The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-26
'PING-PONG.
A NEW ENGLISH GAME cATCHEs
 ON HERE.
It is . Sort of Table Tennis and
 is Taking Chicago Like aa M Wild Fire.

ping. pong; ping"
 Then. Instead of a "pong." there b % shell-iise @ bali 's on the he floor, an m exciama- ton from some one-and when the person who has just opened the street door at Spaldings turns his attention to the ex- tanguiar table, eight feet long and four wide. with a miniature tennis net stretched across the center: one person is standing at the table. holding min- other player with small racquet, Is chasing a white ball an inch and half in diameter, which has rolled away somewhere out # sight.
 1.500 dlning-ioons belonging to Chicago several several evenings a week; that chicaso's 4oo calls 1t table tennis; and md that Mrs. I.. placed on sale in the house. Since that time the factory at Springfield. Mass.s has not been able to turn the para enough to supply the Chicago demand. < 1t is conceded now, too, that since tne advent of the dear little Pfnky Panky Poo belonging to Mrs. Patrick Campbell fish fish sping pong" as the fashionable name for this. parlor tennis. the rates themselves could not stop the march Of
 Ruling Fad in England.
 For "parfcr tennis,., in Chicago Is the Eondon e%s al society y Frantic; @ which is sweep ing English conservatism into garbage heaps, and which already Is taking ,its place in current literature with all sne chess. and the bank at Monte Carlo. London society has been stampeded by ping pong. Only now and then does so- "a pessimistic contributor to the Christ mas Sketch. This iconoclast says: And inside the library Sir John brood- ed, and with determination. What ~as anySow rssS WSy had he not insisted on drawing room croquet as the least or a dozen dfsagreeable evils? The parch- ment in the ping pong racquet had now heat of the dining room, and the sound had changed from an aggravating duii contralto to piercing soprano wnicn rattled on his eardrums like the reports of rife shots.
 'Faniiy festivities always struck him as peculiarly melancholy now. It made him miserable to be so happy. The only real use of these games was that they kept the younger boys from smoking cigarettes and from dissipation generaiy. Perhaps if Clarence had been there ne might have endured the racket without much suffering. To be sure. Clarence @ but what merry laugh he had. How he used to-
 The paragraph breaks there. and only so sophr fr is rst gns BS poe ons ~ and will be in London for good while to come, and 1t is spreading in the United States generally with the rapidity or smallpox in an unvacclnated Mexican
 "Ttss the ball that has made the game" said a salesman. "Table tennis In Chi- cago is old. but 1t didn't take simply because in playing it the regular tennis ball was used. It was heavy. too big. and generally unresponsive. This ball. you see, is of white celiulold. thin as an eggshell, and as lively as a creased flea. A player hardly can touch 1t light. iy enough to keep 1t in the bounds of a nine-foot table. This leaves table ter- his just enough an after-dinner game 10 aid digestion, as the lightness cf the ertions of the play less than those of dancing
 While the rules of the game are ai- most Identical with those of garden ten- for skill in handling the ball. and 1t ad- mits of tricks almost without number, which add to the games variety and n. terest. Volleying may be kept up untii and at the same time the pitch of inter est in the spectators is not a whit be- hind that of the principals. The game may be played In any kind of weather,
  for the reason that the game coiors their cheeks and brightens their eyes without in the least ruffllng them. In England the game has been played for three sea, sec, somebody called 1t 'ping pong" a year ago did 1t succeed in carrying London society by storm. Now 1t Is said that English officers In South Africa play the game whenever the Boers leave them alone long enough to set up the tables.
 The racquets used in the game are made of rattan stretching an oval parch- ment about eight inches long ana nv, nye parchment Is as tight as a banjo head. and it is the difference in the tension or these parchments which give the ping pong effect One may pay from s2;bo fo $lO for net, racquets and balls. Tn n S10 set one gets four racquets with cane handles and frames. the grips peing of braided catgut, nickel mounteo' anu covered with the finest vellum. The net Is of tan linen, nickeled posts. and leath- CT covered, in order not to scratch fur- niture A dozen balls complete the set.
 On the table the height of the net va ries from five to seven inches. The lower the net the more difficult are the strokes to return. To warm the racuuetS dn- creases their elasticity and tone, as warming banjo head increases Its reso- nance.
 The game itself is for two players. one at each end of the table, which may vary in length from seven to nine feet pelng half as wide as 1t is long. The player who delivers the ball Is the "server" and the other Is the "strikerout." At the end of the first game the strikerout De- comes the server, and so on, alternately. The service must be underhand ana ue- livered from behind the ends of the ta- hle. beyond the net; if into the net or on the table the striker IS out-there Is no second service. Inservlng it is let if the ball touch the net in passing over. If the ball in play strikes any object above or around the table before it bounds on the table service (net or posts excepted) 1t counts against the player.
 Rules Something Like Te1nS.
 The server wins a strike if the striker out fails to return the service. or If he falls to return the ball tn play from beyond the end of the table. The striker out wins a stroke if the server serves a fault falls to return the ball in play. or if he returns the ball se that 1t falls off the table.
 No volIeying is allowed, but if the ball touches the table top it is in play and may be taken at half volley
 On either players winning a first stroke the score Is called 15 for that player; on either players winning second stroke the score is called 90; on third stroke the score is called 40; and the fourth stroke won by that player is scored game" except as below:
 If both players have won three strokes next stroke won by. either player is scored advantage to that player. Then If the same player wins the next stroke he wins the game. If inc loses the next stroke the score is again called deuce, and so on, until one player wins the two of deuce. when the game is scored for that nlaVeT