🏓 Pong

How to play

Two paddles face each other across a 600 by 400 court and knock a ball back and forth. You score when the ball passes the paddle on the far side, and the first player to 7 points wins. Both paddles are driven from the same keyboard, so this is a two-player game at one screen.

• W and S — move the left paddle up and down.
• Arrow Up and Arrow Down — move the right paddle up and down.
• Space — start a match when none is running.
• Start button — begin a match, or reset the score to 0-0 after a win.

Scoring

A point goes to a player each time the ball leaves the court behind their opponent, and the ball is then served from the centre toward whoever conceded. There are no bonus points and no clock. First to 7 takes the match. Every paddle hit multiplies the ball's horizontal speed by 1.05, up to a cap of 14 pixels per frame, so long rallies get progressively faster.

Tips

• The bounce angle depends on where the ball strikes the paddle. Contact near an end returns it steeply, contact in the middle returns it flat.
• Come back to the vertical centre after every shot. From there either corner is the same distance away.
• A steep return is harder to read but travels further before arriving, which gives your opponent time as well as trouble. Mix flat and steep.
• Speed only rises during a rally, so finishing a long point with a sharp angle beats trying to out-react a ball at the cap.

Frequently asked questions