Slumping Ping Pong, Foosball Table Sales Could Point To Silicon Valley Slowdown

SAN JOSE (KCBS) -- The tables may be turning in Silicon Valley, as slumping sales of ping pong and foosball tables point to a slowdown, according to the San Jose man who provides them to much of the tech industry.

"Some companies are still buying, but overall, it's definitely slowed down," Simon Ng, owner of Billiard Wholesale in San Jose said. He says table sales tend to track the NASDAQ.

So far this quarter, Ng told KCBS he's sold 50-percent less tables than last quarter.  The tables are a staple at tech startups.

"When you work that intensely, you need a break; you need to do something physically different, and physical. Sometimes your brain will get vapor-locked, and you just need to go break that up," software company Pivotal's Director of Cloud Operations Tony Hansmann told KCBS.

Eng said Twitter and Facebook have stopped buying tables, but Google is still replacing theirs on a quarterly basis. Hansmann said companies may have matured, and now only need new tables and balls.

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