Daily Marauder

PONG 2.0 ON THE LES, NYC

You may remember this space on 139 Norfolk Street for its former role as a mock movie drive-in. Well, today marks the official recreation of the space for the grand re-opening of Pong 2.0. The space daylights as a design studio owned and operated by two brothers who decided to do something innovative with their extra space. Enter ping pong table.

The Table

For a mere $80, you too can add your name to one of the ping pong paddles on the wall and visit anytime (during open hours) for two months of play. The mini paddles at the end are reserved for the pros. If you’re not ready for membership, 20 minutes of play costs $10. Yah, that is pretty freakin’ expensive especially when you consider that its $10 PER PERSON. Whoa. For more reasonable prices, head to Fat Cat in the West Village which will only cost $5 for an hour of play.

The Match

I brought my own paddle to intimidate the competition but. . .[sigh] I lost.

The Digital

I was initially drawn based on the chameleon nature of the space and the digital backdrop for the pong. A live twitter feed chronicles the ‘action’ and official games are recorded for upload on YouTube.

Here’s a game from the last edition of Pong:

The Live Feed

If you’re really obsessive, you can check in on the table at all hours to study your competition.

The Low Down

In one word, overrated. It was fun to drop in and play a little but the space is tiny (only 1 table), the air conditioner struggles to keep up in this heat wave, and the price is far too expensive. I’ll go play some cheaper games and record them myself if I need to, thank you.