Pong

About Pong

Pong is table tennis reduced to its bones: two paddles, one ball and a net down the middle. The arcade machine of 1972 was one of the first video games most people ever saw, and the idea has been copied thousands of times since. This version is adapted from Jake Gordon's open-source JavaScript Pong, which is MIT licensed, with a new look in the Kaamko colours, touch controls for phones, and a pause that works when you switch tabs. It makes no sound.

You can play the computer, or two people can share one keyboard or one tablet. Your wins against the computer are counted in this browser only.

How to play Pong

1. Press Start. Against the computer you are the left paddle.
2. Move your paddle up and down to meet the ball. On a keyboard use W and S, or the Up and Down arrows. On a phone, put your finger on your half of the court and drag; the paddle follows.
3. The ball bounces off the top and bottom walls. If it gets past a paddle, the other side scores a point and the ball is served again.
4. In a two-player game the left player uses W and S and the right player uses the arrow keys. On a tablet, each player drags on their own half.
5. The first side to reach nine points wins. Press P or Esc, or the Pause button, to stop the game at any time.

Tips

The ball speeds up the longer a rally lasts, so get into position early rather than chasing it. Your paddle adds spin: hit the ball while moving in the same direction it is travelling and it leaves faster and steeper, hit it while moving against it and it leaves slower and flatter. A steep ball that bounces off a wall close to the far paddle is the hardest one to return.

How the computer plays

The computer paddle predicts where the ball will cross its line, bouncing the path off the walls, and moves there. It reacts after a short delay and aims with an error that shrinks as the ball gets closer. Both the delay and the error adjust to the score: when you are ahead it gets sharper, and when it is ahead it gets sloppier, so most games stay close. That adaptive design is from the original code, and it is why you can come back from a few points down.