Three-player table tennis offers intrinsically imbalanced larks

Fancy a game of three-player ping pong? Just imagine the exquisitely hateful arguments one could get into over this.

It starts with jolliness and camaraderie. Fun. As play progresses, however, and one player starts to trail, the atmosphere changes, slipping imperceptibly to frustration and unease. A suggestion is made to occasionally swap positions; declined, the air darkens still further. A cigarette "forgotten" on one corner inflicts passive-aggressive revenge. Rule disputes are arbitrated with snide remarks. Uncouth language is used. The decisive "hit the ping pong ball so hard it bounces into the ceiling" technique is employed. Decades of sublimated hatred boil to the surface.

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Source [Next Big Thing via SlipperyBrick and Dvice]

[#1 posted by themindfantastic , June 25, 2008 7:52 PM]

Okay... the middle player has signifigant advantage... one edge and not much movement, while the ends have two edges and they are corners which will get snagged upon in the most painful way possible I am sure. Not particularly fair.

[#2 posted by Jake0748 , June 25, 2008 8:28 PM]

This looks hilarious.

[#3 posted by kaiza , June 26, 2008 4:28 AM]

Surely a circular table divided into three would make a lot more sense?

[#4 posted by ZombieBabyDiego , June 26, 2008 6:59 AM]

menage a' pong?

[#5 posted by keef , June 26, 2008 7:35 AM]

@themindfantasic: I think the middle player might have the edge and movement advantage, as you say, but won't they be hitting the ball twice as much as either of the end players? I assume the play would move from one end, to the middle, to the other end, and then back to the middle.

[#6 posted by Enochrewt , June 26, 2008 7:52 AM]

Yeah those corners look very dangerous. Like you could catch the vas deferens on them.

[#7 posted by randalll , June 26, 2008 10:04 AM]

haha, i have lots of childhood memories of knock-down drag-outs with my two older brothers over games of ping-pong.

also, wiffle balls wrapped in 3 lbs of duct tape. i still have the scars.

[#8 posted by help i cant comfirm my username themelonbread , June 26, 2008 2:00 PM]

You know, the game of Go is intrinsically imbalanced, as being the one to move first has been determined to give you a 1 to 7-stone lead, depending on how good the player is. The rules counteract this by allowing either a handicap of stones already on the board for player 2, or giving them a certain number of points at the end.