Table tennis originated in England as an after dinner amusement for aristocrats in the 1880s. Like most sports in their infant stages, table tennis originally had no equipment made specifically for the sport, and instead used everyday equipment such as Champagne corks and cigar box lids. Players developed names for the sport such as "whiff whaff" and "ping pong," based upon the sound of the ball hitting the paddle. English sporting goods manufacturers J. Jaques & Son Ltd registered the name "ping pong" in 1901, and as a result the name ping pong came to be used for the game when it was played with the Jaques equipment, while other manufacturers called their versions the more generic "table tennis." A similar situation came to exist in the United States, where Jaques sold the rights to the Ping-Pong name to Parker Bros. Escalade Sports is the current owner of the rights to the name.

Celluloid balls were introduced to the game by Englishman James Gibb, who discovered them on a trip to the U.S. in 1901. The modern ping pong racket, a pimpled piece of rubber covering a wooden fan, was invented by E.C. Goode in 1903. The early 20th century was a time of explosive growth for the sport. Tournaments were organized, guides and rulebooks were published, and there was even an unofficial world championship in 1903. The very first official world championship, held by the Table Tennis Association in London, was held in 1927.

Asian players began to make significant contributions to the evolution of the game in 1952 when Horoi Satoh of Japan invented the foam rubber paddle. Until this time, spin had played only a minor role in a game defined by a defensive style of play. The new paddle surface, however, allowed players to spin the ball in countless and powerful ways, adding a new dimension to the sport. Asian players also developed the widely used "penholder" grip, with the paddle held between forefinger and thumb.

Table tennis once played a major role in American diplomacy with China. In the late 1960's Sino-American relations were still chilly after the two nations fought in the Korean War. In 1969, the United States relaxed trade regulations as a sign of goodwill. In 1971, in the very early stages of diplomacy, a young American ping pong player approached the Chinese delegation at a tournament in Japan and had a friendly, informal conversation with them. While the athlete didn't intend it as an act of international relations, the Chinese saw it as another American effort to make peace. Later known as "Ping Pong Diplomacy," the Chinese responded by inviting the American ping pong team to tour China. When the athletes set foot in China in 1971, they became the first Americans to officially visit the country in over twenty years.

In 2000, the International Table Tennis Federation decreed that the official size of balls used in sanctioned tournaments be changed from 38.1mm to 40mm. This was done in hopes of slowing down gameplay, which had sped up considerably due to advancements in paddles. Regulation ping pong tables are 9 ft x 5 ft (2.7 m x 1.5 m), with a hard surface usually painted green, dark blue, or black. A 6 inch (15.2 cm) tall net divides the table in half and extends 6 inches (15.2 cm) beyond the table on each side.

Today Table Tennis continues to be dominated by the Chinese. They won all four (men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles) table tennis gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, and three of four in 2004 (South Korea's Ryu Seung Min upset China's Wang Hao in the Men's Singles Final). In the March 2006 rankings, four of the top six world-ranked male players are Chinese, including Wang Liqin at number one. The top four female players are all Chinese; Zhang Yining is ranked number one.