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The Other Pong
theodp writes "Before there was Pong, there was Ping-Pong. Table tennis began in 19th-century Victorian England as a parlor game for the upper-middle class, with cigar box lids used as paddles. Today, as BusinessInsider half-joked, federal law requires all tech startups to have a functional ping pong table. Photographer Alec Soth discusses his love of the game in a NY Times interview and shares some vintage photos of the sport from his new limited-edition book Ping Pong. So, why do people — especially lots of computer programmers — get obsessed with Ping-Pong? Table tennis is 'a way to do a physical sport that has actual athletic qualities but is kind of contained,' explains Soth. 'There's a real mental element to it. It's not chess, but your brain is engaged. It's a break from neuroses.'" As workplace stress relief games go, a ping-pong table is also a lot easier to carry than an air hockey set-up or a bowling alley.
So, why do people — especially lots of computer programmers — get obsessed with Ping-Pong?
It's the bong hits, stupid.
I had a job interview, for a job at a technical university, on a ping pong table. Was pretty cool.
A sufficiently large group of people will have lots of members obsessed with almost any well-known pastime you can think of.
A homogeneous group is likely to randomly have certain obsessions tip over critical mass, and then it's just a matter of fitting in.
There's not always a peculiar explanation for everything, you know.
Waff
Maybe it's because table tennis is the closest thing to a computer game that is socially acceptable at work.
Where is moderation: -1 False?
Even folded up, a ping pong table is much bigger than a air hockey table.
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
At every startup I have ever worked, folks wanted a pool table but when management found out what they cost we ended up with a ping pong table.
Same thing with office space. Everyone wants a good space where you can get work done during regular hours but when you price out offices or even cubicles the BS about "communication" and "collaboration" comes out to justify the open plan office.
You'd need to know at least 10 people who enjoyed ping-pong (and preferably 20 or even 30) for what you said to have at least a modicum of plausibility.
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Maybe other things, but the two long-lived small companies that I've been a founder of have had no ping-pong tables or other sporting paraphernalia: many of us simply didn't enjoy 'compulsory' group activities/fun and still don't.
Rgds
Damon
http://m.earth.org.uk/
My psychiatric training, including playing ping-pong with patients, was invaluable at an early start-up. Being good enough to *lose*, at will, while making the other person feel as if they'd earned the win was as much of an art form as playing with patients overdosed on Thorazine. They can get "tardive diskinesea", where physical motions are profoundly delayed from when they're intended, and aiming the ball to where their paddle will wind up, so that the game can continue cheefully, was the kind of skill needed to realize you *have* to leave bugs in your code so the system architect will feel empowered by fixing them, and will stay the hell out of insisting that you rewrite everything to some made-up-on-the-spot new scheme that you've already tried and know damn well didn't work 20 years ago, either.
Why does everyone plot "learning curves" with experience on the independent axis?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Even if you have another ten there, it's very easy to envisage getting unlucky with the first say, 3, and then automatically taking a dislike to any you meet after that from the outset.
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King Kong played ping pong with his ding dong.
You obviously are either in great shape already and play with people who can barely return the ball, or don't play table tennis. It's a pretty good workout, akin to tennis. You are moving a shorter distance (but quickly!) and swinging a lighter paddle, but the volleys are much faster, so you are constantly moving. I get as good a workout from table tennis as from tennis, just in a smaller space. Darts? You stand still and use a beer in the offhand for balance. No comparison.
Unlike foosball/air hockey, installing a ping-pong table in the company rec room is a great way to ensure some of your employees will get some good physical exercise.
I know a hot blond babe who is a great ping pong player. She has excellent muscle tone and a nice figure thanks to this game.
The only shortcoming I've seen is that the table is a bit flimsy for having sex on between games compared to a pool table.
Have gnu, will travel.
Where I worked a few decades ago. We had a ping pong table. It was great for unrolling blueprints on during working hours.
Have gnu, will travel.
So much this. It's a great competitive activity for programmers/developers/nerds who don't generally have the most athletic ability. Dare I say it's almost gender neutral as it places a lot more emphasis on hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes rather than any real amount of strength.
