Does Drinking At Harvard Measure Up?

In his quest to find the most unique method of alcoholic consumption, a Bucknell College student is coming here "to find out if the drinking games at Harvard measured up to the caliber of the school."

Andrew Pikoff a senior at Bucknell, said this week he is investigating the drinking habits of Harvard students for a book he is writing on drinking games nationwide.

"Harvard has a good crowd of people," he added, "and their opinions, intellectually, are respected, whether on drinking or other topics."

Pikoff called drinking games "fun, social, and played on a national level," he added. "People from Texas to Alaska play them, and that's also why I'm holding the national competition."

He said he will conduct his research mostly through letters and advertisements in student newspapers, supplemented by "personal experience" and anecdotes.

Not all students share Pikoff's fascination with the sport. "For some, drinking is a means of relaxation," one Harvard freshman said yesterday. "For others, it is an immoral indulgence. But for us who drink competitively it is a way of life."

Joel Popkins '86 put it more concretely Drinking games are like Russian Roulette," he said "the object of both is to get blasted out of your mind."

One favorite game of Harvard drinkers is pack is secretly shaken Each player then chooses a can and open it with the top pointed at his temple the loser gets showered and the winner drink

Down Mass Ave.

Members of some MIT traternitics say most of the brothers entertain themselves through drinking games. A member of Beta

A spokesman for Boston College's Undergraduate Council said students there play drinking games "only out of boredom."

"People are into socializing at parties," he said, "and games are only played when roommates get together and have nothing else to do."

In the right crowd, though, drinking games continue to draw as much support as some football games "I used to get my physical activity playing intramurals," one Harvard freshman said, "but now I get my gusto from drinking games.