Resources on Game Room Game Tables

The Ping Pong Diplomacy
Nothing had prepared the world for the startling spectacle that happened in Peking, China in April of 1971. Chinese Premier, Chou En-lai greeted the first American delegation to set foot in the ancient Chinese capital since Mao Tse-tung took control of the land 22 years earlier. After nearly two decades of hostility towards the United States, fifteen American table tennis players and three journalists had made a breakthrough of historic proportions. One young American diplomat had clearly stated that he had joined the State Department to solve the problems of the world, and then sat analyzing the political impact of a ping pong game. Never before in history, has a sport been used so effectively as a tool for international diplomacy. This article details more about the diplomacy that table tennis and ping pong brought.

Foosball Heaven
This foosball resource site is a little outdated, but still offers a foosball FAQ, information about tournaments, foosball merchandise, virtual reality for foosball, informative videos, links to organizations and a forum for foosball fans to connect. Links to other foosball websites are also available.

Billiards Digest
This is the online site for Billiards Digest, a glossy full-color monthly print magazine that covers every single aspect of billiards on a worldwide basis. Similar to the best hobbyist magazines, it has great insructional columns, many written by scome of the top names in the profession, e.g, Mike Sigel, Nick Varner. The publication covers both the amateur and professional levels. In addition to instruction, it covers industry news, history and culture, and provides in-depth personality profiles. It covers tournaments and provides an event calendar. It even tells you what pool and billards events are on TV (when they are).

Ping Pong for Paralympics
This column is written by members of the US Paralympic Table Tennis Team and other distinguished disabled players and the coaches/trainers who work with them. The authors will describe how they use the Newgy Robot to improve their skills, tactics, and techniques and how to modify them for a type of disability. These ping pong coaching articles should prove especially valuable and interesting for disabled players or those rehabilitating from accidents or surgeries. But this column should be equally helpful to able-bodied players who can learn greater adaptability for their own games and practices. Includes information about attacking long services, doing footwork drills, short serve receiving skills and ping pong practice serves.

Ping Pong History
This article details the history behind ping pong, or table tennis. The article explains that the term table tennis was adopted in 1921 and 1922 when the old Ping-Pong Association formed in 1902 was revived. The original association had broken up about 1905, though apparently the game continued to be played in parts of England outside London. With a registration to the Britannica site, you can view the entire article.