Table Pong: edge smashes, the six Arcade arenas and what each power-up really does

Table Pong is table tennis on a neon court against a computer rival, or against a friend on the same device. Your paddle slides along its own end of the table and follows your finger or mouse; on a keyboard use the arrow keys or WASD (the second player uses IJKL). Tap the court to serve. You can play it in your browser.

How a match is scored

Classic: a set goes to 11 points, won by 2, and the match is best of three sets.
Arcade: the same, except on the Sudden death arena, where a set is first to 5 and a one-point lead is enough.
A point is scored when the ball leaves the table past a paddle. After each point, the side that lost it serves.

Where you hit the ball matters

The spot on the paddle decides the angle: the centre sends the ball almost straight back, the ends send it off at a steep angle. Contact on the outer third of the paddle is a smash, 25% faster than a normal return. Every return also makes the ball a little quicker (about 3% plus a small fixed boost), so long rallies speed up by themselves. Moving the paddle at the moment of contact pushes the ball sideways in that direction.

Rivals and difficulty

Rookie and Wall are open from the start. The others come with match wins (Classic and Arcade together; two-player matches don't count): Sniper after 4 wins, Baiter after 6, Aggressive after 8. Each rival can be played on Easy, Normal, Hard or Master.

Rookie is the slowest to react and makes the most mistakes.
Wall misses the least; it simply returns everything.
Sniper aims the most precisely.
Aggressive reacts and moves fastest and goes for smashes far more often than the others.
Baiter sits in the middle on every count.

The six Arcade arenas

Obstacle gauntlet is open from the start, and every Arcade win opens the next one, so all six are open after five Arcade wins.

| Arena | Arcade wins | What changes | |---|---|---| | Obstacle gauntlet | 0 | Three bumpers in the middle and a wall that slides left and right | | Shrink table | 1 | The table slowly shrinks during the match, down to about 72% of its size | | Low gravity | 2 | Serves start about 15% slower and the ball slowly loses speed | | Fog lane | 3 | Fog hides the middle of the court; a block in it is solid for about 1.2 s, then gone for 1.2 s. The rival reacts a little later too | | Mirror serve | 4 | Every serve goes out on a diagonal; a bar spins in the centre | | Sudden death | 5 | First to 5, win by 1, with one bumper in the middle |

Power-ups (Arcade only)

Now and then a glowing orb appears near the middle of the table and stays for 7 seconds. Paddles can't touch it: the ball has to roll through it, and the power-up goes to whoever hit the ball last. A new orb only appears when no power-up is active, and effects last 5 seconds.

Wide paddle: your paddle grows by about 45%.
Tiny rival: paddles shrink to about two thirds of their size.
Multi-ball: an extra ball joins (up to three at once). Only the original ball can score; extra balls just disappear when they leave the table.
Slow-mo: the whole game runs at 70% speed.
Magnet: after you hit the ball, it is pulled back towards your paddle.
Shield: the next point the other side would win is cancelled and the ball bounces back into play.
Speed surge: every one of your returns counts as a smash.

Rating and challenges

Your leaderboard rating is 100 per match win + your best rally + 50 per challenge cleared. The best rally counts every paddle hit by both sides, in any mode.

There are twelve challenges. A few details worth knowing: First blood needs only one Classic set against Rookie on Easy; Rally 12 is done in Practice; Pickup hungry wants 3 power-ups in one Arcade match; Multi madness needs a point scored by the original ball while an extra ball is still in play; Champion counts 5 Arcade wins in total.

Practice has three courts with no score limit: Clean court, With hazards (the Obstacle gauntlet layout) and Fast ball, where serves are 35% quicker.

Quick tips

Want an angle? Let the ball hit near the end of the paddle. Want control? Take it in the centre.
Wall almost never misses, so waiting for its mistake is slow. Edge smashes are the surest way to win points against it.
With Multi-ball, keep your eye on the original ball. The extras can't cost you a point.
On Fog lane, watch where the ball enters the fog and move early.

More on the Table Pong page, or serve your first point.