Buying table tennis balls should be an easy task. But alas not! There are loads of different types of ball available – competition balls, training balls and cheap ‘just for fun’ balls. Some balls are made of celluloid. Other balls are made of non-flammable plastic.
So which are the best balls to buy? In this blog post, I’ll give my views of a variety of different balls and give specific recommendations on the best competition and training balls you can buy. I also give recommendations on which balls to buy for casual play.
There has been two significant changes to table tennis balls over the past 20 years. In 2000, the size of the ball was increased from 38mm to 40mm. The size was increased to make it more appealing to spectators. The larger ball is slower and spins less, which in theory should mean longer rallies, but I’m not sure this has ever been proven.
Then in 2014/2015, the material used to make table tennis balls changed from celluloid to a non-flammable plastic (often referred as “plastic balls”, “poly balls” or “40+ balls”). These balls are a tiny bit bigger than the 40mm celluloid balls, but the main difference is the type of material they are made from.
At first the quality of the new plastic balls was very poor, which led to quite a lot of frustration and anger in the table tennis community. But over the past five years, the quality of the new plastic balls has improved a lot, especially with the latest ABS material.
There was a lot of concern that the new plastic ball would have a big impact on the game. But this hasn’t really happened. Professionals are still playing in the same attacking way. At the amateur level, I don’t think most players have noticed much of a difference at all.
If you are playing table tennis competitively (or are aspiring to do so), then you should definitely be using the new plastic table tennis balls. The easiest way to identify if you are using the new plastic balls is that it will have “40+” printed on the ball. The + symbol indicates it is the new size. If your ball just says 40 or 40mm, without the + symbol, it will most likely be the old celluloid ball. So make sure the balls you buy have the 40+ symbol.
So what are the best competition balls to buy? I’ll start with a disclaimer. I haven’t tried all the different plastic balls. So if a ball isn’t on my list below, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad ball. It may be that I haven’t tried it. But I have used all the balls listed below and I am very happy to recommend. You may also want to read my article “What are the best competition table tennis balls?“.
JOOLA Prime 40+
This is currently my favourite 3 star competition table tennis ball. I started using JOOLA Prime in May 2019, after my visit to German Bundesliga club ASV Grünwettersbach. JOOLA Prime uses ABS material, which offers offers improved roundness and durability. You can generate loads of spin. I think we have got used to the new balls being slower and less spinny, but when playing topspin attacks with JOOLA Prime, the ball really does kick off the table. Spin is back in town! JOOLA Prime is hard, fast, spinny and durable. A quality ball.
Nittaku Premium 40+This is also a high quality table tennis ball. I first played with this ball in a tournament in 2016 and instantly liked it. It felt very much like playing with the old celluloid balls again. Between 2016-2019 all teams at my club (Cambridge-Parkside) have been using Nittaku Premium table tennis balls in league matches. The bounce is consistent, you can easily generate spin and they rarely break. If you want to buy competition quality balls, I fully recommend Nittaku Premium.
This is an ABS plastic ball manufactured from a new type of plastic that provides a good bounce trajectory combined with improved durability. You can generate lots of spin when looping, chopping, flicking or serving. This ball is ITTF and CTTA approved is used in international competitions and finals. Highly recommended.
If you are serious about improving, it’s useful to have a big box of training balls. This will help you to be more efficient during training sessions (less time picking just one ball off the floor). You can do multi-ball training. And you can improve your serves a lot with solo service practice. (Read more about the benefits of owning a box of training balls in my article ‘Why you need a box of training balls‘).
In an ideal word, you would train with the same quality balls you play competitive matches with. But using a big box of competition quality balls for training is quite expensive. And if you play at an amateur level, I don’t think it’s necessary.
There is a lot of decent quality training balls available (recommendations below), which are much more affordable and perfectly decent for doing training drills, multi-ball and service practice.
Here’s a few recommendations for table tennis training balls you can buy. I have used all of these over the past year in my coaching sessions and with my robot and I have been very happy with the quality and durability of the balls for training purposes…
Table tennis training balls
USA / Rest of world
If you only play for a bit of fun, then it’s not essential that you play with the best quality balls. And it doesn’t matter if the ball is celluloid or the new plastic material. My only word of caution is that you should avoid the really, really cheap balls. These don’t have a very good bounce and break easily.
If you just want to buy a few balls, with good durability, a consistent bounce and a reasonable price, any of these will do the job…
Recommended balls (UK)
Recommended balls (USA / Rest of world)
BEST-SELLERS: Also, take a look at my list of the most popular table tennis balls purchased by readers of my website.
You can buy table tennis balls from any dedicated table tennis shop. Take a look at my list of table tennis shops to find a shop near you…
You can sometimes find quite good deals for table tennis balls on Amazon, so worth checking here too.
If you would like personalised equipment advice, I recommend you joining Tom’s TT Academy. In my academy, you can ask me anything about table tennis equipment and I will respond with my recommendations. You may also get recommendations from other academy members too.
In addition to equipment advice, you will also get access to a wide range of coaching content, including
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