If you haven’t heard of Beer Pong before, you must’ve been living under a rock all this time. Arguably the most famous party drinking game, it’s simple, fun and intoxicatingly effective. Originating in the US as far back as the 1950s, the name comes from the delightful fusion of table tennis – or ping pong – and good old beer.
The rules are, as you can imagine, extremely simple. All you need is a flat surface resembling a table, plastic cups, a ping pong ball and booze. The original idea is to play on an actual table tennis or banquet table, but you are welcome to improvise and throw your own spin on the game. Between 2 and 4 people is the recommended number of players, divided in 2 teams, accordingly. You would want to be actively involved and this way you’ll get the most out of it, including sipping and having the opponents sip on enough beer. We all know that this is the main reason to play. Well, that and winning, of course.
Up to 10 cups are arranged triangularly with the convergence point focused on the opposite team. Make sure you have an extra water-filled bowl lying around for rinsing purposes after each throw. Let’s not forget the importance of hygiene.
On to the main idea of the game. Each player takes turns and throws the ball at the opponents’ cups with the goal to land each throw inside one of them. Succeed and chugging follows. You are not allowed to lean on the table and/or stretch your arm with the purpose of shortening the distance between you and the cups. Various techniques are welcomed here. You can arc the ball, try underhand or overhand throwing. A good tactic is to aim at the center of the cluster, rather than the edges of it. This way, in case the ball bounces from one of the cups it can still land in the neighboring one. Once your team is left with 4 or 2 cups, align them in a diamond shape or a straight line respectively.
You can imagine that the game can become quite competitive. Not to mention pure joy once you chug on more beers than you can usually handle. The winning team is the one who leaves the opposite team with empty cups. This certainly can pose quite the challenge for some. Even though beer takes center stage, having the right skill set and a very good aim is what will bring you on top.
No college or house party is ever truly the same if a beer pong game isn’t involved. The game has ventured across borders long time ago and fans can be seen playing across the globe. In case you want to spice things up a notch, you can personalize the rules and make it more local to your region. The next time you organise a get together with your peeps set up a table and see who the ultimate beer pong champion is.
The Problem of Gambling Addiction
“K2” joined GamCare recently and shared the story of how he started gambling over 40 years ago, saying that he started out at arcade games and moved on to horse racing, which was his weakness. Today, being £35k in debt and having lost several jobs due to gambling, K2 is seeking help. He’s been clean for 32 days and going strong but the compulsive itch to play remains. He needs all the help he can get.
Gambling addiction is a serious problem that can cause many undesirable situations. Some of the side effects are that you gamble away more money than you earn, sometimes selling precious personal items to have more cash to either play more or to settle debts. Settling debts with bookies can be a dangerous field and it’s best to steer clear of getting yourself involved in this situation.
So how do you know if you have a gambling problem? The National Health Service (NHS) of the UK lists the following symptoms:
- betting more than you can afford to lose
- needing to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same feeling
- trying to win back money you have lost (chasing losses)
- borrowing money or selling something to get money to gamble
- wondering whether you have a problem with gambling
- whether gambling has caused you any health problems such as feelings of stress and anxiety
- having other people criticize your betting or being told that you have a gambling problem
- whether your gambling has caused any financial problems for you and/or your household, and
- feelings of guilt about the way you gamble or what happens when you gamble.
If your identified with some of these common symptoms, you might have a gambling problem and seeking help is one of the first steps you should consider making on the path to recovery. The NHS claims that there is evidence that gambling can be successfully treated in the same way as other addictions.
One of the ways to do this is through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which is said to yield some of the best results. CBT is a “talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave.” Its most common uses are for mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, although it is possible to apply it to other disorders such as gambling addiction, among other mental and physical health problems. According to the NHS, CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle. CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. You’re shown how to change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel. Unlike some other talking treatments, CBT deals with your current problems, rather than focusing on issues from your past. It looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis.
Apart from CBT, there are treatment and support groups available for people who want to stop gambling. Here we provide you with several options for you to choose from when selecting your method of assistance in ending a gambling addiction. These treatment groups are:
- GamCare: this organisation offers free information, support, and counselling for problem gamblers in the UK. It runs a National Gambling Helpline and offers face-to-face counselling.
National Problem Gambling Clinic: this is a facility for problem gamblers in England and Wales and is targeted at individuals aged 16 or older. - Gordon Moody Association: this organization offers residential courses for people who have problems with gambling. It also offers online support for problem gamblers, as well as for their friends and family.
- Gamblers Anonymous UK: this organisation runs local support groups that use the same 12-step approach to recovery from addiction as Alcoholics Anonymous. There are also GamAnon support groups for friends and family.
We hope that if you find yourself in a situation where you feel stuck and are wondering what to do to about your gambling problem, that you find these associations and organisations useful. Remember that it is never too late to get help and that you’re making the right decision, even though it may not feel that way at the moment. We wish you strength in your recovery process.
Welcome to Hot Rods and Classics!
With so many casino sites out there, how do you know which one to trust and spend your precious time on? There are blogs that deal with casino reviews, game reviews, slot reviews, mobile reviews, live dealer reviews and so many other topics that there’s a whole world of information out there, enough to make your head spin. Here in this latest blog we’ll try to stand out from the crowd by offering you some unique insights into the world of gambling, which is very broad indeed.
What we aim to do here is provide you with a one-stop shop for online gambling and gambling in general. And how do we plan to offer this service to you? Well, with more variety than you can imagine. In this blog we’ll cover some of the most fundamental topics related to gambling. We’ll take you down the serious road of gambling addiction and how to address this serious problem and move over to the fun stuff like how to play certain games, winning strategies, some history for the history buffs and many other topics.
So, what’s your interest in gambling? What kind of gambler are you? Are you cautious and a low-stakes kind of player or are you a high-roller who likes more risk when it comes to placing your bets? Either way, we’ll have something for everyone. But we also don’t want to be a one-way street where we feed you with information without hearing what you think about it.
This is why we want to make this blog conversational. In other words, we want to hear what you have to say. We would love to hear your opinions and thoughts on all things gambling-related and we wholeheartedly welcome your input. Simply write to us and tell us what you think and what you’d like to read about. We’ll try to cover every angle possible. Now join us on this fun new journey into the online gambling world where anything is possible!
