{{Short description|Drinking game}} {{Infobox game | other_names = 21 for 21 | subtitle = Drinking Game | players = Any number | playing_time = 60 minutes | setup_time = Varies | random_chance = None | skills = }}
'''Power hour''' or '''21 for 21''' is a drinking game where players must consume a specified number of alcohol shots within one hour. Variants include drinking one shot of beer every minute for an hour, or 60 shots of beer within one hour.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bash |first=Alex |title=The Imbible: Drinking Games for Times You'll Never Remember with Friends You'll Never Forget |date=2008-08-05 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-1-4299-8303-7 |pages=201-202}}</ref> In the United States, a power hour event is often associated with a person's 21st birthday when they reach the legal drinking age.<ref name="Rutledge">{{cite journal |last1=Rutledge |first1=Patricia C. |first2=Aesoon |last2=Park |first3=Kenneth J. |last3=Sher |date=2008-05-20 |title=21st Birthday Drinking: Extremely Extreme |url=http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ccp763511.pdf |journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=511–516 |doi=10.1037/0022-006X.76.3.511 |pmid=18540744 |pmc=2668868 |access-date=2010-05-20 |archive-date=2010-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208000550/http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ccp763511.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Ruth Brown |date=2008-03-05 |title='Power hour' not only way to turn 21. That magic birthday now comes with new places, new parties and new troubles if not careful |url=http://media.www.sdsucollegian.com/media/storage/paper484/news/2008/03/05/News/power.Hour.Not.Only.Way.To.Turn.21-3252990.shtml |publisher=The Collegian }}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A '''Century Club''' or '''Centurion''' is an alternative to a power hour which involves consuming 100 shots of beer in 100 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-11 |title=100 Shots of Beer in 100 Minutes – Century Club Challenge - Slosh Spot |url=https://www.sloshspot.com/blog/100-shots-of-beer/ |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=www.sloshspot.com |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203080633/https://www.sloshspot.com/blog/100-shots-of-beer/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bash |first=Alex |title=The Imbible: Drinking Games for Times You'll Never Remember with Friends You'll Never Forget |date=2008-08-05 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-1-4299-8303-7 |pages=202}}</ref>
==Consequences==
Players often have difficulty completing the specified number of drinks as the rate of consumption raises their blood alcohol content to high levels.<ref name="Reha">{{cite web |author=Bob Reha |date=May 26, 2004 |title=21st Birthday is a Deadly One |url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/05/26_rehab_colldrink/ |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=2010-05-20 |archive-date=2011-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135319/http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/05/26_rehab_colldrink/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The rate of alcohol consumption makes the players intoxicated within a short period of time.<ref name="Zernike">{{cite news |author=Kate Zernike |date=March 12, 2005 |title=A 21st-Birthday Drinking Game Can Be a Deadly Rite of Passage |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE0D8143CF931A25750C0A9639C8B63 |work=New York Times |access-date=2010-05-20 |archive-date=2012-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110013047/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE0D8143CF931A25750C0A9639C8B63 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Trademark controversy == In 2010, Power Hour LLC, run by Steve Roose who markets a DVD game named "Power Hour", registered a trademark of the same name. Soon after, the company began sending cease-and-desist orders to Ali Spagnola, a musician who had released an album also titled ''Power Hour''.<ref name="pcpTM">{{cite news|url=https://www.pghcitypaper.com/arts-entertainment-2/can-a-drinking-game-be-trademarked-local-musician-ali-spagnola-hopes-not-1343746/|title=Can a drinking game be trademarked? Local musician Ali Spagnola hopes not.|last=Welsh|first=Margaret|date=May 20, 2010|newspaper=Pittsburgh City Paper|access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Masnick |first=Mike |date=May 11, 2010 |title=Can We Make A Power Hour Drinking Game Around Ridiculous Trademark Disputes? |url=http://techdirt.com/articles/20100510/1048079359.shtml |publisher=techdirt |access-date=June 13, 2010 |archive-date=May 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515125404/http://techdirt.com/articles/20100510/1048079359.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 Power Hour LLC can't have any trademark rights at all."<ref name="pcpTM"/> In December 2012, courts ruled in Spagnola's favor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Opposition No. 91195461 |url=http://www.alispagnola.com/powerhour/img/TTAB-Power-Hour-Decision.pdf |publisher=UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE |access-date=23 January 2013 |date=31 December 2012 |archive-date=24 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124071125/http://www.alispagnola.com/powerhour/img/TTAB-Power-Hour-Decision.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Drinking games}}
Category:Drinking culture