Ahead by 10, with what seemed like an insurmountable lead, Brad Sommerville, 22, and Jason Bruce, 22, started missing like baseball pitchers who couldn't hit the catcher's mitt.

One at a time, each stepped to the end of a blue Ping-Pong table, squeezed a three-gram white ball between thumb and index finger and tossed it at a 2-foot-high pyramid of blue plastic cups on the opposite end of the table, every one filled one-third of the way up with Natural Light Beer.

But they missed, and missed and missed again. Their opponents didn't, forcing Bruce and Sommerville to drink, and drink and drink again.

So goes a game of Beer Pong, a pastime played by thousands every week throughout the country. And although the game has existed primarily on college campuses for several years, it has moved more toward the mainstream and some say it's more popular than ever.

With the popularity is ongoing criticism and concern that the game promotes underage and binge drinking.

The object is elementary -- win by throwing a Ping-Pong ball into your opponents' cups, forcing them to drink all the beer before they hit your cups and force you to chug-a-lug.

Players like Sommerville and Bruce say that the game is about the rivalry, the victories and, they admit, a bit about the brew.

''Competition is first,'' Bruce said. ``Drinking is just kind of a side note.''

Not everyone agrees.

''We try to combat underage drinking, and Beer Pong is clearly a game where no one checks IDs. Beer Pong is a game that encourages binge drinking,'' said Don Murray, CEO of the Florida branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. ``It also puts kids on the road after they've been drinking. I can't say anything good about it. It's built around social drinking.

``If it was just the skill involved, then they wouldn't be doing it with beer.''

ALCOHOL EDUCATION

In an effort to curb irresponsible and underage drinking, the University of Florida requires all freshmen to take an online alcohol education class, said Janine Sikes, UF spokeswoman. Students can't register for second semester classes until they complete the course.

''We all push for responsible behavior,'' she said. ``We're not going to tell someone not to do something, but we want them to the make the right decision.''

Regardless, the game has transcended college students playing in backyards, garages and at fraternity parties. It has also made its way to South Florida.

Miami's Tavern in the Grove has a Beer Pong table, said Nate Melvin, manager at the bar. It's one of the bar's most popular attractions.

''One of our staff was up north, and he saw them playing the game. Then it started to pick up down south, and we decided to put in a table,'' Melvin said. ``It's just added another feature for people to come in and enjoy the atmosphere at the bar.''

Melvin said everyone from college students to 50-year-olds play, and on most nights at least 10 to 15 teams are waiting to compete.

The game has become so popular nationwide that bpong.com, a website devoted to the pastime, hosted its third annual ''World Series of Beer Pong'' in Las Vegas in January. Over three days, 296 teams from 38 states and three Canadian provinces competed for the $50,000 grand prize. The tournament, which allows contestants to replace beer with water if they so choose, has almost quadrupled since its inception.

William ''Billy'' Gaines, who co-founded the site in 2001 with the motto ''Sink it. Drink it,'' said he thinks Beer Pong could grow into the next big bar game, maybe even replacing darts.

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