The Backstory
Allison Hall. Fourth floor. Freshman year. The sun would go down and the kids would creep out into the halls armed with plastic guns and bulletproof vests. We repped every class of soldier in these Nerf wars—Call of Duty taught us well. And with this serious approach to shooting foam at one another came an interest in modifying our guns, a term which here means “breaking open the plastic and removing the safety features.” An engineer in my own imagination, I promised to spend time in Ford to build the ultimate pistol but, as apathy kills the college student, I never followed through.
Years later, this old war veteran wanted one last chance to use the university’s resources to realize his DIY dreams. Harkening back to high school, I recalled the one project that I always planned on using as an inroads to being cool in college: a beer pong table. In an attempt to put a variation on an old theme, I wanted to get more electronics involved. Because that’s what beer pong tables are lacking. Electronics. So, we put a computer in it.
The Setup
Ira Glass once said something about the gap between our ambitions and actual ability. I should have listened to it. My psych major hadn’t equipped me for intermediate mechanical and electrical engineering, so I needed to bring in a consultant. Enter Kyle Richardson, a McCormick senior with a flair for channeling engineering prowess into creative party applications such as a wheel-o-party fouls to get back at spillers and a can crusher for the cleanup that follows.
Kyle offered some advice about utilizing the Ford Engineering Design Center, that lovely glass building right by Tech. A touch of backstory: Ford Motor Company set out to build a world-class design center at a university but wasn’t sure which. Northwestern wowed ‘em and got the building placed here in Evanston, workshop and all.
The shop is technically for use by students in McCormick with official projects to work on. However, 24-hour access is available for most of the
machines as long as you have keys to the building (or a friend with a set). The shop is reminiscent of the Mythbusters set with everything from jigsaws to lathes to laser cutters. While some Muggle building a table for drinking games is far lower in priority than a student with an actual project for class, it is still possible to find time (preferably after hours) to get on the equipment. Just stay supervised, kids.
The Build
There is no one way to build a beer pong table, but here is a simple formula (recommended by Kyle) that can get you the basics: start off by purchasing wood at the closest hardware store. You will need a good-sized piece of plywood (roughly 4x6 feet at the largest) and several feet of two-by-fours to build legs. That—and a bunch of wood screws—should be all the hardware you need.
The plywood is already halfway there, but it could still probably use a good paint job. To begin, you’ll need primer to coat the porous surface. Next, go to town with the paint job of your choosing. Protip: find someone with the art skills to create a stencil for you and bring some life to the design. Lastly, cover it up with some lacquer to seal in the paint and to keep the surface smooth and bouncy.
Finally, legs. This is optional, especially if you have no permanent space for a table and would rather just have the surface to lay down on top of a smaller table. But if you’re ready for a commitment, you can build wooden “sawhorses” to give the table some support.
The rest is limited only by your imagination. Build some automatic ball washers? Stick cup holders on the sides? Drill in some LED lights? All things we’d love to add in the future or see on tables at a frat house near you.