PiMPLEPARK is probably one of the few table tennis brands worldwide which, already since its foundation, has focused on the development of rubbers and blades adapted to the new plastic ball. Following the Murus, the Castro is the second blade of the German brand. Castro is a word used in Romance languages and is derived from the Latin word castrum, which means fortress.
PiMPLEPARK’s developers had a clear vision in mind when creating this blade: The Castro was supposed to provide a solid fortress for players. Therefore, this is a very controlled, yet relatively fast defensive blade which we would classify as a Def+ or All.
In contrast to the Murus, the Castro does not feature additional materials, such as carbon or arylate. It is an all-wood blade with a quite unusual veneer structure. The blade consists of nine very well-matched wood veneers.
The Castro offers very high control and a medium-high bounce. The well-matched veneers lead to very good spin characteristics and superb feel. The blade creates relatively little vibration and is minimally top-heavy.
During disruptive play with long pimples (preferably in the ox-version), the Castro enables unpleasant stop blocks and excellent attacking options with the long pimple side. The reversed pimple side, on the other hand, allows for high-rotation counter-attacks thanks to the good spin characteristics and the sufficiently high speed. Aggressive pushing can also be performed with high precision. Needless to say, the Castro can easily be combined with the two rubbers developed by PiMPLEPARK, the Cluster and the Wobbler, and, of course, with other long pimple rubbers.
