As a human player (of a not-high standard) I cannot see the spin of the ball directly. I can only infer it from the movement of my opponents bat. So I would wonder that a camera could pick it up in real time.

Also IT'S TABLE TENNIS, NOT PING PONG!

> Also IT'S TABLE TENNIS, NOT PING PONG!

Alas HN has finally found its next religious war!

I’ve been feeling a little bored after that whole tabs vs spaces one was settled.

Ping Pong is what you play for fun in the basement. The competitive sport is Table Tennis.

To be honest, if Chinese folks are fine with calling it "ping pong" (乒乓), I'm fine, too.

(Also, you sorta can infer the spin from the ball arc or even if you catch a glimpse of the rotating label)

It's ping pong.

According to this video it can read the spin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH8kZDc7OLk

As a player myself, and having seen much higher level player than me, reading the spin from the ball rotation (and in fact trajectory) of the ball is a common (if advanced) skill. Sometimes the movement of the bat can be deceptive (since with the same movement, where it contact on the bat, the finger pressure can affect the spin).

For example, backspin/underspin balls will move slower after the first bounce and feel 'damper' while topspin will jump. So it's def. possible (and in fact reliable) to read the spin from the spin and trajectory of the ball.

It’s miniature table pickleball.

> Also IT'S TABLE TENNIS, NOT PING PONG!

Is it also MOVING STAIRCASE, NOT ESCALATOR?

The ball trajectory gives the spin

I had a look at Google trends for France. Table tennis is slightly more common than ping pong but the latter is much more stable. Table tennis has huge peaks, the biggest one being during the OG in Paris. These parks are not reflected in there ping pong trend

Interestingly, for Youtube searches this is the other way, with a much bigger difference in favour to ping pong