When my son was younger, we played table tennis on the kitchen table and some balls that were out, hit the back of a chair and came back into play. This added dimension, like in squash or raquetball, could make barrel tennis an exciting activity.
Instead of on a table, one would play the ball in a cylinder with the same diameter as a ping-pong table’s width and with its center at about shoulder height. It would have a raised edge (net) that circled the inside circumference. The same rules would apply as far as a controlled serve and one bounce on the opponent’s side, but otherwise balls could be hit upwards, against the side, diagonally, etc. Possibly two paddles (ambidextrous) would be needed to cope with the game’s speed and dimension overload. To ease spectator viewing, the barrel could be constructed of a clear plastic if the players could still discern its surface.-- FarmerJohn, Aug 26 2002 Baked!! http://documentsdar...erbos/repro3-3.htmlThough more, it appears, as a surreal art installation, than as a commercial product. And it’s opaque. [DrCurry, Oct 15 2019] I'm just waiting to play squash (or this) in space.-- DrCurry, Aug 26 2002 fill out your membership to the 800 mile-high club-- po, Aug 26 2002 - not in space.-- po, Aug 26 2002 Mylar croissant-- thumbwax, Aug 27 2002 Superb idea, [FarmerJohn].-- phoenix, Aug 27 2002 This totally needs baking somewhere. The next X-game event?-- RayfordSteele, Sep 02 2002 Yesyes, maintaining the Farmer's high standards, I'm just concerned about that "3D+" in the byline. Do you mean four dimensions, or still the old trinity, just better.
[Visions of Bose-Einstein Mapping-Pong... "well I *couldn't* look to see if the damn ball was in, jerk, if I had I'd've interfered with its wave function..."]-- General Washington, Sep 02 2002 Yes the latter, since ping pong is 3D on a two dimensional playing surface.-- FarmerJohn, Sep 02 2002 Oh I see. Well, I'm just off to my 3D+ office. :$-- General Washington, Sep 02 2002 <insecure rant of table tennis player> PING PONG IS NOT TABLE TENNIS! AAARGH!</irttp>
More sensibly, table tennis balls can be hit pretty fast with far more spin and swerve than in anyother racquet sport. Its a hard enough game when the ball is coming over the net and bouncing on your side as expected (played PROPERLY). To introduce the cylindrical element within the usual table tennis dimensions would make things a bit too crazy. On saying all of that, its such an ingenious idea I'll let you off.-- Jinbish, Sep 02 2002 Hey if your bat was big enough the ball would never be out......=+)......then it would be eternal barrel table tennis......oer...ping pong-- jumblebox, Sep 02 2002 [DrCurry] nice find! As it is an "art installation" (ugh...) it may not have been "played". Any halfbakers in the vicinity of Montreal (if it's still there...)?-- neutrinos_shadow, Oct 15 2019 [+] thanks DC-- FlyingToaster, Oct 16 2019 Wow, backspin as topsin. I am with [Jinbish], this would definitely be harder. Lobs are definitely out.-- wjt, Oct 18 2019 Come back [drcurry]-- xenzag, Oct 18 2019 I will ask. What is ping pong?-- pocmloc, Oct 20 2019 random, halfbakery