Ping pong, or table tennis, was invented in England in the 1880s as a way to continue lawn tennis indoors, not in China as is commonly believed. The name was derived from the sound the ball makes when it is batted back and forth, according to the International Table Tennis Federation. Ping pong tables used to be whatever table was available, with a line of books to serve as a net and cigar box lids for paddles. Regulation table tennis equipment is a little bit more sophisticated. Ping pong was admitted into the Olympics in 1988.
Length
According to USA Table Tennis and the International Table Tennis Federation, a regulation ping pong table must be 274 cm long. That translates to 8 feet 11.87 inches.
Width
The width of a regulation ping pong table must be at least 1.525 m, or 5 feet. The vertical edges of the ping pong table do not count as an area of play.
Height
The level surface of a regulation ping pong table has to be 76 m, or 2 feet 6 inches up from the floor. It can be made from any material; there are no officially sanctioned building materials for competitive ping pong tables.
Net
The net of a regulation ping pong table adds another 15.25 cm, or 6 inches, to the height of the ping pong table. The bottom of the net should sit flush with the table top and extend completely from side to side along the surface of the table. It is set in the center of the table, bisecting it parallel with the short sides.
Paddles
Ping pong balls have to be 40 mm or 1.75 inches in diameter. There is no standard size for paddles, but they do need to be 85 percent wood, according to USA Table Tennis, and they have to be both rigid and flat.
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