Gadgets
The Most Ridiculous Beer Pong Table Ever Automatically Washes Your Balls
Posted by Adam Frucci at 4:30 AM on May 10, 2008
A group of electrical engineering students at West Virginia University has built the most insane beer pong table ever. It's got lights all around that react to the music playing as well as a pair of built-in swirling ball washers. It's incredible. They're taking orders for them now if you want one of your own, but be warned: this first one cost them US$1,000 and 400 hours of work to complete, so it won't be cheap. Hit the jump for a video of it in action, and be sure to skip to 2:30 unless you think still photos of electrical engineering majors and circuit boards are suddenly cool when set to Linkin Park.

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
P3nnst8r
Posted 5:10 AM 10/5/08
@DeepFriar: In PA, ~15 bucks can get you a lot of different varieties. A lot of light beers, but some local brews are that cheap.
P3nnst8r
P3nnst8r
Posted 5:08 AM 10/5/08
Too bad nobody plays beer pong in the dark.
Pity.
P3nnst8r
Munch
Posted 5:08 AM 10/5/08
It looks like they just took the floor from a strip club and added a ball washer (who knows, there might have already been a ball washer in the strip club floor). It sounds like they took the strip club's DJ too.
Munch
shamoononon
Posted 5:07 AM 10/5/08
@DeepFriar: Papts Blue Ribbon?
shamoononon
Yeebles
Posted 5:06 AM 10/5/08
@Zlevee:
Sounds like fun. May try and do this over here sometime. And this table now looks like too much time to me. ALthough it'd be pretty sweet for general use at a rave.
Yeebles
DeepFriar
Posted 5:03 AM 10/5/08
and another thing - what brand costs $110 for 6 cases? Schlitz?
DeepFriar
DeepFriar
Posted 5:03 AM 10/5/08
@LJN: beer dice FTW
DeepFriar
shamoononon
Posted 4:59 AM 10/5/08
@nutbastard: Ahhh... thanks. Still think they should do it with Billiards... somehow. Work sucks today, so I'm thinking inside the box or case of beer.
shamoononon
nutbastard
Posted 4:57 AM 10/5/08
@carmen89:
ha, i didn't notice that was you at first, but i read the comment and thought, "that sounds like carmen", and sure enough...
nutbastard
nutbastard
Posted 4:56 AM 10/5/08
@eFrisk:
"Four players split into two teams, and each sit about 10 feet apart, facing each other, with a cup filled with a full beer directly in front of each couple. Both teams take turns throwing caps into the other team's cup. Each time a team makes the cap, the other team gets a chance to "rebuttal" or "cancel", or try to make a shot. If they make that, the team who originally made the shot must make a rebuttal as well. This can go on as long or short as it takes, depending on skill of the players. When a rebuttal shot is missed, that team drinks their full cup of beer, and the other team gets a point. From there, the game goes on regularly, with both teams taking turns shooting."
It's pretty much the same thing with some nuances, there are variations og beer pong (or beirut, whatever) that are identical to this except a ping pong ball is used, sometimes theres no rebuttals, and sometimes the ball must bounce once before landing in the cup to count.
nutbastard
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
Posted 4:55 AM 10/5/08
@discounteggroll: Agreed.
They dazzled us with a table filled with lights and a ball washer, all for what? The magic of sobriety? Good engineering, a job well done, but no thanks.
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
carmen89
Posted 4:53 AM 10/5/08
Honestly if a table wants to wash my balls (whoa, never thought that would come from me!) I am all for it...Listen when you've been drinking all night and you're playing with a bunch of men who are probably alcoholics one tends to lose a lot, thus getting drunk a lot THUS ( i dig the word) accidently losing balance and knocking over everything...now thats never happened to me but when a guy can't even dips his balls to get em wet (LMAO I CRACK MYSELF UP) because he's so hammered, somethings gotta give in the tech world.
carmen89
bosskev
Posted 4:52 AM 10/5/08
@Darrone: "mine descends from the ceiling on a powered wench"
Cool. How do you keep her powered? I used to have all my wenches running on batteries. However, without a power cord to keep them tethered to the wall, they'd take any opportunity to escape.
bosskev
Zlevee
Posted 4:49 AM 10/5/08
@Yeebles: Go to the questionable fountain of answers in this link: [en.wikipedia.org]
Zlevee
eFrisk
Posted 4:49 AM 10/5/08
@Yeebles: Maybe it's because I'm Swedish but why play Beer Pong when you can play CAPS!?!?
eFrisk
nutbastard
Posted 4:48 AM 10/5/08
@Yeebles:
[www.collegehumor.com]
nutbastard
nutbastard
Posted 4:46 AM 10/5/08
"skip to 2:30 unless you think still photos of electrical engineering majors and circuit boards are suddenly cool when set to Linkin Park."
