RULES RULES RULES!
Table tennis has a lot of rules. The reasons for some of the rules are far from obvious, and the regulations can make for dense reading. This article attempts to expatiate on the rules in a fun way that makes them more accessible to those new to the game. I will answer some of the more common questions players ask. If you want to look up any rules for yourself, check out the complete ITTF Handbook Online.
How do you determine who serves first?
In serious competitions with an umpire, the umpire tosses a coin. In causal competitions like the Gilbert Round Robin Tournaments, the usual method is for one player to hide the ball in one hand, then put both his hands below the table out of sight. His opponent guesses which hand the ball is in. If the opponent gets it right he can (1) choose to serve or receive serve; (2) choose which end of the table he wants to start play on. Once the winner of the toss (or ball hide) chooses either his preference for serve/receive or table end, his opponent gets to make the other choice.
Why is one side of the racket black and one red? Why is this required?
The racket surfaces are different colors because players sometimes use different sorts of rubber on each side, i.e., smooth rubber on one side and long pips rubber on the other. Different rubbers can behave in much different ways when they contact the ball. If a player's two surfaces looked identical at a glance, then his opponent would have a really hard time reading what kind of spin he has put on the ball. Also, Theosephus P. Herdwinker, the man who wrote the ITTF rules, was a huge fan of Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black, so he decided that's what color the racket sides should be (I just made that last part up).
When do you have to switch sides?
After the end of each game. This is so both players experience the same conditions during the match. Also--and this is something few recreational players know--you have to change sides in the MIDDLE of the last possible game of a match (in game 5 in a best-3-of-5 match, or game 7 in a best-4-of-7 match). The players switch sides after either player reaches 5 points.
Can the ball touch anything other than my racket during play?
Yes. Your racket hand below the wrist. If the ball bounces off your fingers or the back of your racket hand, it is legal. However, if it touches your arm, your body, your clothes, your non-racket hand, or the fanny pack you always wear when you play, your opponent automatically wins the point. This is a specific example of the general life rule: DON'T WEAR FANNY PACKS.
Can I touch the table with my hands during play?
Sort of. You can touch the table with your racket hand during play. You can also touch the table with your body ... as long as you don't move the table. You may not touch the table with your non-racket hand during play. If you do, you lose the point. There's a nuance here: play is over once the ball hits the floor or gets caught off the table. Let's say you are off balance from hitting a shot. Your opponent returns your shot and it goes long, hitting the floor. Once it hits the floor, you can steady yourself on the table with your non-racket hand.
Why do I have to serve with my hand open and have the ball on my palm rather than my fingers? What's the big deal?
The rules are designed to give the player returning serve a fair chance at making a return. In days gone by, the rules were slanted so far to the advantage of good servers that receivers were having a hard time getting returns back, and the points were short and boring. The palm rules make it so that the server cannot add spin to the ball with his fingers, and so that the receiver can clearly see the ball the whole time. For a more in-depth explanation of an ITTF-legal serve, watch this fun YouTube tutorial.
Why do we play to 11 points a game in the round robin? The guys at my office play to 21 points a game and swear it's right!
They are just out of date. Games used to be played to 21 points. In order to make things more exciting, the rules were changed to 11 points a game, and you must win by 2 points. No serious players play to 21 anymore. Permission to look down on your office mates: granted.
What is a USATT rating?
The USATT rating is a formal rating system to determine a player's ability level relative to other players. It's a numerical rating that runs from around 600 for beginners up to 2500+ for professional players, Olympic competitors, and the like. This rating determines your eligibility for USATT-sanctioned events. You receive an official USATT rating by playing in USATT-sanctioned tournaments.
How is this different from a USATT League rating, like I get by playing in the Gilbert Round Robin Tournaments?
The league ratings are a less formal, club league system. They usually track pretty closely to a player's USATT rating in practice, so they are a good measure of ability. They are useful for events like ours that are not USATT-sanctioned, but still more formal than a group of friends playing beer pong in the backyard. They allow us organizers to place players of similar ability together, and they give players a chance to have an estimate of their ability before they are ready to go through the trouble and expense of joining the USATT and entering sanctioned tournaments. League ratings are calculated the same way as official ratings, but the two are completely separate. The league rating is only affected by league games, and official ratings are only affected by results of sanctioned tournaments.
