The new code base for the site has been live for a week now, and all the minor styling bugs should be fixed – we think we even have things in better shape than we had with the old code. If you think you see a problem, though, please let us know. Our main focus is now on the biggest beer pong tournament you’ve ever seen, but we’re also very close to implementing some new site features that we’re sure you will love.

Now, on to something that will probably grab your attention a bit more. As you may know, III comes after II, so you heard it here first – the third WSOBP™ will be<--more--> called The World Series of Beer Pong™ III (the “WSOBP™ III”). We believe things are almost in place (we hope we need no more than one more week of testing), but we wanted to set a few “ground rules” for this year.

Because of some changes, things may not be as flexible as in the past. For example, deadlines may not be flexible for reasons beyond our control. Thus, if we say the deadline to sign up is December 1, you must be completely signed up by the end of December 1. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to sign up early and not wait until the last minute to pay in full. If you don’t and then there is a problem with your credit card, we may not be able to let you play (again, for reasons outside of our control).

Understanding that nothing is completely set yet (and therefore DO NOT buy plane tickets based on this information), start thinking about being in the Vegas area during the first week of January (namely, January 1 through January 5, 2008). Also, start thinking about an event unlike any you have ever seen before (even if you’ve been to The WSOBP™ I or II). It might be taking us longer to put this one together, but trust us – it’s for good reason.

One last thing, though. Since our flexibility is limited this year, we’ll need your help to tell everybody you know about the event as soon as we start taking sign ups. In the past, we’ve had people that have found us a week or so after sign ups were supposed to start. We let them play. This year, however, we may not have that flexibility. (We’ll try, but do not count on it this year.) Therefore, we need people to know everything ASAP.

As you can probably tell, the site doesn't quite look the same. We converted to a new code-base for the site. On the good side, all of the data appears to have converted correctly; on the bad side, there's also some layout stuff that is pretty jacked (e.g., the forum when you post/reply). We're aware of these issues and will be fixing things as quickly as possible during the next couple of days. Once we get all of this under control, though, we should have a solid base for finally adding some new features that we've had the ideas for since we started the site back in 2001.

We're still here - we're just trying to pull a lot of stuff together, so we apologize for the lack of recent updates. For those of you that have been actively following the forum posts, however, you pretty much know what is going on. I'll take a few minutes to touch on a few of the major questions and other issues that keep coming up.

(1) Regarding The WSOBP™ III, we're still working on pulling all of the pieces together. We believe we are getting close. We apologize for the delay, but if we are able to pull off what we’ve been working on, it’ll be well worth the wait. As soon as we<--more--> can safely say anything it will be posted on BPONG.COM. For those that must know something, don't buy any plane tickets yet, but start thinking about skipping work the first week of the new year (as usual).

(2) Satellite Tournaments: we continue to get a lot of interest from bars wanting to run WSOBP™ satellite events and from people looking for such events. We're anxious to get these up and running, but first, we need to get the main event set. As soon as we have everything set for the main event, we'll be able to start taking requests from people wanting to run satellites.

(3) BPONG.COM Updates: We're working on releasing an entire new backend for the site. From all appearances, you won't be able to tell much of a difference, but with the new foundation, we'll have the groundwork done to put lots of new features in place relatively quickly. We're really excited that some of our visions since 2001 are finally on the verge of becoming a reality. At the same time, changing over the entire code base means we may have to take the site down for periods of time to copy over new code, convert all data, and test things out. We hope to not be down for periods longer than a couple hours, but if the site is down for any period of time, don't worry - we will be back.

There are probably a lot of other things we could address, but here are a few more quick thoughts. We are currently trying to sell off all of our WSOBP Dirty Tees so we can make room in our warehouse for some new designs. Therefore, we are selling these at greatly reduced prices. Once they are gone, we will not be printing any more in the foreseeable future. On a similar note, we also have some WSOBP™ II event shirts left over. We are also selling these off at the BPONG store, so if you're interested, don't delay because they may sell out.

That's it for now. There's a lot more to say, but we've go to pull The WSOBP™ III together first. Then we can take a few minutes to elaborate on some other things in the works.

Those of you who were at The WSOBP II probably noticed the camera crews everywhere—for the past year a major documentary has been in the works—crews have been traveling across the US following high-profile pong players, and production continues.
If you have any video from WSOBP I, or if you have "vintage" beer pong footage from past decades, contact
Film 101 Productions is prepared to pay you for two types of footage:<--more-->

1. 1. If you were at WSOBP I and have any video footage from that event, email beerpong@film101p.com, and summarize what the footage consists of. If they decide to use your stuff you will receive compensation as well as credit in the film. They will pay your shipping costs to mail them your tapes, so you only stand to gain.
2. If you or anyone you know has any "vintage" footage of beer pong or beer pong style games being played in the 80's, 70's, 60's, or even earlier, there will be a large compensation for that as well as credit in the film, so now's the time to call up the brothers at your frat and tell them to find that old box of 16mm or Super 6mm video that's collecting dust in the basement. Be sure they know it's for a good cause-- and that they could get paid. Email beerpong@film101p.com if you have any of this type of footage and they will pay to ship it out.

Also...

LIMITED EDITION WSOBP II EVENT T-SHIRTS

Many of you have asked us about these, so finally, here is the answer:

We had some event shirts left over from The WSOBP II, and we're now selling them on BPONG.COM (see the "Clothing" section at www.bpong.com/store). We do not plan to print these again, so once these are gone, they are gone.

