Have you ever got into a conversation where you tried to prove that table tennis and ping pong are not alike, but the other person won’t accept your claim? Well, we are happy to say that you were right. These games are indeed different.
Table tennis is a professional sport that has a set of rules. On the other hand, ping pong is a game that you play with your family and friends. Numerous table tennis champions and competitions are organized, whereas you won’t find a single ping pong official competition.
Having said that, we cannot say they are entirely different. Nevertheless, a few likenesses are not enough to consider them the same. Let’s jump into the article to discuss everything broadly.
What is Table Tennis?
Table tennis is a sport where it usually contains 2-4 players who hit a small ball (celluloid or plastic) on a table, back and forth. They use a type of bat called paddles to hit the ball. Table tennis takes place on the hard table. A net separates the players.
Table tennis is also one of the games of the Olympics. Hence, it is pretty popular in a lot of regions. There are a few similarities between table tennis and ping pong. It is obvious since ping pong is considered an informal version of table tennis. Having said that, these two games are less identical than people think.
What is Ping Pong?
As we said earlier, ping pong is more like less formal table tennis. Interestingly, ping pong was the initial title of table tennis too. Let’s talk about that a little.
People always knew the game as ping pong in the early days. In 1901, J. Jaques & Son Ltd, a British company, trademarked this name. Hence, they got the exclusive right to use it on their products. Other manufacturers who were producing table tennis could not use the phrase ‘ping pong’ anymore. This is how the term ‘table tennis’ kept getting more recognized instead of ‘ping pong’ as time passed.
Where Is The Difference?
- Equipment
Though both of the games are quite similar, the equipment category shows us some differences. Table tennis gives the freedom to players in terms of choosing the paddle. They can use a bat with customizations according to their needs. For example, you are fine with using pips-out rubber or even pips-in rubber. It is up to the player what he opts for as there is no restriction.
Ping pong has only one standard bat. It is a sandpaper paddle. Therefore, ping pong players are limited to the five-ply racket since it is the only option among sandpaper bats. These rackets do not have rubbers. However, they tend to have decent feedback as well as control, thanks to the laminated layers. The price of a sandpaper bat is a big plus. It is less expensive than tennis rackets.
Another noteworthy difference is the ball these two games use. Table tennis mainly contains a yellow or white ball. The size is comparatively smaller for the tennis ball.
The majority of the ping pong balls have a yellow tone. And as mentioned above, the ping pong ball is larger.
- Playing Style
Ping pong and table tennis players do not follow the same style. It is because the accessories are different in these sports. Talking about ping pong, you will see people using sandpaper bats. This material is famous for its slow to medium level of spin and speed. As a result, it is more comfortable to play ping pong.
Table tennis is an Olympic sport. If it were that easy, it would not be competitive anymore. Hence, the spin is high in this case. You should notice that the table tennis game is way pacier than ping pong. Thus, the rallies are short.
Moreover, as table tennis is a professional game, it has separate defense and attack styles. You won’t find these strategies in ping pong due to its informal use.
Thanks to a specific playing style, table tennis is more enjoyable to watch or play because it comes with strict rules and regulations. Nonetheless, ping pong is also an entertaining game. Some people prefer games with fewer limitations.
- Scoring
Table tennis has come a long way in terms of rules. The past rules do not resemble the current ones. Let’s talk about the modern-day table tennis scoring system and see if there are any changes.
At a time, a player is allowed to serve two times. There are overall seven games in table tennis. Each round lasts for more than 11 points.
Instead of two serves, the ping pong players get 5 serves each. Every game has to reach 21+ points.
Though table tennis and ping pong are not similar in many ways, they still use the same old traditional scoring system.
- Dresses
As uncommon as it is, players have some rules regarding their dresses or jerseys. One of them is, they cannot wear yellow or white-colored clothes. Let me explain why.
Both of these colors are exclusively used for the ball. If anyone wears a white or yellow jersey, it will match the ball’s color, and players will have a hard time tracking the ball. For this reason, athletes can go with any colored dress except yellow and white.
As expected, there is no unique rule that restricts players from wearing something while playing ping pong. You are free to dress up with anything you like.
Conclusion
To this day, people sometimes call table tennis ‘ping pong.’ It is fine since, originally, these two were not separate. What is not acceptable is to claim that the games are the same. As the time passed from table tennis’ origin, both of the sports have got some of their own rules.
Table tennis is more dependent on particular rules and regulations compared to ping pong. On the other side, ping pong is played to spend leisure time. About popularity, table tennis is surely more famous. It is solely because of its various competitions. To conclude, we would say that ping pong and table tennis both are enjoyable to play and watch despite their differences.