Table tennis, reduced to its bones
Paddle Ball is the two-paddle game that helped start the arcade era: a ball crosses a court, each side guards its own edge, and a miss gives the other side a point. You play the coral paddle on the right against the computer on the left, and the first to eleven takes the match.
It looks like a reflex test, and early on it is. But the computer here follows clear rules, and once you know them you can win points on purpose instead of waiting for it to slip.
How the computer defends
The computer's paddle watches the ball only while the ball is coming toward it. It moves toward the ball's current height, with a small error that it picks fresh on each approach. While the ball heads your way, its paddle drifts back to the middle of its side. Its paddle also has a top speed, and that limit is what you play against.
Three things follow from that:
- Steep angles beat it. A ball hit at a sharp angle climbs or drops quickly. The computer has to cover that distance at its capped speed, and on the lower difficulties it often can't.
- Wall bounces fool it. Because it chases the ball's height right now, a ball that bounces off the top or bottom edge sends it the wrong way first. A return that hits the wall close to the computer's side is hardest of all.
- Long rallies help you. Every paddle hit makes the ball a little faster, up to about 1.8 times its starting speed for the rally. A faster ball at a steep angle outruns the computer's paddle even on Hard.
Aiming your returns
Where the ball meets your paddle sets its angle. The centre sends it back almost flat. Near the top or bottom edge, it leaves at up to 55 degrees. Your paddle's movement doesn't change that, only the contact point.
So aim with your position, not your swing. To send the ball steeply upward, meet it with the top part of your paddle. To send it down, use the bottom part.
Here's a point played on purpose. The computer has just returned the ball flat toward the middle of your side. Move so the ball will meet the top quarter of your paddle. It leaves at a sharp angle upward, hits the top wall about two-thirds of the way across, and comes down toward the computer's lower half. The computer started tracking upward and has to turn around. On Easy and Medium, that's usually a point. On Hard, the same shot works once the rally has gone on long enough for the ball to pick up speed.
Habits that give points away
- Standing at the edge after a return. The computer can angle its returns too. Drift back to the middle after every hit so you're never more than half a court from the ball.
- Trying for the sharpest angle every time. The very edge of the paddle is easy to miss entirely. Aim a little inside the edge for a strong angle with room for error.
- Following the ball instead of reading it. Watch its line and work out where it will cross your side, counting any bounce off the top or bottom. Get there early and wait.
- Rushing the serve. The side that lost the point serves the next one, and the ball waits on that paddle until it's launched. When it's your serve, take a breath and settle first.
Climbing the difficulties
Easy gives the computer a slow paddle with loose tracking and a gentle ball. It's the place to learn angled returns, because nearly any steep shot scores. Medium speeds up both the ball and the computer, so you'll start needing wall bounces. Hard gives the computer near-perfect tracking and a faster paddle, and points come mostly from long rallies and sharp angles off the wall.
The game keeps your best streak of matches won in a row, so try stringing wins together on one level before moving up. If you'd rather aim a ball at a target than an opponent, Brick Breaker uses the same edge-of-the-paddle angles to knock down a wall.
