PiPs, a ping pong club and art gallery (or "ping pong gallery and art club," says owner Bill Mack) has been up and running in Williamsburg since July, but it's only now that they're adding the magic ingredient for success in the neighborhood: booze. Booze that you can drink, and cash that you can win, at their big tournament tomorrow night!
The club's "300 Dollar Tourney" is tomorrow night at 8 p.m., with beer from Brooklyn Brewery and Heineken, music from two turntables, and some fierce competition coming out of every corner of Brooklyn. Mack tells us the club also just got approved for their liquor license, so expect to see a lot more drunken backhands go flying in coming weeks. And if you're not a pro-level ping ponger (like Judah Friedlander), never fear: the three-table club is mainly used for open play for people of all levels. "Most clubs are based on going in and renting table for an hour. We thought that was a little antisocial, and figured, why not do it like you do in a bar with billiards—you sign up on a list, the winner says on, and people rotate around," explains Mack. They also offer private and group lessons (around $60) on weekends for those looking to kick their skills up a notch.
“We play straight-up table tennis on $1,500 tables — this isn’t some Kmart shit,” Mack told the Brooklyn Paper. “This is an Olympic sport. We respect the game.” And as they note in their "10 Commandments," "If you want to play beer pong, please call your mom to come pick you up now."
