Brain pong

Brain Pong is a rendition of the popular sport Table Tennis where competitors are forced to supplement their paddle control with quick thinking. It is played at Cliffside Park High School and Bergen Community College.
What's Needed to Play
Four players, one referee, four table tennis rackets (or ping pong paddles), one ping pong ball, and one regulation size ping pong table. <sub>See: Table Tennis</sub>
(A referee may also need a reference book/website)
How It's Played
Four players form teams of two and take either side of the ping pong table. A referee assigns a category for all players. Each category is to be used every round for one full game. Players must shout a subject fitting to their category before the opposing player returns their ball.
Two types of points can be earned; mental and technical. Technical points are scored through traditional ping pong rules, and mental points are earned through referee-determined incorrect subjects or balls returned before a subject is given.
Rules
Traditional Ping Pong rules are adopted.
*Please note these additions and exceptions:
:*1. Any member of the serving team can choose to serve. Serving may be the disadvantageous position in Brain Pong, as servers must always shout a subject before serving. A 30 second grace period will be assigned before a mental fault is determined (and the receiving team earns a point).
:*2. The "for serve" round of play is played 100% technically. Mental points are void until competitive play.
:*3. All serves are to be hit diagonally (as in tennis, right to left, left to right).
:*4. If a player does not shout a subject, the opposing team cannot score a point without first successfully returning the ball. If a player shouts an incorrect subject, however; the referee should immediately give a point to the opposing team.
:*5. A challenge may be issued to a referee when a team believes they have been duped by the opposing team. This happens when a referee allows a subject pass during play that may not fit the category. The referee can reconsider the subject, and may decide to use a reference as a form of double-checking.
::*When a challenge overturns a subject - the defendant team minimally loses a point. If the defendant team had gained a point through the help of an overturned subject, however; the challenging team will be issued a free point.
::*If the challenge fails to overturn a subject, the challenging team loses an additional point.
Game Types
* General Category Game : 11 point game - 7 point shutout.*
* General Category Championship : 21 point game - 11 point shutout.*
* Specific Category Game : 7 point game - No possibility of shutout.*
* Specific Category Championship : 11 point game - 7 point shutout.*
*All games must be won by a margin of 2 points. 5 serves before switch.
*General Category Examples:
:* Superheroes
:* Car Makes
:* Comedy Movies
*Specific Category Examples
:* Superheroes from Marvel Comics
:* GM Brand Cars
:* Movies that Won Best Picture at the Oscars.
History
Brain Pong was invented in May 2007 by two residents of Cliffside Park, Bergen County, New Jersey; Dane Curley and Joseph Meyers. Curley and Meyers were growing weary of a rainy night with friends where all they had for fun was their friend Luis Riera's ping pong table. The two began to think of ways to make the game more exciting and challenging. After a brainstorm in a rainstorm, the two found themselves in the early stages of a new game they would later call brain pong. They decided to
The first person to have as solid a grip on the rules as Dane Curley and Joseph Meyers was Joseph's kid brother Kevin Meyers. He would become the first recognized referee for the sport.
Following the year of its creation, brain pong was taken into the gymnasium of a local secondary school, Cliffside Park High School. Dane Curley and Joseph Meyers were former graduates of the high school at the time of their visit, when they proposed brain pong to their former coaches and physical education teachers. Instructors Esposito and Martone approved the game as an acceptable alternative to regular ping pong play. In the weeks to come, students were taught the game by its co-inventors. Today, the game remains a student favorite during the team sports section of physical education class.
The Future
Dane Curley is in the early stages of creating a Brain Pong club at Bergen Community College. He has hopes that one day in the near future it may receive recognition as an intramural sport. Until then, the students of Cliffside Park High School will continue to enjoy the sport.

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See Also

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