Power hour

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Power hour
Players Any number
Setup time Varies
Playing time 60 minutes
Random chance None

Power Hour or 21 for 21 is a drinking event where player(s) drink a specified number of alcohol shots within one hour. Variants include one shot of beer every minute for an hour or 21 shots within one hour. In the USA, a power hour event is often associated with a person's 21st birthday when they reach the legal drinking age.[1][2]

Benefits

Players may have difficulty completing the specified number of drinks as the rate of consumption can raise their blood alcohol content to high levels.[1][3] The rate of alcohol consumption makes the players intoxicated within a short period of time.[4]

Trademark controversy

In 2010, Steve Roose, who markets a DVD game named "Power Hour", registered a trademark of the same name and soon after began sending cease-and-desist orders to Ali Spagnola, a musician who had released an album also titled Power Hour.[5][6] Spagnola announced her intentions to fight the claims, and an intellectual-property professor from the University of Pittsburgh stated that "if 'Power Hour' is a generic description of 'a drinking game that involves drinking a shot of alcohol each minute for an hour,' then Mr. Roose can't have any trademark rights at all."[5] In January 2013, courts ruled in Spagnola's favor.[7]

Alternate Meanings

The term "Power Hour" has also been used in television to refer to back-to-back showings of half-hour TV shows, particularly action-oriented children's programming.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Rutledge, Patricia C.; Aesoon Park, Kenneth J. Sher (2008-05-20). "21st Birthday Drinking: Extremely Extreme". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 76 (3): 511–516. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.76.3.511. PMC 2668868. PMID 18540744. Retrieved 2010-05-20. 
  2. Ruth Brown (2008-03-05). "'Power hour' not only way to turn 21. That magic birthday now comes with new places, new parties and new troubles if not careful". The Collegian. 
  3. Bob Reha (May 26, 2004). "21st Birthday is a Deadly One". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2010-05-20. 
  4. Kate Zernike (March 12, 2005). "A 21st-Birthday Drinking Game Can Be a Deadly Rite of Passage". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-20. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Welsh, Margaret (May 20, 2010). "Can a drinking game be trademarked? Local musician Ali Spagnola hopes not". Pittsburgh City Paper. 
  6. Masnick, Mike (May 11, 2010). "Can We Make A Power Hour Drinking Game Around Ridiculous Trademark Disputes?". techdirt. 
  7. "Opposition No. 91195461". UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2013. 
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