I used to play against my mom when I was still in high school and she would regularly slaughter me without even trying. She'd have me chasing her returns from one side of the table to the other and then finish the volley with a nice subtle spin return that would leave me befuddled.
I run and work out regularly and still love to play ping pong. I think the reason it's looked down upon by a lot of people is because it's not so much a macho game. But that's all the better for me.
As a former HS and Division-I varsity college "normal" tennis player (albeit low on the ladder) I scoffed at "ping-pong" pretty much like everyone else. That is until one of my teammates dared me to not look like an idiot at one of the fraternities' (women's) intramural practice sessions. I lost that dare big-time. After that I actually was interested in it as an actual sport...the fact that there were also relatively hot chicks helping me out kind of gave me a bit of incentive, also. I actually play once in a while even now and that was almost 20 years ago. I even have a STIGA rosewood racquet that is worth almost 100 bucks and replacement rubbers (yeah that's right). Anyone who thinks volleyball, the cue sports, or even golf require mental focus and physical dexterity anywhere near table tennis are seriously misinformed. If any physical game could be compared to chess I think it would be table-tennis. Ok, now mock away...I can take it.
No way I feel like spending all my time at work, even if some of it is spent in "ping pong"
I'd rather be outside or at home in my free time
Pingpong, handball, racket-ball and any FPS - i totally suck at anything that requires reaction time faster than "glacial". Put me on a bicycle though....
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
And there's nothing wrong with being an amateur. Everybody can't make a living out of it, or there would be no one to pay.
Colloquial names for sports are common. We can deal.
If you insist on saying table tennis, pugilism and association football, no one is going to stop you. But others may continue to say ping-pong, boxing and soccer.
And continue to be uneducated idiots if they do so. The game is not ping-pong, and they are not welcome in the sport if they cant even call it the right thing.
If you are to get on your high horse, next time, make sure you don't climb onto it backwards. It looks very foolish.
The game was known as ping-pong until J. Jaques & Son Ltd. trademarked that name in 1901. Other manufacturers had to come up with different names.
This is pretty much the same situation as with Frisbee and flying disc. The public continues to say ping-pong and frisbee.
There are uneducated idiots, indeed.
I welcome people to play against me whether they say table tennis or ping-pong. If you don't, more the fool you.
Ping pong is attractive to the tech crowd because it can be played indoors.
It's scary out there in the real world with that hot ball burning things from the sky.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
All of China calls it "ping pong" (actually ping pang qiu, but I digress). Doubt you can call them amateurs, as they have professional ping pong leagues.
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
To me it's the ultimate combination of physical and mental efforts, problem-solving, and working towards reaching a goal.
Rent a fucking helicopter. Problem solved.
Then solve conflict in the Middle East. _That's_ a physical and mental problem to solve.
I broke someone's arm playing Unihoc once. He was coming at me fast so I just shifted weight and he bounced off my shoulder and into a wall.
It's one of the few games I was any good at; shame I wasn't allowed to play after that.
Are you one of those people who scoffs at "soccer," even though the term originated in England?
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
I went the other way: first played ping pong, then some tennis. I go overboard with spin in both.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
maybe that's because you belong to a rock climbing club and know only hipster coders(evident by the fact that they can rock climb). I would play ping pong if I had the chance. Problem with ping pong is that unless you got someone to play with who can at least somewhat match your skills then it's useless to play it. we used to play with friends and my brother a lot when I was younger - even had a ping pong table in my room for couple of years(was great for lan parties too!).
anyhow, rock climbers tend to want to be showoffs one way or another, like you and from your description you definitely seek the adrenaline rush from it. It's the sort of thing that people who do it advertise to everyone they know(you're more likely to hear it directly from them than from their friends, like you would hear about of lot of other past time activities).
ping pong has a goal of winning the game. there's no rush of course if your opponent isn't any good and no chance of winning if he is too good, so rock climbing compared to ping pong is kinda like masturbating if you think about it(also people who do it often publicly say that they don't masturbate, which makes some sense then).
anyhow, don't go mixing up too much physical with physics which make ping pong and pong like games fun.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
We had a foosball table, too. It got much more use than the ping pong table - it's much easier for beginners to join in games with more experienced players.
Nasty troll: please go away.
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Bite me, worthless speck of flesh..
---- Booth was a patriot ----