Balls

Table tennis balls — 40 mm poly (plastic) balls, the material that replaced celluloid, in training and competition grades.

The star rating is a tolerance, not a brand tier. Three-star balls are held to the tightest limits on roundness, weight, hardness and bounce, and are the grade required in sanctioned play. Two-star and one-star balls are made to looser limits and are intended for training volume, robot feeding and casual play, where a box of a hundred matters more than a certified sphere. Buying three-star for a practice session is spending money where it does not show.

Balls are consumables. Poly balls go out of round and lose bounce with use, so check them occasionally: one with a visible seam split or a soft spot should come out of the box rather than stay in play. Colour is a playing decision rather than a preference — white and orange are both regulation, and the right choice is whichever contrasts with your table and with the players' shirts.

If you are feeding balls by the hundred, a robot and a collection net are what make that practical.