By Maxim Tamarov, News Staff

It’s Tuesday night, and a group of Northeastern seniors are gathered at Blazing Paddles. The group is playing pingpong and downing beers in celebration of the birthday of Betsy Chen, a finance and art history major.

“We’re the brand-spanking new pingpong place downstairs at Game On! Fenway,” the Blazing Paddles website proclaims.

The lounge offers 12 pingpong tables situated around a full bar. On the corner of Brookline Avenue and Lansdowne Street, across from the Cask ‘n Flagon and next to Fenway Park, Blazing Paddles is at a convenient location for students, music lovers and Red Sox fans seeking a refreshing alternative to the pool tables and makeshift dance floors of other bars. And for $25 an hour, one can get two pingpong paddles and an unlimited supply of pingpong balls.

“I’m very impressed by the set-ups of pingpong tables,” Steven Ford, an industrial engineering major who was among the group celebrating with Chen, said.

Chen explained that balls are easily lost most pingpong set-ups, but noted that the walls at Blazing Paddles are designed in such a way that the balls can always be found.

Ford also said that Blazing Paddles was a great place to come to play pingpong, “leaps and bounds” better than playing at the Curry Student Center.

“Student nights would be interesting,” Ford said.

He explained that the surrounding universities provided the majority of the clientele for slow nights such as Tuesday. Ford also offered other suggestions, such as producing a galactic feel with black lights and fluorescent balls.

“If they had a night for beer pong — if they had protective covering [to avoid ruining the tables with water or beer damage] —they could do a pitcher a night,” Ford said.

Chen agreed that beer pong was a temptation.

“They could use a DJ,” Chen said. She otherwise seemed to enjoy the scene, complimenting the tables and the layout.

“I also like the decorations,” Chen said. “The Godzilla poster and the red solo cup [are cool].”