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No Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) match can truly be decided until the Golden Game ends.
Just ask the Chicago Wind. They trailed the Carolina Gold Rush by three points after the 15th game of their Week 7 match in Season 1 ended. All the Gold Rush needed to do before securing their victory was win one more game. But this one final game was a chance for the Wind to turn this table. The all-but-certain runner-ups could still become winners. And at the end of that particular Golden Game, the Wind turned their three-point deficit into a three-point triumph.
The Wind’s victory reminded the country of MLTT’s golden rule: anything can change during the Golden Game.
This one game, exclusive to MLTT’s rulebook, has been turning soon-to-be losses into comeback victories ever since the league’s inception in 2023. Legends of this league have blossomed because of this game, and a champion cannot be crowned without winning it. If you want to go for gold at the end of an MLTT season, you have to win its final Golden Game.
Before a team can win this Golden Game, they have to complete the 15 games that precede it. The winner of each game (the first to score 11 points) earns their team one point, for a maximum of 15 points before the start of the Golden Game.
Once that 15th game ends, the Golden Game will often determine the match’s victor. The two coaches will first meet at center court and choose five of their players to play in this game, as well as the order in which those players will play. These five players will rotate every four points in their fixed order until one team scores 21 points. That team will add six points to their total score, which is often enough to win them a match.
The leading team always begins the Golden Game ahead by the difference between their total score and their opponent’s. As an example, the Bay Area Blasters ended the fifth matchup of Season 2’s consolation match with nine points to the Chicago Wind’s six. The Blasters started that Golden Game with a three-point advantage.
Many of MLTT’s most memorable matches have concluded with a thrilling Golden Game, including the Season 2 championship game. The Gold Rush entered the final Golden Game of Season 2 with just a one-point advantage over the reigning champions, the Texas Smash. The two teams kept the score between them very close until Romain Lorentz scored the Gold Rush’s 21st point to win his team the championship.
These memorable games will return to the table in September 2025, when MLTT begins its third season. Fans of table tennis will soon be able to watch matches again with one of MLTT’s golden rules in the back of their minds: all it takes is one game to declare a winner. Season 3 will be streamed on Table Tennis TV.
