A beer pong arcade game apparatus and methods of operation are described. Initially, a new round is started and out limit is set. For each shot, it is determined whether the player has successfully made the ball into one of the plurality of cups. If the user makes the ball into one of the cups, that cup is retracted below or flush with a surface. Alternatively, if the user fails to make the ball into one of the cups, the out limit is decremented. The game ends if the out limit reaches zero before the player manages to make all of the cups. However, if the player manages to make all cups before exceeding the out limit, then a new round is started with a new out limit and a new set of cups.