I grew up playing a lot of games with family and friends at the cottage; so did my girlfriend. One day last winter at her cabin on East Barriere Lake, B.C., we looked outside and saw about two-and-a-half feet of fresh snow blanketing the deck. Since the snow was almost table height, we thought, wouldn’t it be fun to play Beer Pong—but make it winterized? Some loose science went into the creation of the snow table; eyeball measurements of an actual table translated to markings in the snow with a shovel to make a rectangle. From there, we cleared all the excess snow off the deck.
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It was harder than regular Beer Pong. Turns out, it’s tough to accurately throw ping pong balls at -35°C. And there were no rebound shots (balls don’t like to bounce on fresh snow). So we adapted the game to just try and sink the balls in each cup—that really tested our skills!—and treated a ball that fell into the snow as a missed shot.
The table grew taller as it snowed more. Eventually, it was close to regulation height. The drinks were always cold—we just sank them into the snow table to chill. But the best part of it all? The view was beautiful. It was probably the best backdrop in the history of Beer Pong.
This article was originally published in the Winter 2022 issue of Cottage Life.
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