Table Tennis Table

From sleek metal to welcoming wooden ping-pong tables, today’s designers are reimagining the table (and its accompanying accessories) for the chic, modern table tennis player. Find Ping-Pong tables or a range of other vintage, new and antique game tables for your game room or living room on 1stDibs.

Ping-Pong (or table tennis) has come a long way from its inception as an upper-class parlor game in 1880s Victorian England, when it was commonly called whiff waff, flim flam or gossima, and the net was composed of stacks of books. (As befit its high-society origins, a Champagne cork was often used as the ball.) British colonialism in the 20th century helped carry the game across Europe and into Asia, where it remains highly popular.

In modern times, Ping-Pong has probably been most closely associated with the high socks, shorts and bowl cuts of the 1970s. Its breakout year, however, was 1988, when it officially became an Olympic sport.

If Olympic status and worldwide popularity aren’t enough to erase the image of bulky green plywood tables from your mind’s eye, the luxurious examples on 1stDibs — which include designs by James de Wulf, Janne Kyttanen, and others — should prove to you that Ping-Pong can be surprisingly high fashion.

Bring drama and duels of dexterity into your home with vintage, new and antique game tables for every kind of game.

Who doesn’t love a little competition? Historians estimate that early versions of games such as backgammon were played by members of ancient civilizations at least as far back as 3,000 B.C. Chess, which likely originated in India as a game called chaturanga, is a timeworn test of skills and strategy as well, and the modern era’s iteration of the game was enjoyed by nobles at least as early as the 16th century.

While the upper classes in Europe were among the only chess players who could afford the game’s decoratively carved ivory pieces, the game eventually became accessible to the general public. In the late 19th century, the game’s first official chess championships took place, a realm that eventually produced celebrated players such as avowed Eames Executive chair enthusiast Bobby Fischer. Today, antique chessboards have seen an uptick in demand owing to a successful Netflix series in 2020 called The Queen’s Gambit, which chronicles the life of fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon.

Modern versions of chess boards and other home game tables may have evolved to accommodate the variety of games for which they’re used but are still versatile pieces of furniture. Not every card table with chairs is the ideal dining table, but you certainly don’t have to limit a game table to recreational use.

Antique trictrac tables, for example, were products of 18th-century France, wherein furniture makers created what looked like multipurpose neoclassical writing desks and card tables that when their tops were removed revealed trictrac, chess and checkers surfaces. Other game tables, in a complete commitment to fun, merely support good old-fashioned competition. Contemporary Ping-Pong (or table tennis) tables, which have origins in 1880s Victorian England, can be quite sophisticated in form and are made from a variety of materials today. A billiards table is an iconic piece for any game room or living room, but your pool table is really going to be used for only one thing, right?

Antique or new Regency-style game tables, mid-century modern tables or Art Deco–style card tables, perhaps fashioned from rosewood or mahogany, might be equipped with convertible tabletops to shift from meals to game time in a snap. If you prefer poker or opt for a card table topped with a checkerboard, convenient drawers and other compartments can be found in new and vintage game tables that fit poker chips or other types of game pieces perfectly.

Find a range of top-quality vintage and antique game tables on 1stDibs that can help you introduce a bit of class to every competition at home.