RobotNazis have brainwashed AllSpins table tennis players who use (click link >) smart rackets (using pips anti rubbers on one side) into believing that something is seriously wrong with them if they use pips rubbers & call those who use pips rubbers to be on the dark side . And the clueless pips players fall victim for this psychological manipulation and call it the dark side themselves shamelessly (sort of self hate)
Therefore the right phrase for playing AllSpins table tennis, using smart rackets is to use the phrase "divine side" of tabletennis not the "dark side". Those who use dumb rackets (with spinny inverted both sides of a dumb blade) are on the satanic side of table tennis of Top spin only Olympic table tennis
That said I get asked very often about what pips rubbers are suited for what style of play on the divine side of table tennis.
Also I myself am trying to switch to wide pips with sponge on my forehand (after 50 years of using spinny inverted rubbers) mostly because I cannot loop (anymore that is ,, due to physical limitations that develop with aging on your back, shoulders, knees , wrist etc LOL)
. I also discovered that wide pips with sponge are better when it goes with slim or long pips OX on other side. I also would use a frictionless wide pips with maximum width but no such rubber is available after the 2008 FPB(Frictionless Pips Ban). (The closest one is Butterfly Resilon , which was banned by 2008 FPB)Butterfly Resilon was used by David Zhuang (many time USA champion) . I have never tested Butterfly Bugller for forehand ,. Who knows may be it is as good as Buttefly Magnitude was (used by 10 time USA champion In Sook Na Bhushan on her forehand).
The (click link >) spin contrast provided by a smart racket using no spin wide pips with thick sponge (mostly on forehand except when twiddled) / back spin actual non-ITTF high back spin OX long pips (mostly on backhand except when twiddled) may not be as high as possible with a spinny inverted (high top spin) forehand except when twiddled (I used for 50 years) & back spin actual non-ITTF long pips (mostly on backhand except when twiddled)
But a wide pips (withthick sponge) / long pips smart racket probably more effective if you do not (or cannot as is my case now) loop on your forehand . Because you can fake chop (with very little spin if you know how to do it & I have been able to do it on foehand but is harder on backhand when I twiddle but II will learn) far more effectively using wide pips than when I used spinny inverted rubber on my forehand
So combining these two issues I started to research all wide pips rubbers and then ended up researching medium pips & slim pips as well.
So the attached spread sheet shows the result of my research on how to choose your pips for your forehand or backhand
But with a twist.
If you are just starting out , you do not want to spend a lot of money of on Japanese or European rubbers as they seemed to be recommended on iTTF worship forums.
So my suggestion would be to start with inexpensive Chinese rubbers as they are more than sufficient for someone moving to the divine side for the first time.
Of even experienced pips players may find this list surprisingly useful.
The spread sheet is sorted by brand as well as by pip type
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