How are ratings calculated?
Magic. At least that's how it seems to us! We enter the results of the tournament into an online system overseen by the USATT. That server calculates players' new league ratings based on the ratings of the players they beat or lost to, and provides the new ratings to us. It's pretty sweet. We have nothing to do with calculating the ratings. We just provide the results, and the USATT does the rest. My understanding is that the algorithm for the ratings calculations is proprietary, and surprisingly complicated.
How many serves does each player get?
Each player gets two serves in a row, until the score reaches 10-10 (deuce). At deuce, each player then gets one serve each until one player wins by two points and the game is over, or one player dies from exhaustion (rare, except in Korea, where there are a lot of defensive chopper players).
Can I change my racket during the match?
You may only change your racket during a match if it gets damaged such that you can't reasonably play with it. Otherwise, you must use the same racket the whole match.
My opponent asked to examine my racket before the match. Is he a pervert, or is this normal?
You are required to allow your opponent to examine your racket before a match so that he can see what sort of blade you use, and most important, what kind of rubber you have on each side. This gives your opponent a fair chance to anticipate the spin you put on the ball.
I am ambidextrous. Can I switch hands during a match, or during play?
Yes. Good luck with that.
What do I do if my opponent performs an illegal serve?
Voice your righteous indignation as loudly as possible! Seriously, in a competition with an umpire, that's the umpire's call. Play the ball unless the umpire calls an illegal serve. In a casual tournament without an umpire, the receiver catches the served ball with his free hand rather than hitting it. This avoids suspicion that the receiver called the serve as illegal because he missed the return after hitting it. The receiver then explains clearly and patiently what about the serve was illegal (hiding the ball, toss too low, toss over the table, etc.) and asks the server to replay the point. If it happens a lot, don't get into an argument. Instead, find an umpire and explain to him what's going on. He will watch your game for a time and make a determination.
Can I hit the ball AROUND the net?
Yes. It happens in pro matches occasionally, and it's really cool to see. You can find videos on YouTube of this. As for doing it yourself ... good luck with that.
My opponent said I served the ball illegally by "hiding" it. Is he just trying to bait me into a fight? Should I insult the legitimacy of his heritage or show him parts of my body normally kept hidden in polite society?
Not yet. There are a lot of little rules that go into making a legal serve, and those rules are certainly the most common stumbling block for developing players. Nothing generates more arguments. (Seriously, if you haven't watched this YouTube tutorial yet, do so forthwith. This stuff is really important!) A lot of the service rules are designed with one goal in mind: the receiver must be able to see the ball from the moment the server begins his toss until the server's racket touches the ball. That means you cannot block the receiver's view with your body, your hand, your arm, or your racket for even an instant. You also may not drop your hand below the level of the table once you begin the toss. If you do any of this, the serve is illegal, and your opponent has every right to call you for a violation.
Can I make noise when I hit the ball?
Sure, but only animal noises. You can grunt, squeal, "URF!" and "UGH!" all you want, as long as it's not so loud that it surpasses common decency and reason. You may not speak a word during a point at all. If you do, you lose the point.
If the ball bounces off the side of the table, does that count?
No. The side of the table is "out." However, if the ball hits off the edge of the TOP of the table and bounces strangely, it's still "in." In practice, it's sometimes hard to tell whether a ball hit the side or the top of the table. Umpires usually use commonsense observations about the incoming trajectory of the ball and the resulting rebound angle to make such determinations.
Do I have to serve diagonally?
Only in doubles. The serve must go from the server's right-side square over to the receiver's right-side square to be good. In singles, the server may start anywhere behind the service line and serve anywhere on his opponent's side.
How high can I toss the ball when I serve?
