Did ping pong exist before the invention of plastic? What were the balls made of? | Notes and Querie

Did ping pong exist before the invention of plastic? What were the balls made of?

Rafael Holt, Lima, Peru

• Ping-pong, or table tennis, evolved as an after-dinner game in 19th century England. The ball was originally fashioned from a champagne cork, the paddles were the wooden tops of cigar boxes and the table was the dinner table itself cleared of the remnants of the meal. In this sense table tennis belongs to a long traditon of games invented in England at which the English are now generally rubbish.

  Ben Wellings, Canberra, Australia

• Once the ball had evolved from a solid object to a hollow sphere, it was made of celluloid.

  John Peat, Balsall Common, UK