What exactly are super pips (also known as high aspect ratio super long pips)?

[Charlee Kiesha]

Super pips are the ONLY rubbers that are functionally useful as weakside (usually backhand for most players) rubbers in the 40+ plastic ball ONLY era
Short pips, medium pips, ITTF LARC pips , anti are no longer functionally useful & therefore are just social rubbers in the 40+ plastic ball ONLY era

What are the basic design specification requirements for super pips ?

For chopping type super pips
1. Pip length must be at least 2.5 mm ( ITTF maximum is 2.0 mm)
2. AR (Aspect Ratio) must be at least 1.5 (ITTF maximum is 1.1. Was reduced from 1.3 to 1.1 in 1998)
3. Pips must have high friction with rough pip tops & sides
4.(Pip Distribution Density) must be at least 40 pips per sq.cm (ITTF current maximum is 30 , Was reduced from 50 to 30 in 2004)
5. Pip flexibilty must be decent (to geenrate lots of back spin off incoming backspin) but should not be unpreditable to make the rubber deceptive

For blocking type super pips
1. Pip length must be at least 2.5 mm ( ITTF maximum is 2.0 mm)
2. AR (Aspect Ratio) must be at least 1.5 (ITTF maximum is 1.1. Was reduced from 1.3 to 1.1 in 1998)
3. Pips must have low friction with smooth pip tops & sides
4. PDD (Pip distribution density) can be low
5. Pip flexibility can be higher than chopping type super pips to provide little more variation on blocks

For all round type super pips
1. Pip length must be at least 2.5 mm ( ITTF maximum is 2.0 mm)
2. AR (Aspect Ratio) must be at least 1.5 (ITTF maximum is 1.1. Was reduced from 1.3 to 1.1 in 1998)
3. All other other pip design parameters can be in between chopping type super pips & blocking type super pips

For full details on pip design parameters and playing characteristics , please click here