Make Like Marty (Supreme): Our Guide to Ping Pong in the City
Marty Mauser loved ping pong—and we love Marty Mauser. So, in honor of this year’s most exciting film, Marty Supreme (directed by longtime Tribeca local Josh Safdie), we thought we’d take a dive into the city’s best places to play. While you’ll find fewer zoot suits running the tables today, the enthusiasm for the sport remains just as strong.
From outdoor tables tucked beneath sycamores to neon-lit basements and automated clubs humming at 4am, these are the places where New Yorkers play—seriously, casually, obsessively. A map of the city, ping pong–style.
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Bryant Park
An oasis in the middle of Midtown—and one of the city’s most quietly revered ping pong scenes. Tucked along 42nd Street near Sixth Avenue, Bryant Park’s outdoor tables sit beneath old sycamore trees, suspended between the calm of green space and the constant hum of Midtown.
The tables re-open each spring (typically April through September), and when they do, they draw a devoted crowd. There’s a rhythm here: short games, quick rotations, and a steady stream of players throughout the day. Some players come to rally, others to compete, but everyone abides by the posted rules—be courteous in victory and defeat.
By late afternoon, the energy shifts. The serious players arrive with their own paddles. Wait times stretch longer. The rallies get sharper. It’s public space at its most New York—generous, competitive, and strangely intimate.
42nd St & Sixth Ave
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If Bryant Park is ritual, SPIN Flatiron is spectacle. Located on East 23rd Street, SPIN transforms ping pong into a full-scale social event—part club, part lounge, part competitive arena.
Inside, nineteen Olympic-caliber tables glow beneath neon and gold accents. There are DJs, signature cocktails, American-fusion comfort food, and couches positioned perfectly for spectating. On certain nights, pros take center court. On others, it’s all about after-work rallies, birthday parties, and date nights. It’s ping pong reimagined as nightlife—loud, glossy, and unapologetically fun.
48 E 23rd St; (212) 982-8802
PingPod represents the future of ping pong in New York—and one of the city’s quieter pandemic success stories. Launched just before shutdowns and scaled in their wake, these fully automated, 24/7 clubs offered something New Yorkers were suddenly craving: space, movement, and independence.
Today, PingPod locations are scattered across the city, from the Lower East Side to Williamsburg, Hell’s Kitchen, and Queens—accessible with nothing more than your phone. You reserve online, unlock the door digitally, and play without staff on site. Cameras capture every angle, offering instant replay if you catch a perfect shot.
At any hour—even 4 or 5am—tables are often full. PingPod’s mission is simple: make table tennis accessible, affordable, and woven into daily city life. In a city that never sleeps, neither do these rallies.
42 Allen St; (929) 484-2129
Tompkins Square Park
Few places feel more East Village than Tompkins Square Park—a neighborhood crossroads for artists, radicals, long-timers, and anyone passing through with time to linger. Known for hosting Wigstock, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, and the Howl Festival honoring Allen Ginsberg, the park has always been about culture spilling outdoors.
Its permanent ping pong table—a polished concrete slab with a steel net—fits right in. Built to withstand weather and wear, it invites spontaneous games, no setup required. The table is simple, almost brutalist, and completely democratic—you show up, you play. Like the park itself, the table feels lived-in, unscripted, and unmistakably local.
Ave A between 7th & 10th
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Dark, neon-washed, and buzzing well past midnight, Space Ping Pong feels like a basement discovery you want to keep to yourself. Part sports bar, part nightlife lounge, it pairs ping pong tables with arcade games, black-light energy, and a menu that jumps from Korean instant noodles and takoyaki to buffalo wings and fries.
It’s 21+ most of the time, late-night by nature, and decidedly built for groups. The vibe is less about perfect form and more about momentum—games blur together, music gets louder, and suddenly you’re playing one more round at 1am.
22 W 32nd St; (646) 609-2000
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Sour Mouse is what happens when a game hall, art space, and music venue merge into one sprawling Lower East Side playground. The 6,000-square-foot space is packed with ping pong tables, pool, foosball, board games, and a steady rotation of live music, comedy, and DJs.
Ping pong here is part of a larger ecosystem of leisure, creativity, and connection. Games are first-come, first-served, the crowd is social, and the energy feels communal rather than competitive. It’s a place to linger—to play a few rounds, catch a set, grab a drink, and let the night unfold.
110 Delancey St; (646) 585-6316
WORDS Hillary Sproul
PHOTOGRAPHY pingpod.com