The Review

Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Mosaic

Media Credit: Corinne Clemetsen [Click to enlarge]

No matter how decorated and clean students keep their living spaces, one thing can shout, "We have a nice place" better than anything else - the beer pong table.

Beer pong tables have become a status symbol across campus. Every party has a beer pong table. Even residence halls frequently utilize the easily-removable closet doors. Some are slabs of plywood resting on trash cans, some are unhinged bedroom doors or extra-thick cardboard, but others are painted, signed, decorated with enormous pictures and bordered with flashing lights - all saying something about the people and the house.

Senior Mike Bleinberger joined the world of beer pong artistry when he and three friends started a company called Last Cup Design last June. He says tables, although mainly used for the game, are now used as a form of expression.

"It says a lot, just like anything else now," Bleinberger says. "It says something about who you are. Like fraternities having tables with letters on it - that represents you and you represent that."

Last Cup Design began when friends noticed the expertise involved in the making of the table for their neighboring houses on Cleveland Avenue and asked the foursome, including Bleinberger, for help in making their own. The new business partners have gone on to help approximately 60 other clients.

The company quickly acquired its small business license and Limited Liability Company status, which Bleinberger says is for "if things break." The license hangs on the wall in the foyer of one of the two neighboring houses - a proud display of the guys' part-time jobs.

Their communal table is lined with Astroturf and hangs by blue ropes at the front doors on the porch of their self-proclaimed "one house with two doors." The simple green table can be raised and lowered for weekends and casual weekday games, stowing away perfectly in the ceiling of the front porch when it's not in use.

With a pull of a string and the assistance of a roommate, Bleinberger lowers the green table with triangle cutouts at each end for the perfect cup placement.

Continued...

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