If anything, that makes them LESS cool. By a lot.
nutbastard
jperry2010
Posted 4:45 AM 10/5/08
Haha...that is actually pretty awesome...
And to shamoononon - It is a beer pong table, significantly different than a ping pong table. Well, at least for us college students.
Hook 'em.
jperry2010
discounteggroll
Posted 4:45 AM 10/5/08
thats 400 hours and $1000 they could have spent on beer and playing pong. valiant attempt, but failure in my book
discounteggroll
LJN
Posted 4:44 AM 10/5/08
This is about to start a Beer Pong vs. Beirut battle and that's 10x worse than any Mac vs. PC discussion.
Gizmodo likes to instigate fights.
LJN
Darrone
Posted 4:44 AM 10/5/08
I dunno, mine descends from the ceiling on a powered wench controlled by remote, has a full lighting fixture on the bottom for stealth and a beautiful etched/lighted paint job. Though they've got me on the leds.
The nerds definition:
Beer Pong is played with paddles, Beirut is shot with the hand.
Darrone
shamoononon
Posted 4:44 AM 10/5/08
I can't see the video right now (at work), but I assume it's a ping pong table? I wish geeks would play something other than that. I might be lame enough to buy a Beer Billiards table.
shamoononon
burningsensation
Posted 4:42 AM 10/5/08
it's also known as beirut
burningsensation
TonyRockyHorror
Posted 4:42 AM 10/5/08
i love the university i attended!
Go Mountaineers!
TonyRockyHorror
GeekyNerdGuy
Posted 4:42 AM 10/5/08
Now if they'd only engineer some pants that automatically wash my balls ...
GeekyNerdGuy
Yeebles
Posted 4:38 AM 10/5/08
Maybe it's because I'm British but what is Beer Pong?
Yeebles
DeepFriar
Posted 5:33 AM 10/5/08
@DeepFriar: let me do some quick math here
case of Natural Lite (writes on scrap paper, carry the 1, include bottle deposit)
yep, its Natty
DeepFriar
rickster434
Posted 5:33 AM 10/5/08
Just for some of you that don't know.. one of the songs we sing are.. "we're mountianeers we have no fears, we bathe in brookes and ditches. We wipe our ass with broken glass, We're rugged sons of bitches."
rickster434
rickster434
Posted 5:32 AM 10/5/08
@TonyRockyHorror: The true mountianeer name goes to APPSTATE, my former school! Go BETTER Mountianeers! :-)
rickster434
Superchargedgtp
Posted 5:31 AM 10/5/08
@The Duke of Windsor Knot:
I think they are brilliant, if they are underage they could potentially get in big trouble if caught drinking.
On a lighter note, this makes me want to go back to college again!
Superchargedgtp
firesign
Posted 5:27 AM 10/5/08
@DeepFriar: no, schlitz costs $10 for 6 cases.
firesign
firesign
Posted 5:27 AM 10/5/08
@Darrone: a powered wench?? really? or did you mean a winch? i'm really hoping you did mean wench. :)
firesign
The Duke of Windsor Knot
Posted 5:21 AM 10/5/08
The entire video elapses without a single beer being consumed. These kids are smart as hell, but they couldnt play more than one game on that thing without throwing up all over it and passing out.
The Duke of Windsor Knot
vertigo
Posted 5:17 AM 10/5/08
Automatically washes my balls? Doesn't that happen anyway when you drag one of the bitches back to your bed - you know the one that's passing out in her own puddle of vomit because her team sucked.
vertigo
Angus
Posted 6:01 AM 10/5/08
@vipermj9: considering you had to change your table due to "copyrite infringement" i dont think you have room to talk on originality.
also why dont you guys just show people actually using your table. we dont need the 3 minute guided tour. its a table with lights; lets see how it handles.
Angus
RickAKATed10
Posted 5:42 AM 10/5/08
Holy awesome!
RickAKATed10
vipermj9
Posted 5:39 AM 10/5/08
just another case of someone copying my table. this is the video i posted online last year.
