== == The earliest known origins of Table Tennis is that, in the 1880s, British soldiers in India and South Africa played a game using a table, a row of books placed in the middle of the table for the net, a cigar box lid for the paddle, and a rounded cork from a champagne/wine bottle for the ball. Click on the links found under the Related Links heading below to read about how the game adapted from its origins.
Chat with our AI personalities
The game of table tennis has its roots in lawn tennis.
When lawn tennis became very popular in the 1870s & 1880s, game makers tried to emulate its success by developing indoor versions of the game.
So there were card games, board & dice games, rackets & balloon games and even tiddledy winks tennis games.
But the first use of the name Table Tennis occurred on a board and dice game by J.H.Singer of New York around 1884 and it's also known that a game of Table Tennis was offered in the 1887 game catalogue of George S. Parker, founder of the famed Parker Brothers in America.
But the first action game of tennis on a table was in 1890, so it was David Foster of England who is the founder/inventor of table tennis in 1890.