Drinking games target young drinkers

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- College administrators say a new industry that markets drinking games to college students encourages binge drinking.

Local college bars are hosting beer pong tournaments, in which teams try to lob ping-pong balls into cups of beer. Thousands of players are expected at the first World Series of Beer Pong, sponsored by a beer pong accessories company, The New York Times reported.

Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser, is promoting its version of the game by providing Bud Pong tables, balls and glasses to distributors in 47 markets.

"It's catching on like wildfire," spokeswoman Francine Katz told the newspaper. "We created it as an icebreaker for young adults to meet each other."

Katz said Bud Pong was not intended for underage drinkers because promotions were held in bars, not on campuses. And it does not promote binge drinking, she said, because official rules call for water to be used, not beer.

Henry Wechsler, director of the College Alcohol Study at the Harvard School of Public Health, said he was "aghast that companies who posture themselves as promoting responsible drinking promote drinking games, which by their nature involve heavy drinking."