Most of you have played table tennis at some time or other. Most of you have enjoyed your playing! Because it is played indoors and requires relatively little equipment, it is an ideal recreation for everyone. Although it has many similarities with tennis (mainly in the rules), the comparison ends there. The lightness of the ball, the small area of the table, and the time of the response make it a game of great delicacy requiring great agility, lightning responses and of course a high level of physical fitness. Scoring A game is won by the first player or pair (in doubles play) to score 11 points, unless the score reaches 10-10 in which case the player or the pair needs two clear points more than the other in order to win the game. A match consists of the best of three games or in big tournaments, like World & European Championships, the best of five games or best of seven. You lose a point when: * You fail to make a good serve. * You fail to return the ball from the opponent. * You hit the ball before it has bounced on your side. * The ball bounces twice on your side. * In some special occasions when you execute the serve. Order of serving The server changes every 2 points. This continues until the player wins the game. After the end of the game the opponents change sides and the player who served first in the previous game, serves first in the next. In doubles the rules of serving and changing ends are the same as in singles except that the serve is executed from the right hand side. Each 2 points the server changes corner with his partner so that the other will be ready to receive the opponent's serve. In doubles play the ball is returned in a strict sequence. The server serves and then his partner receives the ball from the opponent and so on.