This ping pong trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers and covers the game most people have played in a basement or a bar and the sport that fills arenas in China. The rules questions ask how many points win a game, how often the serve changes hands, how high the ball must be tossed and why one side of every racket has to be black. The history runs from a Victorian after-dinner game played with books for a net, through the trademark fight over the name 'ping-pong', to the 1971 bus ride in Nagoya that started ping-pong diplomacy and opened the door to Nixon's visit to China. There are questions on the greats: Viktor Barna and Angelica Rozeanu, Jan-Ove Waldner (the Mozart of table tennis), Deng Yaping, Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Fan Zhendong; and a few for the casual player, on Forrest Gump, Balls of Fury and Atari's Pong. Every answer has been checked against the ITTF rules as summarised on Wikipedia and the relevant player, tournament and history pages, and each explanation adds one detail worth passing on at the table.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Since the 2000 rule change, what is the diameter of a regulation ball?
40 mm
The bigger ball has more air resistance and was brought in to slow the game down for television; world No. 1 Vladimir Samsonov threatened to boycott the World Cup over it.
Q 02A game is won by the first player to reach how many points, provided they lead by two?
11
Games were played to 21 until September 2001, when the ITTF shortened them and cut the serve rotation from five points to two.
Q 03During a game, how often does the serve switch between opponents?
After every two
Once both players reach ten, they alternate serving a single point each until someone leads by two.
Q 04When serving, the ball must be tossed straight up at least how far before it is struck?
16 cm
The toss must come off an open, flat palm with no spin, so the receiver and umpire can see the serve coming.
Q 05How long is a regulation table?
9 ft (2.74 m)
It is 5 feet wide and 2.5 feet high, and the ITTF approves only wooden tables or wood derivatives for competition.
Q 06How high is the net?
6 in (15.25 cm)
The playing surface must be uniformly dark and matte so the white or orange ball stands out against it.
Q 07How much does a regulation ball weigh?
2.7 g
Dropped from 30.5 cm onto a steel block it must bounce back 24 to 26 cm, a coefficient of restitution of about 0.9.
Q 08Under ITTF rules, one side of the paddle's rubber must always be which colour?
Black
The other side was red-only until October 2021, when blue, green, pink and violet were allowed, so opponents can tell which rubber hit the ball.
Q 09Which British manufacturer trademarked the name 'ping-pong' in 1901?
J. Jaques & Son
The name was already in wide use; after the trademark it came to mean the game played with Jaques's pricey equipment, and everyone else said 'table tennis'.
Q 10Which US game company bought the 'ping-pong' name and enforced the trademark in the 1920s?
Parker Brothers
American associations had to rename themselves 'table tennis' as a result; Escalade Sports later acquired the US trademark.
Q 11In the game's Victorian beginnings, what stood in a row along the table to serve as a net?
Books
Two more books were the rackets and the ball was a golf ball; the game is thought to have come home with British officers serving in India.
Q 12Celluloid balls came into the game after enthusiast James W. Gibb found novelty balls on a 1901 trip to which country?
America
The same year E. C. Goode invented the modern racket by gluing pimpled rubber to a wooden blade, and an unofficial world championship followed in 1902.
Q 13Since 2015, official balls have been made of what instead of celluloid?
A plastic polymer
Q 21At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, what replaced the men's and women's doubles?
Team competitions
China then swept every medal in the singles that year, which prompted a limit of two singles entries per nation from 2012.
Q 22Mixed doubles joined the Olympic table tennis programme at which Games?
Tokyo 2020
Japan's Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito won it, and a mixed team event is scheduled to arrive for Los Angeles 2028.
Q 23Jan-Ove Waldner, 'the Mozart of table tennis', won 1992 Olympic singles gold for which country?
Sweden
He remains the only Olympic singles champion not from China, Japan or South Korea, and he was still playing at elite level at 46.
The ITTF's 'poly ball' was introduced for all events after July 2014; balls come in white or orange with a matte finish.
Q 14In 1901, E. C. Goode created the modern paddle by fixing what to the wooden blade?
Pimpled rubber
Sponge under the rubber arrived in the 1950s and transformed spin and speed all over again.
Q 15The first official World Championships, in 1926, were held in which city?
London
The ITTF was founded the same year, and Hungary's men went on to win the team title twelve times in the early decades.
Q 16By ITTF rule, at least what share of a paddle blade's thickness must be natural wood?
85%
The rest can be carbon fibre, glass fibre or Kevlar; hinoki cypress is a favourite blade wood in Japan.
Q 17Britons say 'bat' and Americans say 'paddle'. What term does the ITTF rulebook use?
Racket
The wooden part alone is the 'blade', usually one to seven plies of wood about 17 cm long.
Q 18The grip in which the paddle is held like a writing instrument is called what?
Penhold
It is popular in China, Japan and Korea; Chinese players developed the reverse penhold backhand in the 1990s to fix the grip's weak side.
Q 19Danny Seemiller, whose name is on a distinctive grip, was a champion from which country?
America
In 1985 four of the five American players at the World Championships used the Seemiller grip, its high-water mark.
Q 20Table tennis became an Olympic sport at which Games?
Seoul 1988
The men's singles that year is the only Olympic table tennis event in which China has failed to win a medal.
Q 24Because of his extraordinary longevity, Waldner is known in China by what nickname?
The Evergreen Tree
In the 1990s he was reportedly more recognisable in China than Bill Clinton, and he is considered the best-known Swede there.
Q 25Which Chinese player is the only table tennis athlete with six Olympic gold medals?
Ma Long
The ITTF nicknamed him 'The Dragon' (his given name, Long, means dragon) and, less kindly, 'The Dictator' for his dominance.
Q 26A table tennis 'Grand Slam' means singles titles at the Worlds, the World Cup and which other event?
Olympic Games
Only six men have done it, and two players, Zhang Yining and Ma Long, have completed it twice.
Q 27Which player completed the career Grand Slam in a record 445 days, finishing with Olympic gold in 2012?
Zhang Jike
He won the 2011 World Championships, the 2011 World Cup and then the Olympics in quick succession, the fourth man ever to do all three.
Q 28Paris 2024 men's singles champion Fan Zhendong is affectionately known by what nickname?
Little Fatty
The name refers to his stocky build; his Paris win made him the sixth man to complete the Grand Slam.
Q 29Why was future four-time Olympic champion Deng Yaping initially kept off China's national team?
She was too short
At 1.5 metres tall she was thought too small, then won 18 world titles and retired at 24 as the most decorated player in the sport.
Q 30Angelica Rozeanu, who won six consecutive women's world singles titles, played for which country?
Romania
She was barred from even entering a gymnasium from 1940 to 1944, then came back to dominate the 1950s.