Paddle/Racket/Bat
The bat is a wooden blade covered with rubber on 1 or 2 sides (depending on the player), many paddles today feature one or more carbon layers that enhance the ‘sweet spot’.
The rubber coating may be of pimpled rubber, or rubber that has a sponge layer as well. Regulations allow different surfaces on each side of the paddle, these provide various levels of spin and speed (eg on side provides spin, and the other nulls spin).
To help a player distinguish between the sides, one side is red and the other is black (a player has the right to inspect another players paddle before play to determine which colour is what kind of surface).
The different types of rubber sheets are:
Inverted (non-Chinese) - most widely used, smooth surface with the pimpled side facing the blade, generates high levels of spin and speed
Inverted (Chinese) - typically sticker, spin is created by the topsheet, offers a far better short game and better offensive capabilities, but less consistent defensive
Short pimples (pips) - used by close-to-the-table hitters, do not generate much spin but make the player less susceptible to the opponent’s spin, speed is greater, it is also possible (depending on the sponge thickness) to play a chopping game
Long pimples (pips) - long and soft pips, they don’t generate real spin of their own but feed off the opponent’s spin, used by close-to-the-table blockers but can be used away from the table for long distance chops, usually only used back hand, they have very limited attacking capabilities
Anti-spin - look similar to inverted ones, but the surfaces are slick and frictionless, they can’t generate much spin, but it is very unsusceptible to the opponents spin