What Is Trolling In Beer Pong? (And How Not To Do It)

Beer pong is a blast.

And often hilarious.

Some rules exist specifically to ramp up the hilarity.

Trolling in beer pong is one of those rules.

But you have to be careful not to overdo it. That could take all the fun out of the game.

Keep reading to learn what trolling in beer pong is and how best to implement this rule to ensure maximum hilarity and minimum frustration.

 

What Is Trolling In Beer Pong?

The beer pong troll is someone who is forced to sit under the table, as if it were a bridge, because they couldn’t land a single cup for their team during their entire turn.

The fun part is making someone into the troll by, well, trolling them. In some circles, you even make them wear a troll mask, or perhaps an entire outfit.

Trolling is something that really turns the tide of the game in your favor, and it’s a bit of fun if you’re with the right sort of people.

Someone is bound to get upset by this rule, so you have to make sure everyone is cool with this when you start the match.

If they’re okay with trolling, then it’s fair game.

Trolling people isn’t easy. If you pair up with another person, you have to have some level of confidence in each other that you can actually land your shots.

The exception is casual play with strangers, but rules like the death cup and trolling are usually off the table in these cases.

Trolling is all about playing mind games. As long as you’re not going full-on saboteur, you’ll be able to play mind games just enough to trip up the other person.

After enough cups of beer, they’re not going to be able to focus properly. That’s when you can troll them the best.

 

The Power Of Mind Games

Focus. If you want to land shots, play accurately, and actually make a competitive impact, you need focus more than anything else.

Raw talent can’t be locked in and targeted if you’re not focusing. It’s like wasting potential.

Mind games are all about forcing the opponent to stop focusing. It’s why talking trash in sports has never been ruled out, and will never die.

It’s either mental manipulation or motivation. It’s either a hindrance to your opponent or when they don’t react, it’s a hindrance to you (that’s a counter-mind game).

Basically, you can trip up even the best athletes as long as you can break their focus. Anyone can be subject to mind games, you just have to know the right buttons to push.

Mind games are okay in beer pong, as long as you’re not being aggressive or over the top with it. Don’t make crude comments about your opponent’s girlfriend that’s standing by the side of the table, or touch on personal subjects.

Basically, don’t be a downright jerk. Maybe don’t bring up nazi vs jew beer pong or something similar, unless you know you are with a crowd that has that type of humor.

Talk yourself up, talk their talent down, and see if you can get in their head enough to make them doubt themselves.

It’s more powerful than you think, even in beer pong.

 

Can Beer Pong Trolling Backfire?

Well, if you insist on playing the trolling rule and you’re kind of a hard-ass about it, then yes, it can backfire.

It can backfire when you strike out in the future, and those opponents don’t go easy on you. Most of the time, trolling can be disregarded since both parties would rather focus on just playing the game and having a good time.

However, there’s one way that trolling can backfire. Since that one remaining teammate is shooting for both of them, you could actually screw yourself over if that teammate is extremely good at the game.

You just took out a weak link for them. Now, most of the time you’re not going to run into the next beer pong all-star, but some people who play this game are ridiculously good at it.

You could end up screwing yourself over, so be careful. Pay attention to how both members of the opposing team are playing before you incite this rule. And remember that this can be especially harmful when calling island in beer pong.

 

Can Trolling Go Too Far?

Yeah, it absolutely can. If you’re playing for the death cup, and your only goal is to turn the enemy team into a one-man army with a troll under the bridge, then you can come off like a jerk pretty quickly.

At the end of the day, you have to remember that trolling is a casual rule, and casual beer pong is supposed to be played with fun in mind.

Trolling can suck the fun out of it for some people, so you don’t want to take it too far.

This is how you should approach it to keep the fun alive, and still get to have your superior level of fun.

• If you’re only playing one match, you can’t even call troll, so don’t worry about it.
• If you’re only playing two matches, calling troll can really suck for the other team since round two will just be one person with no potential room for redemption. It can kind of kill the mood and lower morale going into the next round (and make crowds scatter).
• Three matches? Play ball! If they end up being trolls in the second round, well, there’s still a chance for them to make a comeback. Call it and put them under their bridge.
• If you’re playing four or more matches, you should only call troll once per person, per game. So you may call it twice, but don’t do it to the same person twice. That’s a mood killer. After that point, just keep playing like normal so the other team doesn’t spend half the game with someone under the table.

 

Trolling In Beer Pong: Final Thoughts

When you troll, don’t go hardcore and be that guy. It’s fun, it’s funny, but if the same person ends up being the troll over and over again, it could ruin their night. Better to win by improving your own beer pong skills.

Then again, if they’re not scoring any points for their team, they may actually be better off. Bottom line: troll responsibly, and don’t give your friends too hard of a time.