Ping pong balls are the cheapest thing in the sport and the most widely misunderstood. The star rating is printed on every box, almost nobody knows what it measures, and the most common assumption — that it means durability — is wrong.
Stars measure consistency, not toughness. That single correction changes what you should buy.
What the Stars Actually Grade
Balls come off a production line with small variations in roundness, wall thickness and weight distribution. They are then graded. Three stars is the top grade: the ball is round within tight tolerance, evenly weighted, and bounces to the same height as every other ball in the box. One and two star balls come off the same lines but fall outside those tolerances.
A slightly out-of-round ball wobbles very subtly in flight and bounces a fraction differently from its neighbours. Across a room of casual players, nobody notices. In a match where you are reading spin off the ball, it is the difference between trusting what you see and not.
Note what this is not: a 3-star ball is not stronger. All modern balls crack the same way, and it is almost never from being hit.
Why Balls Actually Crack
Because someone stood on one.
Plastic 40+ balls handle being smashed perfectly well — they are designed for it. What they do not survive is compression, which means a foot, a chair leg, or being trapped under something. If you are losing balls quickly, the fix is not a more expensive ball, it is collecting them off the floor before people move around the table.
Heat is the other killer. Balls left in a hot car or in direct sun go brittle and then split on ordinary contact.
The 40+ Plastic Change
In 2014 the sport replaced 40mm celluloid balls with 40+ plastic ones. The plus sign is not decoration: the plastic balls run slightly over 40mm where the old celluloid ones were exactly 40mm.
The practical differences are real. Plastic balls are marginally slower, take slightly less spin, and are noticeably louder. If you learned on celluloid and your serves feel like they bite less now, that is the ball and not you. Anything still sold as celluloid is old stock, and anything sold as 38mm is pre-2000 and no longer legal.
So Which Should You Buy? Both.
The players who have thought about this hardest generally own two kinds of ball, and it is a genuinely good system.
- Bulk practice balls — a hundred at a time, for robot feeding, multiball drills and warm-ups. Consistency barely matters when a machine is firing balls at you, and volume matters enormously.
- A small box of match balls — six or a dozen good 3-star balls, kept separately, used for actual games. These are the ones you learn to read.
Buying only premium balls means you own too few and run drills badly. Buying only cheap ones means your matches are played on equipment you cannot fully trust. Owning both costs about $35 total.
Does ITTF Approval Matter?
Only if you compete. An ITTF-approved ball has passed the federation's testing and is legal in sanctioned events. For a home game it buys extremely tight consistency and nothing else.
There is one non-competitive reason to want it: if you train seriously, using an approved ball in practice means your practice ball behaves exactly like your match ball. That is worth something. It is not worth anything if the balls are going to spend their lives being trodden on.
The Picks
KEVENZ 3-Star 40+ Table Tennis Balls
The default answer to "I need a lot of balls and I do not want to think about it". Consistent enough that they do not feel obviously worse in a rally, and cheap enough per ball that losing one under the sofa costs nothing. These are the balls for a robot hopper, for multiball feeding, and for any household where balls simply disappear.
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DHS D40+ 3-Star ITTF Balls
DHS supply the Chinese national team and the D40+ is a genuine ITTF-approved match ball at a price that does not sting. Approval means it is legal for sanctioned play and, more usefully for most people, that tolerances are tight enough that your practice ball and your match ball are the same object. The best value in the premium tier by a clear margin.
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Nittaku 3-Star Premium Balls
Nittaku's premium ball is what many serious players quietly treat as the benchmark, and it is priced accordingly — a handful of balls costs what a hundred practice balls do. What you get is exceptional roundness and a bounce that does not drift across a box. Worth it if you train seriously and want zero difference between practice and tournament conditions. Overkill for anything else, and that is fine.
Check Price on AmazonStars measure consistency, not durability, and balls crack because they get stepped on rather than because they get hit. Buy a hundred cheap 3-star balls for drills and a small box of DHS D40+ or Nittaku for actual games. Buy 40+ plastic, since anything else is old stock. And collect balls off the floor before anyone walks around the table — that habit will save you more balls than any upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the stars on ping pong balls mean?
They grade consistency: roundness, weight distribution and bounce height, measured across a production batch. Three stars is the top grade and the only one used in serious competition. One and two star balls come off the same lines but fall outside the tolerances, so they wobble slightly and bounce a little differently from one another. Stars say nothing about durability.
Are 3-star ping pong balls more durable?
No. Durability is essentially the same across grades, because balls almost never break from being hit. They break from compression, which in practice means being stood on, and from heat that makes the plastic brittle. If you are getting through balls quickly, collect them off the floor sooner rather than buying a higher grade.
What is the difference between 40mm and 40+ ping pong balls?
40mm refers to the old celluloid balls used until 2014, and 40+ to the plastic balls that replaced them, which run slightly over 40mm. The plastic balls are marginally slower, take a little less spin and are noticeably louder. Every ball sold new today should be 40+ plastic; anything advertised as 38mm is pre-2000 stock and is not legal for play.
Are orange and white ping pong balls different?
Only in colour. They are made to the same specification and play identically. Choose whichever contrasts better with your floor, walls and the clothing people play in — orange usually wins in a garage or basement, white in a hall with dark surroundings. Official matches use whichever colour the venue specifies.
Should I buy cheap or expensive ping pong balls?
Both, and for different jobs. Buy bulk 3-star balls a hundred at a time for drills, robot feeding and warm-ups, where volume matters far more than precision. Keep a small box of good match balls for actual games, where consistent bounce is what lets you trust that odd movement was spin rather than the ball. The two together cost around $35.