power hour
{{Short description|Drinking game}}
{{Infobox 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 one shot of beer every minute for an hour, or 60 shots of beer within one hour. In the United States, a power hour event is often associated with a person's 21st birthday when they reach the legal drinking age.{{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
|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 }} A Century Club or Centurion is an alternative to a power hour which involves consuming 100 shots of beer in 100 minutes.{{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 }}{{Unreliable source?|date=March 2024|certain=y}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=March 2024}}
Consequences
Players may have difficulty completing the specified number of drinks as the rate of consumption can raise their blood alcohol content to high levels.{{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
}} The rate of alcohol consumption makes the players intoxicated within a short period of time.{{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
}}
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 and soon after began sending cease-and-desist orders to Ali Spagnola, a musician who had released an album also titled Power Hour.{{cite news
|last=Welsh
|first=Margaret
|date=May 20, 2010
|title=Can a drinking game be trademarked? Local musician Ali Spagnola hopes not
|url=http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:79329
|work=Pittsburgh City Paper
|access-date=June 13, 2010
|archive-date=May 26, 2010
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526040026/http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A79329
|url-status=live
|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
}} 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." In December 2012, courts ruled in Spagnola's favor.{{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
}}