Jayred

Jayred is a popular drinking game in which participants attempt to bounce a ping pong ball into a cup on the table, before their opponent . The game is played mostly by university and college students, primarily in the United States and Australia. As a result of the popularity and association with Binge drinking of Jayred and other drinking games, the University of Melbourne has recently modified its drug and alcohol guidelines to ban the playing of all drinking games in its residential colleges . This has also occurred in several US institutions, including Appalachian State University , Kenyon College , , the University of Florida and University of Pennsylvania .
Whilst the game is a variant of Quarters, the pace of gameplay can be substantially faster, mostly due to the rotational system of play.
Equipment
*at least three players are required, more than five is preferable
*several cups filled with a small amount of beer, wine or other alcoholic beverage
*one larger cup filled with substantially more beverage than the others (this is called the 'Jed' cup)
*two ping pong balls
*a table
*two identical empty plastic cups (standard 285mL pot glasses are usually used)
Gameplay
Players stand, facing the middle of the table with approximately even spacing. The game works very well with between 5 to 10 participants. The cups containing beverage are clustered in the middle of the table, with the jed cup (the largest) in the middle. Two participants, who are on opposite sides of the table, are each given a ping pong ball and an empty cup. Another participant counts down from three, and then yells "Jayred!". This signals the commencement of the game, at which point both players begin to attempt to bounce their ping pong ball into their cup. If one player successfully does this, they pass their cup and ball to the next player in the agreed direction of play (clockwise or counterclockwise). The next person then immediately begins to attempt to bounce the ball into the cup.
Drinking
Eventually, two adjacent players will be trying to bounce their ball into their cup. In this situation, one player is called the 'hunter', whilst the other is the 'rabbit'. In a clockwise rotating game, where 2 adjacent players are attempting to bounce their ball into their cup, the hunter is the player who is on the rabbits right hand side.
If the hunter bounces their ball into their cup before the rabbit can, the hunter must knock over the rabbit's cup . The rabbit then must drink from one of the cups in the middle of the table. The hunter then passes their cup and ball - skipping the rabbit (who is drinking) - to the player on the other side of the rabbit. However, once the rabbit has finished their drink, they become the hunter. If s/he is quick, they may be able to make the next person, who is now the rabbit, drink.
The other possibility when two adjacent players are bouncing, is that the rabbit may be successful before the hunter. If this occurs they simply pass their ball and cup on, and wait for the hunter to pass to them. In this way, the hunter effectively 'chases' the rabbit around the table.
If at any time a player accidentally bounces their ball into one of the centre cups containing alcohol, or into the other players cup, they must drink.
The large 'Jed' cup must be the last cup consumed (unless a player accidentally bounces their ball into it).
End of Round
The round ends when all of the middle beverage cups are empty. The last cup to be consumed is the Jed cup, which contains much more alcoholic beverage than the other cups. Between rounds, there is time to refill all the cups, wipe the table, and if necessary, switch the order of players. This aspect also encourages sensible drinking practices, as the amount of alcohol being used can be tightly controlled, round to round.
In some variations, players refill the empty cups as the game progesses, producing a potentially never ending game, 'Jayred Unlimited' . This variation is likely to have given the game its bad reputation, and association with binge drinking.
Jayred Rule
One aspect of the game which adds complexity is the situation of 'Jayred'. Jayred occurs when a player receives the ball and cup and successfully bounces the ball in on their first attempt. In this situation the player may pass their ball and cup to any player around the table. The rule enables some participants to be skipped, which increases the rate of play several fold. It also has the potential to backfire on a player, depending on who they pass to (the more players that are skipped, the closer the cup and ball will be to the player who invoked Jayred).

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu