Increasing Ball Weight

less speed,less spin,and more physical strength needed.

Smashes would be faster though. Same as throwing a golfball instead of a table tennis ball will result in more speed.

DDF2 said:

Smashes would be faster though. Same as throwing a golfball instead of a table tennis ball will result in more speed.

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not necessarily, its not only about gravity acceleration, air resistance/ball elasticity/deformation and mass per mm2. If we increase the weight too much the ball wont spin and it wouldnt go straight easily so we would have difficulties passing it over the net. But all of these are theory...

It seems like a good idea though, the only way to know what will happen is to make experiments to have a more clear image

I played with a 60mm celluloid ball once. It didn't travel too fast, didn't spin neither. It was just a little bit more dufficult to put it over while catching the edges and net was way easier.

Let's say we want to keep the ball diameter at 40 mm AND increase the weight some. That would make for harder and more durable balls, but I'm sure manufacturers will find a way to still have them break.

I am a fan of "harder" and "heavier" feeling balls. I like the solid feel of the impact of a quality ball that feels this way over say a soft/light feeling ball like a 729 ball.

Having said that, I do not think it is feasible for a ball to be 2-3 times heavier, but it would be a great help if the ball spec allowed it to be maybe up to a half gram heavier.

I agree it would take some more strength to play with the same amount of spin, but direct hits on the ball will to me feel better and move out a little better. Perhaps the ball would retain some more of its speed and spin, that would be great too.

We wont know until we can make such a ball and try it out though.

I am against making the ball 2-3 times heavier. If I hit someone on the sidelines or behind the table (or really most often my opponent), then I would reckon it would sting more than just a little with a ball 2-3 times the current weight.

Whenever a bystander gets clocked with a ball I hit, whether it is a direct hit or it bounces off the bat of my opponent and hits someone close to the table (rec centers have stuff WAY too close) then I always say we should be grateful that this sport doesn't use golf balls as its ball of choice. They wouldn't just sting, they would also leave more than just a mark.

You can make a little experiment by using Deodorant Balls. They are a bit smaller, but definitively heavier and rougher. I used to use them as a replacement when we lost the ball somewhere.

In my humble opinion, it's a nightmare if ball size and weight were to increase. Most balls would fall short on the table, and the long game would suffer a lot.