Basic Rules of Serving the Ping Pong Ball

The official rules of ping pong has already been altered so many times in the past recent years to accommodate fair game-play and to make it a lot more entertaining to the audience. But for ordinary or casual players, the rules still remains very simple.

If you want to learn the basic rules, then you should read the post entitled, "Ping Pong Rules for Beginners".

So how exactly are you going to properly serve the ball?

The ball must always be above the level of the playing surface of the table which must be clearly visible to the opposing player. It must also be served behind the server's end line. Some players call the end line as the "imaginary extension". This is exactly behind the end of the table.

Once in the proper spot, the free-hand should hold the ball tossing it in an upward direction. As the ball starts to fall, the player should immediately hit it with his paddle (some people also call it "racket" or "bat").

The Number of Serves

When a new set of rules issued by the ITTF took place back in 2001, it has affected the number of serves allowed for each player. This rule was the "Official Scoring-point System" where the old 21 points system was reduced down to only 11 points.

In the old 21 points system, each player were given "five serves" each. While on the new system, each player has only "two serves" each.

Once the ball has been served into the opponent's side, the opposing player should hit it back over the net. Upon hitting it, the ball should bounce at least "once" on the server's side of the table. If the ball bounces twice or more then the server losses the point.

Double Team

Ping pong can be played by a maximum of four players. They will be competing against each other by teams consisting of 2 players on each side. In short, it's a 2-on-2 match. With the current 11 point system, the rule of serving the ball remains the same but this time, each pair of players are only given two serves.

Just like on a Single Match, the serving of the ball will alternate between the two competing teams for every two points. Another difference when playing and serving the ball on a Double Match is that, the ball must bounce only on the half portion of the table on both sides.

If it happens that the server has gained two score points, the receiver will take the place of the server and the previous server becomes the receiver.

Game Play

When the receiving side managed to hit the served ball back, the server's partner must be the one to take the counter-shot. If the shot has been successfully returned then the receiver's partner (the other player who didn't hit the served ball) own turn to hit the ball. The sequence of hitting the ball goes alternate between the two partners.

If you have some questions regarding about the rule of serving the ball that has not been covered on this post, use the Comment Form below.

Build your Own Ping Pong Ball Launcher

This topic really doesn't have anything to do with the actual ping pong table sport but it involves playing with the ping pong balls in an innovative and entertaining means. To be more specific, it is called "ping pong ball launcher".

A ping pong ball launcher is a mechanical device that launches or sends ping pong balls flying up and away at a certain distances. Many individuals actually find it very interesting and challenging especially the building part of the mechanical device. Some passionate and innovative people can even build complicated launchers that has the capability to send multiple sets of balls up on the air.

As a beginner, you should start building simple mechanical-launchers. You have to know that complicated ping pong ball launchers are quite hard to build and it requires some amount of money to be spent.

Here's a simple design and steps that you may want to consider building your own first ping pong ball launcher. But before you proceeded with the construction, you need to prepare these following materials:

Wood screws
Lumbers (2 x 2 inches)
Rubber band or spring
Plastic cup
Nail
Hand drill
Saw

The Steps:

1. Create the base

The base is the floor-support of the launcher. To start, cut four pieces of the 2 x 2 lumbers and create a rectangular frame. Suggested dimension is 25 inches (length) and 10 inches (width). You can actually make the necessary adjustments according to the size of the launcher that you would like to build.

Use wood-screws to tighten the connections between the lumbers. (Wood-screws is preferred over nails because they provide sturdier connections.)

2. Middle Support

Cut another two pieces of lumbers which is to be placed somewhere in the middle of the frame for an extra added support. Refer into the image below for the illustration.

3. First (1st) Bar

You will need to cut two pairs of lumbers with length measurements of exactly 12 inches. Then on the 1st bar, you need to screw them up vertically at the middle. Take note that there should be 2 inches gap in between them.

On the figure above, you will notice short black horizontal line. This means that you need to drill holes into the center of those two ends. Make sure that the holes are good enough for a "long nail" to be inserted "freely" (and can be easily pulled out by hand with less effort).

4. Second (2nd) Bar

Do the same procedure as the step above (3) on the second bar. But this time, the height of the two 2 x 2 lumbers should only be 4 inches.

5. Front Panel

At the front panel, you need to cut one piece of 12 inches length of lumber and attach it in the middle. The tiny black vertical line on top (from the figure below) is a half buried screw.

6. The Launcher Bar

The launcher is also made of one piece of 2 x 2 lumber with a length of 15 inches. On one of its end, connect the plastic cup where the ping pong ball is to be set. When it's done, insert the other end of the launcher in-between the short 4 inches size-wood of the 2nd bar. Use a hand-drill to penetrate a hole then insert one long nail. This will act as the lever portion.

Pull the top end of the launcher until it get inserted in-between the two pairs of wood of the first bar. Do the same drilling procedure and insert the nail which will serve as the trigger. You can activate the trigger of the launcher by simply pulling out this nail.

7. Rubber band or Spring

Embed another screw with just half of its body below the plastic cup of a launcher. When it's done, attach the rubber band or spring into this screw and stretch the other end attaching it onto the other screw which is on the top of the front panel.

Once everything's complete, you are now ready to test your ping pong ball launcher. All you need to do now is to place the ball into the plastic cup and at the count of three, pull the nail out and watch the ball flying. To send out more than one set of balls, you can actually improvise by adding additional launchers.