In an effort to combat their tabloid-fueled reputation as a nation of drunken louts, Great Britain has banned drinking games in bars.

If that wasn't enough to taint happy hour on the other side of the Atlantic, new regulations will also forbid the everybody-wins pub promotion known as "ladies drink free." "These practices have a real (negative) impact on society," explained Britain's Grinch-like home secretary, Alan Johnson, to Reuters News Service.

But before we get all high and mighty about our own freedom to imbibe however we like, it should be pointed out that both Virginia and Huntington Beach, Calif., have recently enforced legislation which makes games such as beer pong and flip cup illegal in drinking establishments.

In fact, rather than mock our English cousins, whose government wants pub-goers to just stare stoically at a bar no woman will be drunk enough to dance on, we need to worry that we too might one day share this boring fate.