OOAK Table Tennis Forum

You beat me to it. I was thinking about exactly the same thing...

Ok - gotta take it a step further.
With the half colored ball the human eye may see odd false colors because of the way the eye reacts to black and white patterns in rotation.
The phenomenon is seen in the old spinning toy called Benham's Disk which shows red and blue tinted bands when spinning but has only black and white patterns.

Each frame of this animated gif contains only black and white. If you don't believe it you can break out the frames in an editor like Gimp.

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Acuda S1 Turbo
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It isn't very likely that there'd be false colors to any degree that it would be an issue. First,it doesn't have fine B&W detail. Second, the ball doesn't have the same high level of contrast given that it is mostly orange and white.

I think the notion of a pattern like the soccer ball is the best approach. And even if it did show false colors, so what. That design would probably better satisfy the goal of allowing the players determine the direction and degree of spin visually.

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Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
Hardbat: Nittaku Resist & Dr. Evil

Fixing things that are not broken will eventually break. Polyball, two toned ball, neon ball etc. OMG this is putting off a lot of players.

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Enjoy the game. It is a never ending learning experience once you play and keep the ball on that 45 sq ft of space or should I say half of that space.

"If you... could see inside my head,
(Can you see it? Can you see it?)
You'd see... that black and white is red..."

I think it is worth experimenting with. All sports fine tune the rules and equipment. Some experiments are duds. Some are successes.

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Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
Hardbat: Nittaku Resist & Dr. Evil

Reminds me of the old joke: What's black and white and red all over?

The answer may date you a bit. (Also, this joke is best if spoken not written.)

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Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
Hardbat: Nittaku Resist & Dr. Evil

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/neue-t ... -1.2045876

OK so now the storyline is celluloid table tennis balls are highly toxic and flammable therefore the switch to plastic.

Also apparently there are five factories making polyballs, three in China, one in Japan and one in Germany (Weener Plastik GmbH in Ostfriesland).

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

wturber: I remember yours. Did you recognize mine?

Sorry to distract the thread. I'm against changing the ball; more generally I'm against governments owning me but it looks like the familiar "love it or leave it" in ping-pong* too.

Doesn't the ITTF have an anthem to fill my pathetic heart?

Donn, no, the made in China, non-premium, SHA model 3-star ball is seamed, just like the Premium and every other major brand poly ball. I have some sitting here on my desk.

I can't be completely sure about less than 3-star balls, but I see no reason why major manufacturers would go to a seamless ball for their lesser quality balls and seamed for 3-star. Is there a particular reason why you have this belief? Both seamed and seamless balls are being made in China at present. Also many players train with 1 or 2 star balls to save money when a lot of balls are needed. It would defeat the purpose of training if the lower quality balls were drastically different than the tournament ball, and the seamless balls are, IMO, drastically different than the seamed balls. Lastly, the only 1 or two star poly balls I've seen advertised so far are from DHS and DoubleFish, and both of those ball models are seamed.

Larry

Gotta agree with Donn's observation of more consistent bounce and his deduction of less unforced errors, since at the pro level a lot of errors involve an untrue bounce of the ball.

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Hi Larry,

You may be completely correct about the below-3-star scenario (or below-Premium-3-star if Nittaku continues to produce the lower grade 3 star). It is certainly true about the differences in playing characteristics between seamed and seamless are such as to make the selection of below-3-star of poor value.

I made the speculation about the seamless lower quality ball because it is my understanding that they are produced at a much lower cost than seamed, and with the standards for training quality balls always having been quite low, there are managed expectations that would allow this approach, to the profitability enhancement of the producers.

It is my understanding all the seamless ball construction will be in China, thus the labor savings make for a price point that is highly desirable.

It will be interesting to observe this.

Thanks,

Donn

I agree with Donn that there is a noticeable difference between the new Joola balls and Nittaku balls. The Joola balls feel slightly slower and softer to me. The Nittaku balls have a harder feel. At our club the first night we broke several of the Joola balls and none of the Nittaku balls. I like the Joola balls better and hope durability will not be an issue. From what I've seen, fulltime hardbatters might just destroy Joola ball after Joola ball.

Another thing is people are really complaining about having to use white balls. I wonder what the issue is in producing orange balls?

The only other observation I have is after playing with poly balls for a few hours I switched back to the current celluloid balls and the celluloid balls seemed like bullets.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I would have expected that the cost of production for seamless balls would be higher given the need to melt the plastic, rotate the mold, and then let the ball cool sufficiently before releasing it. While the idea behind the seamless ball is superior (no seams mean not "equator" with extra thickness, the potential for a very balanced ball, and no stress risers at the seam), the limits in the technology used to produce it appears to negate that superiority. Or at least that's the information we've been given so far. I'm afraid the seamless ball will fade into obscurity unless the makers can show a clear superiority in the next couple of years.

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Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com
Hardbat: Nittaku Resist & Dr. Evil