The English Ping Pong Association

#9 Who Says Ping Pong Tables Have to be Big, Heavy and Take up a lot of Space?

This table was constructed from cardboard boxes and corrugated board, then completed with a standard clip-on net. Couldn’t be simpler. Size and height can of course be adjusted to suit the space and size of players too.

The table pictured was part of an exhibit by Goldsmiths students at NUDE at Feria Hábitat, Valencia, which challenged teammates to share paddles. Each paddle having two handles…

http://mocoloco.com/archives/019273.php 

#8 One Old Table, Beer Bottles, & CD Cases

The game of ping pong originated in the late 19th Century as an after-dinner parlour game. It was played using near-to-hand objects, which in those days usually meant corks (ball), cigar boxes (bats) and books (net) played across the dining table.

Today, the objects within reach are more likely to be bottles, cans, books (net) and CD cases, shoes (bats). Buying a regular ping pong ball is best, and can be sourced very cheaply…
http://sharkvolunteer.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/p.jpg

#7 Urban Upcycling

Ok, ok, so this type of project isn’t for everyone, but the idea of taking familiar objects and repurposing them is quite an exciting one. Well, it is if you’ve got a creative imagination, like artist Oliver Bishop Young has. His project Skip Conversions has lead him to create water gardens, skate ramps, swimming pools and our personal favourite the ping pong table (of course) in regular-old skips. The project’s simple re-appropriation of an everyday urban object seems to lay down a challenge for the rest of us to think more creatively about other day-to-day items we encounter, and too readily dismiss as uninteresting.

Oliver Bishop Young’s Skip Conversions

Do you have an idea or example of your own Improvised Ping Pong? – let us know by emailing contact@pingpongengland.co.uk

#6 DIY Plywood Tables

Plywood and trestle tables can be as simple or sophisticated as your want. The materials can be bought from local Timber merchants, in a range of sizes to suit different spaces, build, or set-up the supporting legs, add a net and play some pong…

More detailed instructions can be found here http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Ping-Pong-Table/

Following a similar principle, but achieving a more authentic finish: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Ping-Pong-Table/

Do you have an idea of example of your own Improvised Ping Pong? – let us know by emailing contact@pingpongengland.co.uk

#5 Instant Ping Pong Kit

Following the success of Ping and other social ping pong initiatives, the English Table Tennis Association have created an Instant Ping Pong Kit which includes bats, balls, game cards and an adjustable net that can attach to pretty much any table, anywhere.
The product is being tested across the country, and will be available to purchase very soon. Find out more at http://etta.co.uk/instantpingpong/  or for downloadable game card templates click here

Do you have an idea of example of your own Improvised Ping Pong? – let us know by emailing contact@pingpongengland.co.uk

#4 Found Board, Crates + Your Own Rules..

These tables were created by artist Susan Forsyth – This is what the artist said about the installation -”Ping-Pong-Party is a participatory sculpture, a re-working of Bill Beckley’s 1971 work, ‘Silent Ping-Pong’. My piece by contrast uses boom-bats on tables made from boards and trestles, found on-site. There are no nets and no rules.” Read more on the project, and the other tables Susan has made here.

http://www.susanforsyth.com/project2.html

Do you have an idea of example of your own Improvised Ping Pong? – Let us know by emailing contact@pingpongengland.co.uk

To kick-off the next chapter of the EPPA Guide to Ping Pong we’re revisiting a thread we started a few weeks ago – Improvising a table to suit a confined space, or constructed from cheap or readily available materials.

Follow the links below for our original posts, with instructions or clips of tables being played-on. We’ve embedded the mini ping pong video again because its well worth seeing it again isn’t it!?

#1 Pallet Ping Pong Table in the Workplace

#2 Mini Ping Pong

#3 Plywood Ping Pong Table in the Garden

Watch out for more posts on this theme…

#10 Test Popularity With a Temporary Table First

Ever wondered what would happen if a ping pong table landed in your local park? Create your own, temporary ping pong table and find out… (the EPPA will be publishing ideas and inspiration for home-made tables on a budget soon. Keep checking the blog)

Once in place, your table’s mysterious appearance will create a sense of drama against the routine of every other day. Seeing you and friends playing there will encourage other people to get involved too, make sure you talk to them, and really help everyone to understand what a social and recreational asset a permanent table could be for the whole community.

Putting up some posters, spreading the word by talking to prominent members of the community are good ways of promoting your project. Once the DIY table is in action you’ll need to find an effective way of gathering names and contact details for everyone who’s interested. These will be needed when building a case for funding, helping to develop and promote the project – and to spread the word when your permanent table is installed!

See our guide to 10 Ways to Establish Ping Pong in Your Community to learn about possible ways of funding the project.

Or get in touch via contact@pingpongengland.co.uk for more information and to talk about ping pong in your community in more detail…

#9 Untitled Space’s Hit & Run – Urban Ping Pong

If you’d like Untitled Space to drop their mobile ping pong table into a space in your neighbourhood, run some games of round-the-table and rally interest amongst other residents in the community, you can email us on contact@pingpongengland.co.uk. As the summer months approach, Untitled Space and the EPPA are looking forward to an exciting few months of guerilla-style ping pong, with Hit & Run being a part of this.

Untitled Space want these nomadic events to lead to a long-lasting, self-organising local ping pong culture, so we want you to tell us where the appetite for ping pong already exists. From there, Hit & Run will try to expand support for the game, and forge links with possible funding sources, such as recently featured on our own blog roll - Spacehive, Unltd or Sport England.

For more information on Hit & Run you can contact Untitled Space directly by emailing us@untitledspace.co.uk