Ryan Landow is product manager of Ping Pong Central. The company is a specialty retailer of table tennis tables and a variety of other rec room equipment. The site is a great resource for players; it has table tennis rules and table tennis videos.
Table tennis is a simple game; you don’t need to master a complex set of regulations to play the game. However, there are a few basic rules you should know before playing the game for the first time, as they will help you enjoy table tennis more.
A game of table tennis starts by deciding which player will serve first. This can be done by a coin toss, but normally by one of two methods – either playing a rally with the winner getting to decide who’ll serve first, or, more simply, by one player hiding the table tennis ball in one of his hands and getting the other to guess correctly. When serving, the ball is tossed up into the air and struck with the bat, and needs to bounce twice, once on your side of the table and once on your opponent’s. You cannot hide the ball while getting ready to serve, trying to gain an advantage through surprise; this is against the rules, but also considered bad sportsmanship!
After the ball has been served, play continues with the ball being hit over the net to bounce on the opponent’s side of the net only, as in normal tennis. Players make life difficult for opponents by using spin and slice to change the flight of the ball, and pushing the other player wide of the table by their choice of shot. If the other player allows the ball to bounce more than once on their side, or to hit the floor, then you’ve won the point. Allowing the ball to hit any part of your body apart from your hand, hitting the net with your bat or body, or moving the table, will also cause the point to go to your opponent.
In the old scoring system for table tennis, serve would alternate between players every five points until one of the players reached 21, with play going on beyond that until one of them reached a two point advantage, if necessary. A recent rule change means that serve now alternates every two points and games go up to 11, but you may find that many people still play to 21. A table tennis match will normally be best of 3 or 5, depending on how much time you have.
Table tennis can also be played as a doubles game, with players on each team taking turns to hit the ball. Try not to collide!
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