AURORA, Colo. — The life of a firefighter can be very unpredictable on a daily basis, but if there’s one thing the crew at Aurora Fire Station 16 shouldn’t know, it’s this: to be trust me, this is their daily game of Pepper Pong.

You may be wondering…what exactly is Pepper Pong?

It’s like a mini pickleball. Lt. Mitchell Harr said it’s a great stress reliever.

“On one of my random scrolls on Facebook, I saw this game called Pepper Pong,” he laughed.

Pepper Pong helps Aurora firefighters cope with stress

After an impulse buy, fun times have begun at Fire Station 16.

“I bring this to the firehouse and show it to the guys. These guys were so excited,” Harr recalled.

Little did he know that the fire station’s favorite game was the brainchild of Denver resident Tom Filippini.

“It turned out that Mitch was a very close friend of a close friend of mine and they made the connection,” Filippini told Denver7.

The day we met Harr and Filippini, there was a friendly rivalry going on.

“I swore I would come forward and challenge Mitch, who claims to be really good at Pepper Pong,” Filippini laughed.

But beyond what Filippini calls the “gort” (three-quarters sport, one-quarter game), Pepper Pong has a deeper meaning.

Everything dates back to 2016.

“I got sober. “I was struggling with addiction and alcoholism,” Filippini recalled. “I was actually in a recovery facility and there was a ping pong table. Hitting back and forth at the time took my mind off what I was dealing with.

This is where the idea for Pepper Pong came about.

“What this game does is it brings people together wherever they are and encourages good, old-fashioned human connection, which I believe is a huge step forward in reducing the isolation that often manifests itself as a form of addiction,” he said.

The idea may have turned Filippini into an entrepreneur, but at the heart of it all, he said, it’s about giving back.

“We really want to get these into the hands of people who are dealing with some kind of struggle, whether it’s mental health-related or addiction-related,” he said.

Is it his duty now? Donating Pepper Pong sets to rescue centers and first responders, like the folks at Aurora Fire Station 16.

“When the four of us are playing this game at the dinner table after dinner… We don’t think about that bad call we had, we don’t think about the calls we’ve made in the past. We just focus on beating each other, and it’s really about camaraderie and teamwork,” Harr said.

So, while this special is a friendly competition to win Pepper Pong prizes, the real prize here is joy, community, and healing.

”Best impulse buy ever,” Harr laughed.