The Conversion Tops come with two basic paddles and 3 balls. They also arrive with a couple of blocks to support the pieces while they sit on your pool table. We recommend covering your table with a heavy duty cover prior to installing the two conversion top pieces. The installation is complete when you clamp the net onto the table, and you’re ready to play. If you would like to add some equipment because you anticipate needing more paddles and balls, these are our suggestions:
Stiga makes outdoor paddles that are made from a hard polycarbonate. These might be a good fit for kids using paddles indoors given that they will not likely break as easily.
These racquets come in both Black and Green and cost $25 or $50 for the set.
Family fun is also available in the tennis paddle in several designs. These are all under $20 and add some color to your game room. We can generally get all of these, but the Eagle is sometimes hard to find in stock.
A new introduction this year, the Prism plugs into a USB slot for charging, changes color and comes with 3 glow-in-the-dark balls. Add some fun to your household with these fun racquets!
Nicer paddles and nicer balls for when the adult beverages accompany the adults are found below:
The top end of the market with Stiga products is the Carbon racquet which can arrive in either Red or Blue depending, apparently, on what is in stock. We have remained with the Stiga brand due to stocking issues at other companies. It’s great to try racquets from all the different companies, but Stiga has been consistent in supplying the U.S. market, so we’ll stick with them for the time being. The Carbon paddles are lightweight, and if you’ve ever played Pickle Ball with a carbon paddle, you’ll understand the fun of having a high quality carbon racquet.
Balls are rated by star, the 3 star are the best, and the one star balls are thinner and slower. The 3-star balls bounce better and last longer. There are the fun balls and the practice balls, and they are typically the 1-star ball with some verbiage or practice stripes.
According to the Ping Pong Academy (yep, they have one of those): “Heavier ping pong balls are faster than lighter ones, so three star balls will usually be faster. This is both a pro and a con, depending on your skill level. If you are new to ping pong, you want a one star ball that is slower to bounce. Much of ping pong is in the reaction time and if you don’t have time to practice your set up and your hitting techniques, you will quickly become frustrated.
When you become more used to reacting to your opponent, this is when you can move up to a faster, bouncier three star ball. You may be quite surprised at just how reactionary three star balls are and it will take a bit of time to get used to the speed. However, if you want to really improve on your game, then the three star balls will help you with this.”
These are the balls that we stock at Big Sky Billiard Supply:
