Chandelier: Official Rules

Sink balls in other players' cups, and never be the last to flip when the chandelier falls.

Four to ten players stand around a table. Turn a bowl upside down in the center and set a cup on top of it, filled to the top. This is the chandelier. Each player sets their own cup in a ring around it, about a third full. Give two balls to two players on opposite sides.

Rule 1. Shooting

Rule 1.1. There are no turns. Any player holding a ball may shoot it at any time.

Rule 1.2. A shot must bounce off the table at least once.

Rule 1.3. A loose ball belongs to whoever picks it up first.

Rule 2. Sinking cups

Rule 2.1. A ball that lands in another player's cup sinks it. That player finishes the cup, refills it, sets it back in the ring, and keeps the ball.

Rule 2.2. A ball that lands in your own cup sinks it too. Finish it, refill it, and keep the ball. The Commission notes that this happens more than it should.

Rule 3. The chandelier

Rule 3.1. A ball that lands in the center cup brings down the chandelier. Every player at once finishes their own cup and flips it, flip cup style (Flip Cup Rules 2.2 and 2.3).

Rule 3.2. The last player to land their flip finishes the center cup.

Rule 3.3. Refill every cup, including the chandelier, and play on.

Rule 4. Ending

Rule 4.1. A game is three chandeliers. The player who finishes the center cup on the third is the loser and resets the table.

• Scoring. The Official counts each player's sinks. The most sinks wins, unless that player also lost the final flip. Approved.
• The shooter of the chandelier is exempt from the flip. Approved. It was a difficult shot.
• No bounce required. Commissioner's Discretion. The chandelier falls much faster.
• Play until one chandelier, then switch games. Approved.

A ball lands in a cup while its owner is still drinking it. Does it count? Yes. The owner finishes the cup they are drinking, then the sunk cup is refilled and finished as well.

A ball lands in the chandelier while another player is mid-flip from an earlier chandelier. What happens? Nothing. The chandelier only falls when it is standing. The ball is returned to whoever shot it.

• The chandelier falls. Signal: the Official raises both hands overhead, fingers spread, then turns them palm-down.
• Last to flip. Signal: the Official points at the player, then at the center cup.
• No bounce. Penalty: the shot doesn't count. Signal: infraction (Provision 7.1).

Chandelier borrows from beer pong, flip cup and the dinner party. The center cup is raised on an upturned bowl, which makes it the most important piece of tableware at the party, and the hardest to hit.

Fill every cup with any non-alcoholic drink. The flip is unchanged.