Why are ping pong paddles two different colors?
The International Table Tennis Federation mandates that the surface of the covering of a racket’s blade must be bright red on one side and black on the other side, so that players can tell which side of the blade their opponent has used to hit the ball. Many players use different types of rubber on each side of the paddle, often having very different characteristics. Prior to this rule, a player could surreptitiously flip his or her paddle during play to change which rubber was on the forehand side, making it much more difficult for opponents to judge how the ball would be returned. By forcing the two sides of the paddle to be colored differently, this rule allows a player to more easily tell which rubber their opponent used for any given return, making gameplay less confusing.
