Zillow vs. Jobster — Putting the Paddle To the Metal

When the going gets tough during crunch time, it’s nice to have an activity that takes your mind off of bugs, schedules, and coding. Fortunately at Zillow, one can rock out on Guitar Hero, exercise their wrists on our foosball table, or last but not least — get in a few smacks on our ping pong table.

I read an interesting blog article with my college buddy, Shiaokai — who works at Jobster — about a ping pong match Penny Arcade hosted against another game company, Pink Godzilla. Unfortunately, neither of our companies fit their "eligibility criteria," which is namely to be in the game industry. And thus, a fierce Zillow vs. Jobster battle of serves, spins, and slams took place yesterday.

We agreed to follow a similar format to the Penny Arcade vs. Pink Godzilla matchup: Best of 5 games, 11 points per game, and alternating serves every two points. Our top seven players (as determined by our ladder) would face their top seven. And most importantly, no steroids or corked paddle handles!

After many weeks of "intense" training, it was time to rock and roll — bring it on, Jobster!!!!

Jobster was kind enough to come to our house, so Zillow got home-court advantage. With more than 40 spectators cheering every big smash, and wincing at every unforced error, both competitors played intense, entertaining games in a well-balanced matchup. The action was fast and furious, as sidespin serves, edge-splitting slices, and smooth smashes were exchanged. We brought our A-game, and Jobster answered without fear. At the end of the day, Jobster went home with the trophy, 4 - 3. Congratulations to Jobster!

The 14 Participants

Sorry for the low photo quality - but here’s the final scoreboard

Everyone had fun, and we’re looking forward to the rematch down the road. We’d love to play other startups in the Seattle area too, so if your company’s got a few people of the paddle, shoot me an email (or leave a comment). All work and no play makes for a bad hair day…

We shot some video of this event, but haven’t had a chance to convert & upload it yet. We’ll post an update once it’s ready for primetime.

Update 1: Here’s a short clip from the match between the number 1 seeds

Update 2: Here’s a short clip that includes the end of the number 2 seed match and the beginning of the match between the number 1 seeds

Clip from Number 3 Seed match

Clip from Number 4 Seed match

Clip from Number 5 Seed match

Clip from Number 6 Seed match

Clip from Number 7 Seed match