I told my wife about the concept, and she doesn't want me to donate the table to AIB, she wants me to bring the table home so she can play on it. Have I invented a game?
OMG. I am sofa king stew peed. I'm like racking my brain trying to figure out where to build or mount this thing and I'm getting a fucking studio space in a couple of day. Completely forgot.
1st incarnation of 'pingpong' will be mounted in my studio! Shopping for tables on Craiglist.
Yea, I tried to buy the video online, but I can only find the DVD in region 2 format, meaning PAL (England and Europe), not region 1 NTSC (us).
So yea, about the table. I mentioned last residency to a couple of people, when asked what I was going to do next, that I was simply going to bring in a ping pong table and put it in the middle of my Crit space for anyone to play with. I said it because I had just had the privileged of enjoying a ping pong table over the winter break. My in-laws rented a house in upstate NY that had a game room w/ a pool table and ping pong table. That room got used quite a bit.
I would hit it after twisting balloons for 4 hrs straight, and shoot a couple rounds of straight pool. And inevitably, my wife, or one of my sister in-laws would follow me to the game room and a game of table tennis would break out. The game, a game which I played non stop in my teens in the patio of my Florida home. A game which I took very seriously. Is a very simple game which is enjoyable for all skillsets.
Since my wife and her sisters were not very skilled in table tennis, my father in-law and I would allow them to hit the ball after as many bounces or off the floor, or whatever, as long as the ball hadn't stopped moving. That gave me the idea, that we weren't really playing tennis, but table soccer. We would even pass the ball between us.
So why not convert the table tennis table into a full fledged soccer field. Complete with goal posts and fencing around the entire field. That way the participants would be invited to invent there own way to interact with the table. All I would be providing would be suggestions. Suggestions with the markings on the table and the additional hardware. It would be interesting, at least to me, to see how people would negotiate this somewhat common parlor game. I was even thinking of adding green felt to the top in order to slow the game down a bit, and make it more about scoring goals. Air hockey in 3d.
personally i could never stand ping-pong/table tennis. this brings up a question, if this is wholly dependent on viewer participation, would that take away from it. my reasoning behind it is that if it is and the viewer is not interested in playing along, then what? i do like the idea, maybe there needs to be something else to tempt one to give it a whirl. i know that you mentioned suggestions and prompts in the way of markings or instructions, and that might do it but... maybe if you were to jazz it up a bit. take whack a mole for example, i doubt that most wouldn't want to do it if not for the bells and whistles. as much as i like whacking moles, i do it for the whole experience, know what i mean? although the soccer angle does spark an interest in me. i do like the concept and i dont mean to trivialize it by putting it in the same category of whack a mole (my fav of all carny games). but, since you asked... you do have a couple of months to figure out if its worthy. regardless, i second miss mel c's suggestion that you make it your first studio project now that you are getting your own space and what nots. the only other thing to consider is the logistics of it. i imagine that it would be pricey to ship it to boston and a pain in the arse.
makes me thing about ping pong
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to ask Scott Reader if he'll allow me to mount my first incarnation of 'pingpong' (tentative title for now) in his studio/Club Nutz.
ReplyDeletegood plan. if yes, you should shoot to get it installed by mid/end march. 1st project in/from new studio.
ReplyDeleteI told my wife about the concept, and she doesn't want me to donate the table to AIB, she wants me to bring the table home so she can play on it. Have I invented a game?
ReplyDeleteOMG. I am sofa king stew peed. I'm like racking my brain trying to figure out where to build or mount this thing and I'm getting a fucking studio space in a couple of day. Completely forgot.
ReplyDelete1st incarnation of 'pingpong' will be mounted in my studio! Shopping for tables on Craiglist.
yea!
ReplyDeletewould have been better on a bigger screen. now, about this ping pong table?
ReplyDeleteYea, I tried to buy the video online, but I can only find the DVD in region 2 format, meaning PAL (England and Europe), not region 1 NTSC (us).
ReplyDeleteSo yea, about the table. I mentioned last residency to a couple of people, when asked what I was going to do next, that I was simply going to bring in a ping pong table and put it in the middle of my Crit space for anyone to play with. I said it because I had just had the privileged of enjoying a ping pong table over the winter break. My in-laws rented a house in upstate NY that had a game room w/ a pool table and ping pong table. That room got used quite a bit.
I would hit it after twisting balloons for 4 hrs straight, and shoot a couple rounds of straight pool. And inevitably, my wife, or one of my sister in-laws would follow me to the game room and a game of table tennis would break out. The game, a game which I played non stop in my teens in the patio of my Florida home. A game which I took very seriously. Is a very simple game which is enjoyable for all skillsets.
Since my wife and her sisters were not very skilled in table tennis, my father in-law and I would allow them to hit the ball after as many bounces or off the floor, or whatever, as long as the ball hadn't stopped moving. That gave me the idea, that we weren't really playing tennis, but table soccer. We would even pass the ball between us.
So why not convert the table tennis table into a full fledged soccer field. Complete with goal posts and fencing around the entire field. That way the participants would be invited to invent there own way to interact with the table. All I would be providing would be suggestions. Suggestions with the markings on the table and the additional hardware. It would be interesting, at least to me, to see how people would negotiate this somewhat common parlor game. I was even thinking of adding green felt to the top in order to slow the game down a bit, and make it more about scoring goals. Air hockey in 3d.
What you think?
personally i could never stand ping-pong/table tennis. this brings up a question, if this is wholly dependent on viewer participation, would that take away from it. my reasoning behind it is that if it is and the viewer is not interested in playing along, then what?
ReplyDeletei do like the idea, maybe there needs to be something else to tempt one to give it a whirl. i know that you mentioned suggestions and prompts in the way of markings or instructions, and that might do it but...
maybe if you were to jazz it up a bit. take whack a mole for example, i doubt that most wouldn't want to do it if not for the bells and whistles. as much as i like whacking moles, i do it for the whole experience, know what i mean? although the soccer angle does spark an interest in me.
i do like the concept and i dont mean to trivialize it by putting it in the same category of whack a mole (my fav of all carny games). but, since you asked...
you do have a couple of months to figure out if its worthy. regardless, i second miss mel c's suggestion that you make it your first studio project now that you are getting your own space and what nots.
the only other thing to consider is the logistics of it. i imagine that it would be pricey to ship it to boston and a pain in the arse.