members is wearing a sombrero.

Baseball
Setup:

1. Gather two teams, each with at least one person. Each team gets a quarter or ping pong ball (both work; use whichever you prefer or have around).
2. Get four different-sized cups, from shot glasses to pitchers, and place them in a line in order from smallest to largest, with the smallest closest to where you are shooting from.
3. Fill the glasses with beer.

Gameplay:
This game is the best alternative to playing baseball drunk. Each glass is like a base: The smallest glass counts as a single hit and the largest glass is a home run. You can figure out the rest. Each team selects a batting order. The objective of the game is to get as many hits as possible. You do this by throwing a ping pong ball from a designated distance into the cups. Once a cup is sunk, the other team must drink it. Once a cup has been drunk, it should be refilled immediately. If a cup is missed, it counts as an out for that team. Each team is alloted three outs. After three outs, you must switch teams up to bat. This goes on for a total of nine innings. The score is kept just like in regular baseball. If someone hits a double and then the next person hits a double, the person originally on second base gets a run for the team, and someone else is left on second base. The team with the most runs wins.

Beirut Free-For-All
Setup:

1. You’ll need three players on each of the two teams, and six ping pong balls — one for each player.
2. Form three triangles, consisting of three cups each, on both sides of the table. The three triangles on each side should be next to each other.
3. Fill the triangles with beer, using one can per triangle.

Gameplay: This free-for-all, dodge-ball-esque game can get a little crazy. Start with each player standing in front of a triangle. Count down to start, and start shooting. Any ball is up for grabs. If a ball lands in your triangle, you can’t start firing again until you finish the beer and take the cup away. Once your triangle is finished, you’re out of the game. The team with the last remaining triangle wins.

Now I’m sure Midwesterners can make a mean muskrat — or whatever they eat here — but they seem to struggle recreating our East Coast and Southern favorites. But do not despair. While there’s no guarantee that anything in the Midwest will be comparable to your hometown favorites, here are the best alternative for those depressed, homesick students looking for their comfort food.

Bagels:

Evanston might have two Einstein’s, but these bready donut shaped imposters do not compare to what New York offers. Weinberg freshman Melissa Souto, from Westfield, New Jersey, is experiencing the same bagel-withdrawal as I am. “The bagels here are nothing like New York bagels,” she complained.

Try these:

The Bagel – Old Orchard Center, 50 Old Orchard Center, Skokie

The Bagel features New York-Style bagels from The New York Bagel and Bialy Company. They also offer traditional Jewish food, and we all know that the Jews know their bagels.

Pizza:

What’s the deal with Chicago-style deep-dish pizza anyway? Not only does it take a ridiculous half hour or more to prepare at every restaurant, but it is impossible to eat. They may be delicious in their own way, but they just don’t deserve the title “pizza”. Perhaps “lasagna” or “pie” would be more appropriate, but not “pizza”. Traditional New York-style pizza is foldable, wide, and thin — the complete opposite of Chicago-style pizza.

Try these:

Philly’s Best — 815 Emerson St., Evanston

Philly’s Best is located conveniently close to campus and offers super thin, extra greasy, very foldable pizza, their own attempt at a New York Style. Plus, according to the New York Pizza Blog, they also offer two specialties also hard to find in the Midwest: “real stromboli” and “Tastycakes”.

Gigio’s — 1001 Davis Street, Evanston

Gigio’s is another Evanston eatery that advertises New York-Style Pizza. This place is the closest you are going to get in Evanston. If you feel like venturing somewhere else in IL you can check out this website. This way you will never be too far from New York pizza!

Fried Chicken, Barbeque, and Sweet Tea:

East Coasters aren’t the only ones hurting here in Evanston. All y’all southerners out there have been complaining too. Emily Liftman, a Medill freshman from Sugar Land, expressed her deepest sorrows about the lack of Southern food around these parts. “I have yet to see sweet tea (regular iced-tea with lots and lots and lots of sugar) or fried chicken in Evanston, and I sure miss my BBQ. I normally get my sweet tea at Chick-Fil-A and my fried chicken at Church’s or Popeye’s.” Evanston might be quite unlike the deep South, but here are the closest alternatives.

Try these:

Chicken Shack –1925 N. Ridge Avenue

Chicken Shack seems to be Evanston’s very own chicken expert. It has all sorts of fried chicken specials throughout the day. There are also many scattered Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits around Chicago if thats more your style. The nearest Chick-Fil-A is in Wisconsin. Road trip anyone?

Smoque — 3800 N Pulaski, Chicago

Smoque is an awesome BBQ place with a large variety of food options. Most importantly, they make traditional sweet tea! Arizona Tea also sells Southern Style Sweet Tea in tall cans that are available at CVS and 7-11.

Oddly enough, it’s easier to find an Ethiopian restaurant here than it is to find a New York bagel, but being in a place where soda is called “pop,” I don’t expect much to make sense. At least there are some options– even if it’s not quite the same as your hometown favorite, it’s better than nothing, and maybe one day you will learn to love the specialties of the Midwest.