Rack ‘Em Up: Assessing Variability in Drinking Game Preparation Using a Free-Pour Procedure

Drinking game (DG) participation is associated with risky drinking and associated negative consequences. Utilizing a simulated drinking game procedure (SGDP) with free-pour assessment, participants (n = 129) setup a game of beer pong with two instruction sets: setting up a game to play with their own friends, or setting up a game as they believe a typical peer would to play with their friends. When setting up to play a game with friends, most participants (55%) used water only; 72% of participants used exclusively beer when setting up the game as a typical peer would to play with their friends. Repeated measures ANCOVA revealed a significant interaction between beverage type and instruction set; sex of the participant did not impact pouring behavior. The results demonstrate that the combination of the SDPG and free-pour assessment could be used to study several features of DG behavior and inform prevention and intervention efforts.