As high as you want, as long as the ball doesn't touch the ceiling, and goes at least 16cm (6 inches) out of your hand. To be clear: the ball must go 16cm out of your HAND, not 16cm up from where you start your toss motion. This rule is designed to keep servers from surprising receivers with quick, slapping serves right out of their hand. If the ball doesn't go 16cm out of your hand, the serve is illegal. And by the way, this is no small matter, particularly among advanced players. Returning serve against good servers, particularly at the higher levels of the game, is very difficult. Receivers need the time when the ball is in the air to make a determination how they will react, and they are entitled to it. Serving straight out of hand is cheating, and if someone is doing it and making it hard for you to prepare for his serve, you have every right to call him on it. (Watched this YouTube tutorial yet?)
I saw an umpire call an illegal serve on a professional player at the US Open this year for tossing the ball "back." What's that about?
The service rules state that a serve toss must be "near vertical". That means virtually straight up and down. A player cannot toss the ball backward away from the table, or in toward himself, or away from himself. He also may not toss the ball forward over the table, though that one is obvious to most people. The ball needs to be more or less straight up and straight down. Not perfect, but close, at the discretion of the umpire. The reason is that tosses in any horizontal direction impart horizontal momentum to the ball and complicate the serve. A toss back in toward the body is the way some players attempt to hide the ball with their body, and that's frowned on. In practice, some umpires are more lenient than others on this. Watch some videos of the pros on YouTube and you'll see. (Okay, have you watched... You know what? If you haven't watched it by now, you are probably in willful ignorance, and I wash my hands of you!)
Why does the player Dimitrij Ovtcharov do that funny backhand serve where he crouches down to eye-level with the table?
It's a German thing. It's sexy over there. You wouldn't understand.
All this serve stuff is really complicated! How do I make sure I'm following the serve rules?
Beginners are often overwhelmed by all the little rules. Many just give up and do whatever, developing bad habits that must be overcome at great pain later when they develop and advance. DON'T DO THAT! Just remember two simple rules: toss high, toss straight, and don't hide the ball. Okay, that's three rules. Three simple rules. Whatever. If you keep these rules in mind, you are 90% sure of executing a legal serve.
How long are you allowed to warm up before a game?
Two minutes. That is true of professional play all the way down to casual tournament play at a club. We have this same rule at the Gilbert Round Robin. Organizers, umpires, and other players get irritated when players on a table warm up longer, because that makes the match run late and inconveniences following players. It's not a practice session, it's a tournament. Watch out!
What is a "let"?
A let is called when the (1) the ball touches the net on a serve and bounces onto the table on the receiver's side, so that the serve would have been good had it not hit the net. Again, this is to give the receiver a clean opportunity to return the ball. If the ball hits the net and bounces back onto the server's side, or off the table, then the server loses the point. (2) The receiver isn't ready when the serve is executed. This happens once in a while. The server isn't paying attention to the receiver's readiness or tries to rush things and serves before the receiver is crouched and ready. (3) Something interferes with play at any time during the point. This might be a ball from another table straying into the playing area or bouncing onto your table; or someone doing something really distracting on the sidelines. In all three cases a "let" is called, the point does not count, and the server gets to take the serve again.
(YouTube tutorial! WAHH! Snuck up on you! Didn't expect that, did you? Thought I'd given up, didn't you? Well I haven't given up. I'll never give up...)
What are the required dimensions for a racket?
There aren't any. A racket may be as big or small as you like. In practice, most are around 157mm X 150mm, give or take a few millimeters. Any that are substantially smaller or larger don't work very well for most people. They lose a lot.
Wait: so I could fulfill my dream of having a racket the size of a manhole cover MADE FROM A REAL MANHOLE COVER?
No, sorry. The composition of a racket is regulated. A racket's thickness must be at least 85% wood. It's okay to have glue layers in between the wood, and to reinforce those layers with something like carbon fiber, cloth, or the like; but the majority of the racket must be wood. In practice, rackets are either all wood or reinforced with two layers of carbon, arylate, fiberglass, zylon, or some combination of two of these.
What is "hard bat" table tennis?
It's nothing. Don't worry about it.
