Penn State Drinking Club Drinks At Same Bar Every Day For Entire School Year

Dillon Cheverere12 years ago

Per longstanding State College tradition, many Penn State students embark on a 55-day bar challenge that begins at the conclusion of spring break and runs until graduation. The goal is to stop by Cafe 210 West every day, better known simply as Cafe, and order at least one item, be it alcohol or otherwise. Participants who complete this journey are forever enshrined with their names on a plaque that hangs in the bar. TFM’s very own Tech Guy, a PSU grad, has his name hanging in Cafe. Cool story, right?

Not so fast. Greeks have responded to this 55-day “open to everyone,” mild, spring time bender with a fall-to-spring one of their own. From fall syllabus week all the way until the end of the spring semester, participants aim to visit Gingerbread Man, a.k.a. GMAN, and order at least one alcoholic beverage without taking a day off — seven days a week. The only exception is holidays. The founders of the GMAN challenge are members of Kappa Delta Rho.

From Onward State:

“The challenge started as a complete joke mocking all the people who bragged about how hard the Cafe Challenge was. The three godfathers of the challenge, who are a year older than me and also in KDR, jokingly said how they come to the GMAN everyday anyway, so how hard is 55 days in a row? So from that spawned the challenge,” said Doherty.

Frat guys trying to show up geeds? Sounds about right.

The guys had to show up at GMAN at least once and day and buy at least one alcoholic beverage. It didn’t matter what kind or how much it cost, they just needed alcohol. This included weekends and weekdays, but excluded holidays like Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, and spring break.

Bartenders at GMAN keep an attendance sheet behind the bar so participants can sign in every day after ordering their drink. Attendance accountability, a foreign concept to most fraternity members — how many are getting pledges to sign them in?

Tech Guy suggested that I scrap that last line about pledges signing the actives in, because “it’s basically impossible for underage students to get into bars in State College.” I just suggested that he stick to coding.

[via Onward State]