Table tennis is a very fast indoor game ball game played on a table, with rubber joints racket and hollow plastic ball. Singles (one-on-one) or doubles (two-on-two) are played by hitting the ball back and forth over a net across the table. The ball should bounce once and only once before being returned, full stroke is not allowed. Table tennis is a widespread parlour game that originated as a form of miniature indoor tennis. After the World War I the game also developed into a competitive sport, and it eventually became one of the world's largest sports in terms of the number of players.
Table tennis is played on a table with a rubberised racket and a hollow plastic ball. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has created international standards for the equipment.
Racket
The racket consists of a blade and rubber coating on one or both sides. The blade must be flat and rigid, and at least 85 % of its thickness must be natural wood. It can be reinforced with other materials, such as carbon fibre, as long as the reinforcement does not exceed 7.5 % of total thickness or 0.35 mm - whichever is less.
The coating on the blade can be either a single layer of nubbed rubber (nubs out), with a maximum thickness of 2 mm including adhesive, or a so-called sandwich coating, which consists of a layer of cellular rubber (foam) coated with nubbed rubber, with the nubs facing either inwards or outwards, with a total thickness of at most 4 mm including adhesive.
The racket sides must have different colours. One side must be black, while the other can be red, blue, purple, pink or green, provided that the colours are clearly different and approved by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). This has been introduced to make it easier for the opponent to judge the size of the ball's screw, which varies depending on the rubber. All rubber coverings used in competitions must be approved by the ITTF and be labelled with the ITTF logo.
Ball
The ball is round and hollow and made of white or orange plastic that fulfils ITTF requirements for bounce, weight and durability. The weight is 2.7 grams, the diameter is 40 millimetres.
Table and net
The playing table is made of hard wood or another material that gives the ball the right bounce. It is 2.74 metres long and 1.525 metres wide, with the playing surface 76 centimetres above the floor. It is usually dark green or dark blue with white lines along the edges and divided in the middle by a 15.25 centimetre high net. The net is 1.83 metres long and attached to two net posts 15.25 centimetres outside the table surface on each side. For use in doubles, the playing surface is divided lengthwise by a centre line.
Gaming area
Defensive players often stand far away from the table and return the ball, which is why in major competitions the total playing area must be at least 7 metres wide, 14 metres long and 5 metres high.
A rally starts with a player throwing the ball up to himself with his free hand and hitting the ball in his own half of the table so that it bounces directly over the net and onto the opponent's side (serve). If the ball touches the net, the serve must be retaken. If the serve goes into the net or is executed incorrectly, the opponent wins the rally. In doubles, the serve must go diagonally from the server's right half of the court to the opponent's right side. Thereafter, the ball must be hit every other time by the players on the team.
A player wins the rally if the opponent returns the ball into the net, does not hit the table on the opposite side of the net, is hit by the ball before it has passed the edge of the table, touches the table with the free hand or touches the net.
A won rally is worth one point, regardless of whether you serve or not. The server must change sides for every other point. Whoever gets 11 points first wins a set. The match is usually won by winning 3 out of 5 sets or 4 out of 7 sets. If the score is 10-10 in a set, the set must continue until one side gains a two-point advantage, while the serve switches sides for each point. If a set is not completed after 10 minutes and both sides have not scored at least 9 points, the match shall be completed according to the so-called counting method. The server will then lose the point if the opponent manages 13 correct returns in a rally. At the same time, the server changes sides for each point. This rule has been introduced to prevent prolonged matches between two defensive players.
Table tennis probably originated as a parlour game in England in the 1880s. Originally, solid rubber bales were used, but bales of celluloid came into use early on. Shortly after the turn of the century, the racket was also rubberised. By 1920, the game had spread to several European countries and also developed into a competitive sport. In the 1950s, Asian countries joined in full force, especially Japan and China. They introduced rackets with a sandwich coating and have since dominated the sport, alongside the likes of Hungary and Sweden. Table tennis is now one of the world's largest and most widespread sports.
The International Table Tennis Federation, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), was founded in 1926. It has 227 member federations, the highest among international sports federations. The World Championships have been organised since 1926 and every other year since 1957, with singles and doubles events for both sexes, as well as mixed double. The team championships are called Swaythling Cup (men) and Marcel Corbillon Cup (women) and are organised in the intervening years. The European Championships have been organised since 1958. There is also a European series for national teams divided into several divisions, as well as European Cups for clubs. Table tennis has been Olympic sports from 1988.
Table tennis also began as a parlour game in Norway. Competitions began in the 1920s, first in the cities Mountains, Oslo, Norway and Sarpsborg, and Brann Sports Club In 1927, Bergen became the first club with its own table tennis department. An unofficial Norwegian Championship (NM) was organised from the following year. The Norwegian Table Tennis Association was founded in 1946 and has over 5,000 members (2025). It is affiliated to the ITTF, the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) and the North European Table Tennis Union (NETU). Official national championships have been organised since 1946 (women's since 1947), as well as Norwegian series championships for clubs since 1974. Table tennis is also a popular corporate sport and a sport with wide-ranging facilities for the disabled, including through para-sport. The Norwegian Table Tennis Association also organises national and international tournaments for para athletes.