Although beer companies, game accessory merchandisers and bars have turned drinking games into organized events over the past few years, some local alcohol-abuse experts worry that this trend decreases awareness of drinking responsibly.

Businesses stage games, such as beer pong and flip cup, as marketing strategies designed to attract customers, boost sales and even promote game equipment like beer pong tables.

But according to Billy Jaines, one of the organizers of the Beer Pong World Series, the games are more about getting people together to have a good time than about profits.

Part of the fun is in the ability to drink in a safe, controlled environment, Jaines said.

“I don’t even look at beer pong as a drinking game, I look at it as a game played while drinking,” he said. “Responsible drinking is our number one concern.”

The first Beer Pong World Series, which is sponsored by www.beerpong.com and a beer pong equipment company, will be held Jan. 2 to Jan. 6 in Nevada and will feature a $10,000 grand prize.

Jaines said he expects thousands of players, who must be between the ages of 21 and 35, to sign up for the tournament.

“A lot of people associate games like beer pong with binging and underage drinking, but that’s why I think it’s great to bring it into regulated settings like bars and other places with controls,” Jaines said. “That way the people playing will all be of age, and there won’t be any over-consumption like what might happen in other settings.”

Jaines added that he thinks alcoholism does not stem from drinking games but from deeper problems.

But Dave DeIuliis, spokesman for the Massachusetts branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said that he thinks the games are targeted at too young an audience and could lead to serious problems.

“Once you’re 21, I guess it’s up to you if you want to play these games,” DeIuliis said. “But I’d like to think that people who have graduated college or are of that age have better things to do than to sit around and play drinking games, so it seems like it must often be underage people who are attracted to this sort of thing.”

DeIuliis said consuming too much alcohol could lead to drunk driving, alcohol poisoning and even sexual assault. He said developing alcoholism is a long-term risk of regularly drinking in excess.

Some companies have chosen to end drinking game promotions in the face of public concern.

Anheuser-Busch, which markets Budweiser beer, announced Tuesday that it will discontinue the Bud Pong promotion it began over the summer.

The promotion provided Bud Pong tables, balls and cups to distributors for beer pong tournaments. But tournament guidelines issued by Anheuser-Busch called for the game to be played with water, not beer.

In a press release issued Wednesday, company spokeswoman Francine Katz said the company is ending Bud Pong after learning several distributors were using alcohol and not water.

The New York Times printed an article about the popularity of company-sponsored drinking games just three days before Anheuser-Busch’s decision to end Bud Pong.

“We heard from some of our friends with whom we work in the higher education community that this promotion could easily be misinterpreted,” Katz said, “so we listened, and we took action.”

According to the statement, the company felt that Bud Pong participants had enjoyed themselves while behaving responsibly but did not want the promotion to be misinterpreted.

“As a company that has invested more than 500 million dollars to promote responsible consumption among adults and to discourage abuse, we believe it is important that our intentions with Bud Pong not be misperceived,” Katz said.

Many local universities have sanctions for those who are caught participating in on-campus drinking games. For instance, Boston College’s student code of conduct states that any student, regardless of age, caught playing a drinking game will be subject to judicial action.

But for many, drinking games are an accepted part of the college social scene.

“One of the reasons we started the Beer Pong World Series was to give people a chance to reminisce about their college days,” Jaines said.