These are the three pillars of Pongress – a global gathering of enlightened souls who know that perfection in a night out is found with a bat in your hand, a tune in your heart, and by fixing your ping pong nemesis with a steely-eyed glare.

From Saturday 27th October to Saturday 3rd November Newcastle will host this year’s premier sporting/drinking event. Teams representing bars from Washington DC, New York, Berlin, Bristol, Manchester, Copenhagen, Talinn, London and Gothenberg will do battle and share beers with Newcastle’s finest pongers. Each night of the festival will see different versions of social Ping Pong from around the world. Some play ping pong as art. Others play for the sheer joy of it. A few play to grind the faces of the vanquished in the dirt.

All will find a home at Pongress.  Most of the programme is based on “Rundlauf”  in which everyone plays all at once, in a round-the-table, killer ping pong format. Each night will be run by a different visiting bar – meaning that their DJs will provide the music, their artists will provide a backdrop and we will play ping pong by their rules.

We’ve got DJs who used to play with Nick Cave (Nick Cave!), US Pro Ping Pong players taking on all comers for cash, fancy dress Bling Pong and special Halloween Zomb Pong. Not to mention high-stakes, winner takes all pong, the mother of all pong from Berlin, and the UK’s favourite pong night.

There will be dancing, there will be fancy dress. But above all, there will be ping pong.

See the programme page for full details.