Tashn
🏓 Table TennisIn the queue
Eleven points of pure reflex, played at conversation distance.
- Players
- singles or doubles
- Game to
- 11, win by 2
- A match
- best of 5 or 7
- Serve
- swaps every 2 points
What is table tennis?
Table tennis is the fastest racket sport in the world played on the smallest court: a 2.74-metre table, a celluloid-light ball, and rallies where the ball can cross the net several times a second. Spin is the whole hidden language of the game - the same-looking serve can kick left, right, or straight into your chest.
Like foosball, it thrives wherever there is one table and a crowd: offices, hostels, society club rooms. A beginner enjoys it in minutes; the learning curve then climbs for the rest of your life.
Common rules
How it's played.
- The serve must be tossed up from an open palm and struck so it bounces once on your side, then once on the receiver's.
- After the serve, the ball must clear the net and bounce on the opponent's half; volleying it before the bounce loses the point.
- Serve changes hands every 2 points; from 10-10 ('deuce'), it changes every point and you must win by 2.
- A serve that clips the net but lands legally is a 'let' and is replayed.
- In doubles, teammates must strike the ball strictly in turn, and the serve must go diagonally from the server's right half.
Scoring
How it's counted.
- Every rally scores a point regardless of who served, to 11, win by 2.
- Matches are best of 5 or best of 7 games; players swap ends each game.
- Old-timers may still play games to 21 with 5 serves each - the pre-2001 scoring.
Ways your crew plays it.
Singles
The standard duel, best of 5 or 7 games to 11.
Doubles
Alternate-strike rule turns positioning into choreography; the classic office format because four people share one table.
Round the table
The party format: everyone circles the table hitting one shot each, dropping out on a miss until two remain.
On Tashn
Table Tennis on Tashn: in the queue.
Table tennis is next in spirit to foosball: short games, rapid points, one table and a queue. Rally scoring means Tashn will count points per player rather than goals, with games and matches (best-of sets) layered above - the same live wall, reactions and leaderboards on top.
It sits in the queue behind foosball; interest decides the order.
One tap, no sign-in. Votes from inside the app count for more.
Quick answers
Table Tennis, in three questions.
How many points is a table tennis game?
11 points, win by 2, with matches played best of 5 or 7 games - the standard since 2001. Older crews may still play the classic 21-point games.
When does the serve change in table tennis?
Every 2 points, alternating between players. From 10-10 it changes every point, and the game must be won by 2 clear points.
Can I track table tennis scores and leaderboards for my office?
Soon - table tennis is next in Tashn's queue. Register interest with the button on this page; the same live scoring, reactions and leaderboards already run for foosball today, free in the browser.
Names worth arguing about.
Ma Long
ChinaBack-to-back Olympic singles champion and the consensus greatest of the modern era.
WikipediaJan-Ove Waldner
Sweden'The Mozart of table tennis'; 1992 Olympic champion who stayed world-class for three decades.
WikipediaDeng Yaping
ChinaFour Olympic golds in the 1990s despite every scout calling her too short for the sport.
WikipediaSharath Kamal
IndiaIndia's most decorated paddler, with a stack of Commonwealth Games golds across two decades.
WikipediaManika Batra
IndiaBroke through with historic Commonwealth golds in 2018 and dragged Indian women's TT up with her.
Wikipedia
Disagree with the order? Good. That's what addas are for.
Meanwhile, there's foosball.
Score it live while your game climbs the queue.
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