Battle pong is a lively variation of ping pong. The core idea of the game is to assign bonus points to interesting trick shots and weird situations. Occurrences that would end a typical ping pong rally are merely the beginning of the fun. Battle pong is best played among friends willing to argue in good faith about the score, since figuring out the new score after a rally can be challenging and requires collective mastery of the rules.
Basic ping pong rules generally apply. Players volley to determine who serves first. The serve switches sides every 5 points. The game is over when a player reaches 21 points. Because a rally can result in more than one point, the serve is tied to the score before the rally begins, rather than the number of total rallies in the game, and the winner is whoever has more points at the end of the rally in which someone reaches 21, rather than the first to reach 21 during the rally.
If, during a volley, the ball misses the table entirely and lands on the floor, the receiving player may hit it off the first bounce and attempt to land the ball on the opposite side, just as if the opposing player had not missed the table. Success results in a guaranteed 5-point gain at the end of the rally, in place of the usual 1 point. The rally continues after the recovery shot as normal, with the points at stake being reset to 1. If the recovery shot misses the table, the points at stake increases by another 5. The opposing player may themselves do a recovery shot for an extra 10 points instead of an extra 5. This continues indefinitely, with each subsequent miss adding another 5 points to the potential score upon success.
When the ball hits a wall during a rally, the points at stake increases by 1. Before the game, players should establish what is considered a wall, since each environment is different. Typically, chairs, lamps, desks, tables, and any other sort of obstacle are walls, but the floor is not a wall.
If the ball bounces twice on one side, the rally is over, with an extra bonus of 3 points for the winner.
If a player's hit causes the ball to land on the other side of the net and then come back to their own side without the opponent hitting it, they are awarded an extra 5 points, and the rally continues. This can happen in a few different ways. For example, the ball may bounce off a wall behind the opposing player and come back far enough to land on the proper side of the table. Another example is if the ball is struck poorly and does not travel very far; in such a case, it is possible for the receiving player to run to the other side of the table and do a recovery shot whose second bounce lands on the player's own side (thus banking 10 extra points, due to the recovery and the auto return).
If a player hits the ball with their paddle early, the rally is over, and the other player gets a bonus 5 points.
As in ordinary ping pong, a player loses the rally if they catch the ball before it has a chance to land on the table; there is some judgement that must be applied to determine whether the ball had a chance to achieve its intended goal or not. If so, the intended goal should be considered achieved, but if not, the rally is over, just as it would have been if the player had not caught the ball.
While battle pong may be played on any ping pong table, it is best played on a small table, roughly around 4' × 2'. Furthermore, the table ought to be a multi-modal table, with a pool table as a foundation, upon which a ping pong table top is placed. In such a configuration, the pockets and edges of the pool table are exposed to game play and afford the possibility of extra points. If the ball is potted in the pocket on the opposite side in the course of a valid return, the rally is over and the winner receives 2 bonus points. If the ball merely bounces off the edge or the pocket, it is considered the same as if it had landed on the main table top (albeit much more difficult to return).
Battle pong gets more interesting in interesting environments. While the rules described in this document are the original rules, it is encouraged for players to observe interesting phenomena that can occur, intentionally or not, and add rules to encourage exploitation of these phenomena for a more interesting game. Especially successful rules will be added to this ruleset as discovered.