Conveyor Table

About Conveyor Table

Conveyor Table divides the playing surface into four bands that push the ball sideways in alternating directions, and then makes the strength of that push oscillate over time. Nothing you hit travels in a straight line, and the amount it bends changes depending on which part of the table it crosses and when.

Unlike the spin games, this is not something you control. The drift is a property of the table rather than of your shot, which makes the mode a reading exercise: the arrows drawn on each band show which way it is pushing, and the only way to place a ball is to account for the bands it will cross on the way.

How to play Conveyor Table

1. The table is divided into four bands with arrows showing which way each one pushes.
2. The push strength rises and falls over time, so the same band varies in effect.
3. Move with the arrows, A and D, or by dragging on the table.
4. Aim into the drift rather than at the target, and let the surface carry the ball.
5. Three lives. The tempo cap is lower than usual because the drift is doing the work.

Controls

On a touchscreen: Drag anywhere on the table to slide your paddle, or use the left, right and hit buttons under the game.

Gameplay mechanics

How the bands work

The table is split into four equal horizontal bands. Even-numbered bands push right, odd-numbered ones push left, and the strength of each is modulated by a sine wave that runs at 0.85 cycles per second with a per-band phase offset.

The push is applied as a sideways acceleration on the ball for as long as it is over that band. A ball crossing the whole table therefore passes through four alternating pushes, and the net effect depends entirely on the timing of the crossing.

Reading the arrows

Each band draws a row of arrows that drift in the direction it is currently pushing, at a speed proportional to the push. When a band is between phases and pushing gently, the arrows barely move.

That is the information the game gives you, and it is complete: what you see on the band is what will happen to the ball. Learning to glance at the band nearest your target rather than at the whole table is the main skill.

Why the tempo cap is lower

Most rally games cap the tempo multiplier at around 2.0. Here it is 1.7, because the drift already supplies a large amount of the difficulty and stacking a full speed ramp on top would make long rallies a coin flip rather than a skill.

The tempo step is also gentler than usual. The intent is a game that stays readable while remaining genuinely hard, rather than one that simply becomes too fast to track.

Ball physics

The ball carries a height as well as a table position, so it arcs, bounces off the surface and can clip the net. When a paddle strikes it, the engine picks a landing point and solves for the exact launch velocity that reaches it, which is why the aim marker on the table is honest. In Conveyor Table, the table surface itself pushes the ball sideways in alternating bands.

Paddle mechanics

The paddle is a blade that slides along your baseline. Four numbers decide how it feels: how fast it moves, how hard the ball leaves the face, how accurately a shot lands where you aimed it, and how high above the table it can still make contact. In Conveyor Table the blade is 17 world units wide and travels at 140 units per second.

Where the ball meets the blade steers the return. A contact at the centre sends the ball straight down the table, and a contact at the edge sends it roughly 26 units off centre. Holding a direction key at the moment of contact adds a smaller correction on top.

Serving

The serve here is a single press. The ball is released toward the far half from wherever your paddle is standing, so where you stand when you serve decides the angle. Service alternates between the two ends where the game keeps a match score.

Scoring

• Rally milestones at 5, 10, 15, 25, 40, 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200 returns each pay a bonus.
• Winning a point banks a bonus that grows with the square of the rally length.
• Every clean return is worth points, and a well-timed one is worth more than an ordinary one.
• Consecutive successful actions build a combo multiplier that caps at eight and lapses if you stop scoring.
• Your best score and your longest rally are saved in this browser and shown on the ready screen.

Difficulty

Conveyor Table is rated Hard overall. Reads the ball quickly, covers the table well and punishes a loose return, with an error rate around seven per cent. Use the difficulty buttons above the table to change the opponent at any time; restarting applies the change immediately. Expert is deliberately hard rather than impossible.

Tips for a better score

1. Aim into the drift. If the band nearest your target is pushing right, aim left of where you want the ball to finish.
2. Watch one band, not four. The band closest to your landing point is the one that decides where the ball ends up.
3. Shots down the middle drift least, because the pushes on either side of the centre tend to cancel.
4. When the arrows are barely moving, that band is between phases — it is the safest moment to attack that part of the table.
5. Expect to miss more than in other rally games. A rally of fifteen here is a good one.

Features

• Four alternating conveyor bands across the playing surface
• Push strength that oscillates over time with a per-band phase
• Visible drifting arrows showing each band's current direction
• A lower tempo cap, because the drift already supplies the difficulty
• A Hard opponent that is affected by the same drift you are
• Local best score and longest rally saved in your browser

Conveyor Table — frequently asked questions