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Table tennis or ping-pong is a fast-paced competitive sport which began in the 1800’s and it is still very popular today. Whether you are playing  double or single, this game can be a great way to burn calories and get fit if played intensely.

There are lists of benefit associated with playing table tennis. They include:

1. Develops Hand-Eye Coordination: It helps stimulate concentration, mental alertness, and tactical strategy. Following the ball in different directions as it moves towards you, and as your opponent hits it, helps improve the hand-eye coordination.
2. Improves Reflex: Playing table tennis improves fine muscle movement due to its fast-paced, short distance nature, and this helps increase the speed of your reflexes.
3. Helps Burn Calories: Running back and forth to catch the ball in different directions can increase breathing and heart rate which will help in burning calories to keep fit after sometime.
4. Develops Mental Acuity: The spin, speed, and placement of the ball are key determinants to a successful gameplay and constant players are skilled in solving puzzles and brain teaser.
5. Keeps Children Focused: It helps develop the ability to maintain focus and concentration in children that has problem with focus or paying attention.
6. Improves Body Balance: Being able to quickly change position and direction determines your success in this game and this helps improve your body balance.
7. Help Maintain Sharp Brain: Playing table tennis increases blood flow to the brain due to the development of mental acuity, and this can possibly prevent dementia.
8. Improves Strength: If you have pain in the ankle, leg, arm, or back, playing this game can be a great way to improve strength on those areas without over stressing the joints.
9. Helps Relax the Nerves: This game involves total focus, so it is important to be calm and balanced. You have to know when to perform spin and let go of other thoughts.
10. Helps Make New Friends: Playing table tennis is a great way to meet new people and make friends whether you play at home with friends and family members or in the community center. Since there is no age barrier in playing, it can help build relationships and improve communication irrespective of age. Playing at home with family members can also help to bring the family closer.
11. Win or Lose: It feels so good to win this game, but at times, defeat is still okay. Losing a table tennis game to your opponent can help you get better and develop more strategy to win subsequently. You’ll also know which aspect of the gameplay you need to improve on.
12. Stimulates the Brain: Hippocampus is a part of the brain responsible for firming and retaining long-term events and realities. By trying to figure out the opponents shot or spin, the prefrontal cortex for strategic planning is utilized and this exercise helps stimulate the hippocampus.
13. Couples Therapy: The game of ping-pong can affect relationships positively. It is a great way to bond since it is a one-on-one game. It can help improve relationship between couples or help take it to the next level as playing this game can put couples in a position where they work as a team to solve a particular problem. This can have a great impact on their closeness and help solve disagreements. In the table tennis game, opponents can help each other to improve or learn new types of strokes together.

Table tennis is a popular indoor game of tennis played with rackets and a celluloid or plastic ball, bounced on a table being divided by net.

It is an Olympic sport identical to ping-pong outside the level of competition though their rules keep diverging in recent times. In table tennis, there is a serious competition in leagues around the world as well as in international championships.

On the other hand, ping-pong originated from the early twentieth century and it’s the trademarked name given to the table tennis game. Ping-pong is considered as the less competitive, household form of table tennis.

Though there are several variations from table tennis, they are almost identical and ping-pong is played in a much more informal and social manner.

The Difference

The terms ‘table tennis’ and ‘ping-pong’ were both used interchangeably in the early days of the sport, but due to trademark disputes, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), choose table tennis over ping-pong when writing the standard rules of the sport.

Nevertheless, the community of ping-pong lovers have embraced the more casual name since its focus is more of fun and making friends than competition.

1. Branding

The differentiation of table tennis and ping-pong has brought about so much debate and a large number of individuals, companies, and players believe they are actually the same sport.

The name “table tennis” appeared in early 1887 and it was the original name for the sport before being trademarked by some companies and was nicknamed “Ping-pong”. Table tennis was chosen because it sounds more official and it was difficult to use ping-pong due to legal reasons.

This means that originally, there was no known difference between table tennis and ping-pong other than branding, and today, they are evolving into different sports but closely related.

2. Equipment used

Paddle: Ping pong uses only one type of paddle known as sandpaper paddle. They tend to last much longer than the table tennis paddles which comes in different design, blades and surface. The table tennis paddle needs regular replacement otherwise, spinning may be difficult.

Ball: Table tennis ball have a small diameter of 3.4mm while ping-pong ball has a diameter of 3.7mm but some players often use the same type of ball during gameplay.

3. Spin and Hit

Table tennis: The level and type of spin can be used to differentiate the two sports as players practically spin the ball in different ways to confuse their opponent and make their hit very hard to predict. Players also use their footwork and a very fast-paced to reach and spin the ball perfectly.

Ping-pong: Hit, not spin is used in ping-pong because the sandpaper paddle is not designed to spin, but to hit a ball. Hand-eye coordination is also utilized in this case instead of footwork.

4. Service

Table tennis: Here, the ball is thrown up and above the palm up to six-inches and it is being hit from behind the line.

Ping-pong: Service is done according to the rules of the game. Some players will drop the ball and hit, while others will allow the ball to bounce once before serving. This means that, in ball serving, ping-pong doesn’t have a standard hard and fast rule.

5. Scoring

In table tennis, players are given 2-serves each, and matches end at 11-points.

But in ping-pong, players are given 5-serves each before switching servers and the match uses either 11-point or 21-point format. This is why ping-pong games have longer rallies than table tennis games.

6. Competition and Formality

Table tennis: Table tennis is a highly technical and competitive game than ping-pong. It is also an Olympic sport with leagues and championship levels. It can be played by anyone regardless of age, but some players believe that table tennis is a competitive sport while ping-pong is a hobby.

Ping-pong: There are also serious players in the ping-pong game with national and global championship titles though it is not recognized as an Olympic sport.

Table tennis and ping-pong players who indulge in the sport as one of their hobbies are seen as ping-pong players regardless of the rules used. Ping-pong game tends to have less-strict rules because of its less-formal history than table tennis.

7. Rundlauf

Different variations of ping-pong is available worldwide as well as the usual singles and doubles match. One of the many variations is “Round the Table or Rundlauf” originated from Germany.

Rundlauf is an ideal way for a large group of players to play ping-pong at the same time. Here, two team of players form two separate queues going anti-clockwise around the table tennis table.

When ball is served by the first member of one of the two teams, each of the players takes turn to hit the ball and then retrieve to the back of the queue. Losing a point means you are eliminated from the game. Rundlauf is a very popular version of ping pong which can be played by 10 to 16 players. But in table tennis, no such group form of play exist.