In general, the story of pimples is really a story of grip. The story of learning to play pips is really a story of adaptation. I wrote an article about it a long time ago on mytt - it probably wasn't 100% accurate, but it was my attempt at a universal philosophical approach to rubber surfaces in general.
The primary quality of inverted rubber with sponge is that it is able to stop just about every amount of spin if it is held at a closed angle relative to the spin equator (where the ball is spinning). This is primarily because of the grip and the sponge. The sponge helps it cushion impacts and the grip/pips help stop the spin. However with less grippy, pip configurations (usually longer and larger pips, less tacky or smoother surface, thinner and less dynamic/elastic sponge), the ability of the rubber to stop spin reduces and spin rotating beyond a certain spin/speed threshold starts to "pass through" the rubber, so to speak.
This explains why not all inverted rubbers play the same (if they do to you, it is largely because you are using rubbers in roughly the same range of performance, which most modern rubbers are but differences are noticeable to a player with reasonably standard technique) and of course, not all pips play the same either. When an LP has no sponge, it must almost always invert spin, though the pips do allow it to kill spin somewhat if they are really long as they have a cushioning effect themselves. When there is sponge, there is some room to cushion impact, and this must be balanced against the level of grippyness of the pips.
The biggest issue that most people face when playing against pips is not so much about the pips per se - it is because they have never been trained per se to practice seriously adapting to the degree that pips force you too since they maybe practiced looping backspin. But once they have practiced seriously adapting and they build good spin strokes on both sides, they realize that the key to playing pips is to find balls they can read. Those can come off the serve, those can come from playing strokes and seeing what it takes to spin the ball on the table. If you learn to topspin a variety of balls with various spins, then you get a good idea of how to adapt your stroke to various balls. But just as importantly, you learn how to use your misses to calibrate how you should adapt. It is this second part that most players who have never seriously practiced against pips miss. Their stroke range is very narrow because they have played inverted all the time. Pips expand that range. Looping pips chopblocks twice/thrice in a row often take their strokes to places they never thought possible.
As long as you continue to adapt back and forth between pips and topspin, usually, the overall impact on your stroke gets better. Playing one or the other exclusively isn't as valuable as continually forcing yourself to adapt.
. It's actually a good thing if billionaires have a luxury life and spend lots of money because it helps economy and pays other people.
