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Hosting a table tennis tournament at your organization is a great way to boost company morale, build camaraderie among your employees, and bring out your employees' competitive nature. After all, who doesn't love a little friendly competition and office bragging rights? A ping pong tournament is also a great way to build and promote an #UnPlugNPlay culture in your organization.

Interested in bringing table tennis to your organization? We're so passionate about the power of #UnPlugNPlay that every corporate package starts with a FREE table. Learn more here.

How to Plan a Successful Tournament

Hosting a ping pong tournament is great because it requires very little equipment and does not require an excessive amount of planning. When planning a tournament within your organization, we suggest:

• Scheduling your tournament on a date and time that is convenient for everyone
• Distributing a copy of the tournament rules to all players
• Ensuring that everyone understands the tournament format or type
• Setting up your teams and brackets in advance
• Making sure you have all the necessary equipment on hand
• Considering whether or not you will offer a prize

Necessary Equipment

Let's talk a little bit more about the equipment you will need for a successful tournament.

• Ping Pong Table: A great table will not only serve as the center stage of your tournament; it could also be a fun alternative setting for your next business meeting. Gather around the table for a great brainstorming session then seamlessly transition to some friendly competition. If you have a lot of employees participating, consider having multiple ping pong tables so that the tournament will run faster and more smoothly.
• Ping Pong Paddles: You hired your employees because they were team players, so put them up to them up to the task. A tournament can easily be played with doubles matches, so make sure that everyone has a paddle in hand. We recommend you have a variety of paddles available so that players can select one based on their skill level and play style.
• Unlimited Ping Pong Balls: Accidents happen. Balls get stepped on, cracked, roll away to hide under furniture, or can get lost in the crowd watching a match. Keep the game going by having plenty of ping pong balls on hand. 
• Brackets: Tenacity and a healthy sense of competition set great companies apart from mediocre ones. You can also consider creating two, smaller brackets to cater to two different levels of competition, inviting more people to participate. 
• Rule Book: Several days before your office competition, make sure your employees are familiar with the rules of table tennis. This allows people who have less experience to learn the basics while preventing disagreements between ping pong aficionados during a match. We recommend that games should follow the USA Table Tennis and International Table Tennis Federation rules.

Tournament Type

Table tennis tournaments are perfect in a corporate environment because they can be tailored to any company size. Whether you are a garage start-up or a well-established corporation, one of these tournament types is for you.

• Single Knock-Out: Players are teamed up against one another and only winners may advance to the next round. This style is perfect for larger groups because it requires the fewest matches and so takes the shortest amount of time. The downside of this tournament type is that half of the players are eliminated in the first round and there's only one clear cut winner, instead of establishing a final ranking order.
• Double Knock-Out: This is similar to the single knock-out challenge, but losers have a second chance to redeem themselves. To keep the competition going on longer, smaller groups can increase the knock-out requirement to more than two losses.
• Progressive Knock-Out: This tournament style establishes a winners and losers bracket. Winners continue playing other winners, while losers from the first round continue to play winners from the losers bracket. Keep in mind that losers from the first round cannot finish top in the final order, they can only compete for a spot in the losers bracket. This game play provides a full ranking order and everyone gets to play an equal amount of matches.

Tournament Fees and Prizes

Give your employees some great motivation with the promise of a victory prize. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Similar to a fantasy football league, everyone can pay a tournament fee and the winner(s) walk away with the pot. Winners can also receive a snazzy trophy to keep on their desk and use for bragging rights.

Tournaments also don't have to be all fun and games. Many organizations host table tennis tournaments to raise money for charities. For example, we worked with Project 375 to organize a tournament supporting Lurie Children’s mission to improve behavioral health support services in the Chicago Public School system. 

Incorporating table tennis into your company culture not only keeps your employees happy, it increases the flow of creative innovations that might not happen in a more structured environment. Encouraging team activities, such as a ping pong tournaments, helps make your employees feel like valued members of the organization.