While fellow Marist seniors six years ago were preparing to find a job, Sam Pines was getting a head start on his career right in his campus apartment.

All it took was two beer pong tables, one on his kitchen and another set up in his bedroom.

"All my friends were putting together their resume," the 28-year-old Pines said. "We had a weekly league, and I thought, 'Why not put together a structured league?' I haven't looked back since."

The result is not a structured league per se, but the World Pong Tour, with stops across the country leading up to national titles twice a year. A pair of qualifiers will be held at two times Wednesday night at Jillian's on North Pearl Street in Albany. The two two-person team winners will get an automatic bid to the WPT Championship at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City June 24-26, as well as a two-night hotel stay. The teams that finish second through fourth in each qualifier also will receive bids.

"I'm trying to make it a real sport," said Pines, the WPT's commissioner.

Regulation tables. A foot-fault line. And — you can't make this up — referees.

Yes, we are talking beer pong — although they use water in the cups here. Truth be told, water pong just doesn't sound right. Here it's just pong.

"We didn't want to have the negative connotations of a drinking game," Pines said. "It's just like darts or pool."

Still, despite the lack of alcohol in the game, don't count Doris Aiken of Schenectady as a fan of the nascent sport.

"I don't know why they would need any drinking-related game," said the president of Remove Intoxicated Drivers-USA. "It sounds like a very clever billboard to encourage drinking."

The qualifiers cost $15 per person ahead of time, $20 at the door. (You have to register as a two-person team, but you might be able to find a person to compete with at the club.) Qualifiers start at 6 and 9:30 p.m. Remember, this is a sport: Pong. You have to buy your own beer.

mmcguire@timesunion.com • 518-454-5467 • @MJMcGuire