Matrix Table Tennis
The game starts off with two players playing a plain game of ping pong. The serve is made, and each player tries to pass the ball to each other. Then the game gains momentum, the passes speed up, with the players doing odd stunts as they hit the ball. With a powerful smash of one of the players, he sends the ball beyond his opponent’s reach. Suddenly, his opponent starts to fly! He successfully hits the ball back in the game. Then both players start to fly and jump off walls with ease! The table starts to rotate, the ball flies out of control and everything goes in slow motion. Sounds unbelievable? That’s the popular Matrix table tennis.The Matrix table tennis is a video clip recorded from the annual Japanese talent show Kinchan and Katori Shiingo’s National Costume Competition aired on Nippon Television. It shows a group of people doing ping pong matrix. The Matrix table tennis video incorporates moves from the movie The Matrix and its trademark bullet time stunt – where time is slowed down and the camera angle moves around the scene – with the game of ping pong.
The Matrix table tennis use kurokos to hold the actors and props up to perform those amazing feats, substituting high-tech special effects with theatre tricks. Kurokos are stage heads used in kabuki theatre, who dress all in black to appear invisible to the audience. With this style, the audience is able to view the Matrix ping pong as if it is three-dimensional, gravity-defying and time-bending.
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Because of its popularity, several variations of the Matrix Ping-Pong were made by fans. The ping pong club of Dulles High school simulated Matrix table tennis in one of the school’s events. There are also actual exhibition games of ping pong that had similarities with the Matrix table tennis, but of course, it has no bullet time effect.
So, who won the Matrix table tennis? Just watch the video to find out!