Lifecyle of a Ping Pong Table

When your kids reach age nine or ten, a back-and-forth decision regarding a ping pong table can come into play. Heck, it’s hard coming up with ideas for Christmas...after already giving the Easy Bake Oven and Pogo-Stick. Oh wait, that’s what I got, when I was ten.

So you decide it’s time for a ping pong table. The kids say they really want one…will really use one…all the time, really. You have visions of the family pinging and ponging together. So the bearded big guy brings one.

Thanks Santa guy. We clear space in the basement and it’s an instant hit. The kids play with it…for hours and hours...challenging each other to games...for about a month. Then it sits.

The ping pong table is reduced to a large piece of dark green plywood taking up space. I decide to use it as a gift wrapping station, just to keep it in play.

After a few years, there is renewed interest. Our basement with the totally rad ping pong table becomes the new hot spot for middle-schoolers. Colinboy and his buddies love the competition of pinging and ponging...which quickly leads to ball whacking …at each other. Followed by pulling the rubber off paddles...and subsequent throwing ...leaving holes in the ceiling and walls. Ahhh... preadolescent boys having some ping pong fun.

Then everything goes silent again for the ping pong table. It sits and gathers dust... gets broken down and shoved into a closet. The table seems to be approaching the end of its useful life. We think about giving it away, but deep down hope for its return.

After a few more years...Colinboy and his peeps come home during college...and pull out the table for some pong. YES...a ping pong rebirth. The game, however, requires a new skill set...and is exclusively played with Bud, Miller, Stella, Sam, and the ever so buxom St. Pauli Girl.

If you’re considering purchasing a ping pong table for some family fun…please consider the ENTIRE lifecycle.

Do not be ponged!