A table tennis game for three players

Abstract

Table tennis is a game that can provide healthy exercise and is also a social pastime for players of all ages across the world. However, players have to be collocated to play, and three players cannot usually play at the same time in fair or equitable manner. We have developed a networked table tennis like game called Table Tennis for Three (TTT). TTT is a game played with bat and ball by three people on three physically separated table tennis tables. The players of TTT can interact with one another through the use of augmented virtuality - the augmentation of virtual systems with elements of physical game play. TTT uses the physicality of table tennis combined with the communicative media typically associated with videoconferencing. TTT has been developed with the aim of achieving similar benefits to those of co-located table tennis such as exercise, enjoyment and bringing people together to socialize.