[www.break.com]
and that was a few years after the initial design.
vipermj9
vipermj9
Posted 5:37 AM 10/5/08
just another case of someone copying my design. this is the video i posted about a year ago and that was a few years after our initial ball washing system.
[www.break.com]
vipermj9
rickster434
Posted 5:35 AM 10/5/08
@DeepFriar: I thought it was spelled naddy?
rickster434
CrazyPheel
Posted 6:22 AM 10/5/08
@TonyRockyHorror: I guess you guys got tired of burning couches and decided to do something productive for once.
GO HOKIES!!!!
Although props to those guys for the work.
CrazyPheel
Canadian Impostor
Posted 6:19 AM 10/5/08
400 hours huh? Maybe the engineering kids in West Virginia were taking it easy, but I'd really hate for them to see what ten seniors in a good engineering school could do in a forty hour work week.
Canadian Impostor
GeekyNerdGuy
Posted 6:10 AM 10/5/08
@carmen89: Are you playing beer pong right now? Because I detect some slurring in that comment.
GeekyNerdGuy
Chrome
Posted 6:49 AM 10/5/08
I love this school.
Later,
Chrome...
Montani Semper Liberi
Chrome
edmicman
Posted 6:38 AM 10/5/08
I've seen these all before, and the only thing I'm interested in is the mechanics of the ball washing. I imagine it's some sort of pool pump, or do you have it connected to running water? How does it work?
I've seen Viper's video before, the problem with that is the ball washers stick out. Those would last 30 seconds in our full-contact pong matches. I do like the pedestal design over the 4-legs design though. Man, I just need to buy some supplies and figure it out I guess...
edmicman
Darrone
Posted 6:28 AM 10/5/08
@firesign: Jeez, i really wish i could say "wench" and my remote was some sort of porn-store leather whip, but im just not that cool.
Darrone
N@tedog
Posted 7:06 AM 10/5/08
@Yeebles:
N@tedog
cyr3n
Posted 7:31 AM 10/5/08
this better be up on thinkgeek.com by the end of the year.. otherwise someone in marketing was totally sleeping at their desk.
cyr3n
ttech10
Posted 8:06 AM 10/5/08
@DeepFriar:
Natty Light. Surely if they spend 400 hours building a table instead of drinking they would drink watered down water to get them "drunk".
I'll stick to my table that took a few hours to build and that gave us much more time to drink and have fun.
ttech10
Chatty
Posted 8:37 AM 10/5/08
Bone--get me in touch with these people IMMEDIATELY.
Chatty
ronnsprocket
Posted 10:44 AM 10/5/08
cool...but couldnt they have least included a video or pictures of all of their friends playing on it?
...i mean, i would take a fucking broken and spend the rest of the time hanging out and playing. although, i respect their dedication. hopefully vagina comes from this.
ronnsprocket
kerowhack
Posted 1:03 PM 10/5/08
Just goes to show... all great engineering projects are undertaken in an attempt to get girls drunk enough to have sex with engineering students...
kerowhack
carmen89
Posted 2:17 PM 10/5/08
@nutbastard: most def it's me
@GeekyNerdGuy: lol shuhojkg bno no! i;m sorry i just get a little fucked up sometimes
carmen89
vipermj9
Posted 11:03 PM 12/5/08
@Angus:
by copyright we meant the music. break.com won't post videos with copyrighted music.
and it's nice that they spent so much time, but my table was build by two guys in like 3 days, so we didn't waste too much time.
vipermj9
DarthZigger
Posted 12:23 PM 11/5/08
First to all the questions about the $110 for six cases. That's $18.33 a case. You can easily get a brand name case of lite beer(Miller, Bud, Coors) for that where I'm from anyway(WI). Second, wassup with all the hate. 400 hours sounds reasonable when you factor in design and testing. Plus it's def not a waste of time, dude I know people that would sell an arm and a leg for this thing. (By the way I'm an EE too and this is why we get paid decent monies, cuz we make cool shit.)
DarthZigger
wolfenstein-3d
Posted 2:35 AM 13/5/08
Music: Poor Choice
Table: Excellent
(In the middle of a beer pong game)
Guy #1: Uh why did the LEDs turn off?
Guy #2: Dude, did you waterproof the circuit?
Guy #1: Ahhh shit. I knew i forgot something.
Props to WV. And props to these guys.
wolfenstein-3d