As with all of our other products, these shirts will almost always ship *same day* for orders placed by 3:00 PM EDT on a normal business day.

 

1st Place - We own your face ($20,000) 2nd Place - PwnTrain ($2,500) 3rd Place - New England Steelers ($750)

The entire WSOBP staff would like to thank all the teams for coming out and <--more--> being part of another unforgettable four days. We'll have more coverage of the event coming up in the next few weeks after we unwind a bit.

After one hell of a first day, Round 8 (the second Round of Day 2) is just now underway. As a quick review, 246 teams are competing for the $20,000. Coming into Day 2 and after 738 games of pong, ten teams remain undefeated. Results from Day 1 are currently available, and we should have Day 2 results up later tonight.

At midnight the night of Dec. 26th, we are officially closing WSOBP II registration.

That means that if by then you have not paid in full or have not created a team profile, you are out, not coming, gone, see ya, better luck next time. If you are having trouble signing up please contact us. Walk-ons will not be accepted.

For the four hundred or so of you that are signed up, we'd like to extend our thanks <--more--> and gratitude for helping raise the bar this year. It's hard to believe it's only a week or so away, and I think Defo of Slippery Fetus said it best when he said, "Usually I'm excited for Christmas but this year it's completely overshadowed by The WSOBP II." Our thoughts exactly. Happy holidays everyone-- we can't wait to get this party started!

First, no we don't think you are morons, so instead of sending us emails about us calling you morons, go see if you can find a sense of humor.

We've made the above adjustment to the headline for those of you that can't read more than just headlines. The WSOBP™ has not been cancelled, but if you have not fully signed up (paid in full, chosen your teammate, selected your roommate, and created a team profile), you are in severe danger of NOT being able to play. <--more-->

We are not trying to be dicks about this, but think about it - we're planning for roughly 500 people to compete in somewhere around 2,000 games of pong over three days. This is not easy, and by doing it last minute, we will not sleep (and we aren't sleeping as it is).

Thus, one of these days we may snap and just say, "Okay, that's it. If you aren't paid in full, too bad." We are trying to accommodate every last personal, individual request you guys are making, but you are putting one hell of a burden on us.

PLEASE, we beg you - pay your shit, sign the fuck up, and read more than headlines.

Or it will be for you if you don't complete your sign-ups - your spot in the event will be forfeited! (The WSOBP II has not actually been canceled.)

PLAYERS: There are still a lot of you who have not completed your sign-ups. If you have not paid in full, or have not created your team profile, you risk forfeiting your spot in the WSOBP II! We cannot hold sign-ups open indefinitely, and believe us, we're not going to enjoy turning you away because you didn't complete your sign-up. <--more--> You cannot show up in Mesquite on January 1st and sign-up then-- you must complete your team's sign up now!

To see if you are fully registered, log in to BPONG.COM and go to the Member Control Panel. If you do not remember your password or username you can retrieve it here. From there you must:
(1) pay remaining balance
(2) select teammate,
(3) select roommate, and
(4) create team profile (this is not optional).

Once you see your team on the WSOBP II Team Listing, you know you are good.

GETTING TO MESQUITE: If you are trying to figure out how to get from the airport to Mesquite, we've got you covered. Red Eye breaks, a WSOBP II sponsor, has taken it upon themselves to help you guys get from Point A to Point B. They'll even get you guys limos if you want em. Just fill out the online form and Red Eye will contact you with more information.

Teams that have entered The World Series of Beer Pong™ II can now create team profiles, which include a team name, team pic, and team description. And something may taste like piss - at least that may be the case if The Golden Showers follow through and piss all over their opponents. If that wasn't enough, we have no clue what "The Mudbutts" means, but when the team members refer to themselves as "Splatterpants" and "Steamyshorts," something tells us we may need to hand out diapers in the player packets this year. <--more-->

Although only a fraction of the teams have created profiles so far, there seems to be a thing for brothers so far. Janesvegas are coming straight out of Janesville, Wisconsin (yet one resides in Lauderdale and the other in Madision, WI, so we're not quite sure how they are coming straight out of Janesville), and these guys have an adorable little picture of themselves as kids - one in his Cub Scout uniform and the other in his Boy Scout uniform. We'll have to see if either of these guys are worthy of a Beer Pong Merit Badge (or a check for $20,000). Also, The Brothers Flood appear to be brothers, and it's great to see that beer pong is bringing them together (one from Florida and the other from Pennsylvania).

We've also seen a lot of WSOBP I veterans signing up, and two have already created team profiles: (1) Zack & Screech (Nutty Irishman Champions) (3rd place at The WSOBP I); and (2) Supreme Clientele straight out of New Hampshire (9th place at The WSOBP I).

If you're coming in January, get your team profile up ASAP - we need your team names so we can start doing some scheduling. Note that in order to create a profile, you must pay in full and select your roommate. Why? The room block we have for the casinos releases all free rooms from the room block on December 1. Most likely, the casino will not run out of rooms, BUT the sooner we get you locked in, (1) we know you'll have a room, and (2) we're trying to get everybody as close to the venue as possible.

For now, we're out. Time to get back to work and start shopping for rain coats and nose plugs.