Paddle Attack

About Paddle Attack

Paddle Attack is the straightest match game on the site: first to eleven points, two clear, service changing every two points. What sets it apart is the smash. At a 1.5 speed multiplier on a wide blade, a well-set-up attacking shot here is very hard to return, and the game is built around earning the ball that lets you play it.

It is also the flagship of the local two-player category. Flip the Players toggle above the table and the far paddle stops being driven by the computer and starts reading Player 2's arrow keys. Every rule, every physics value and the whole scoreboard stays exactly the same.

How to play Paddle Attack

1. Choose 1P to play the computer or 2P for local two-player on one keyboard.
2. Player 1 moves with A and D. Player 2 moves with the left and right arrow keys.
3. Press Space to smash. The shot is faster and flatter, and it crosses the net lower.
4. Service changes every two points, as shown by the dot beside the scoreboard.
5. First to eleven points with a two-point cushion wins the match.

Controls

On a touchscreen: In two-player mode each player gets a tinted pair of buttons under the table. It works best on a tablet in landscape.

Gameplay mechanics

The smash, and when it is worth playing

A smash multiplies the base shot speed by 1.5 and aims deep. The solver then computes the launch that lands it there, which necessarily means a lower crossing height at the net. The higher the ball is when you strike it, the more clearance you have.

That gives the game its rhythm. You do not smash whenever you can — you build the point until the opponent gives you a ball that has bounced up, and then you smash that one. Against the Medium AI, the ball that sits up is usually the return that follows a misjudgement.

Local two-player

In 2P mode the far paddle reads the arrow keys and the near paddle reads A and D. Both paddles use the identical contact test, the identical steering rule and the identical hit box, so neither end of the table has an advantage built into it. Labels appear under each blade so nobody loses track.

On a touchscreen the control strip rebuilds into four buttons — two tinted for Player 1 on the left, two for Player 2 on the right — and both pairs are live simultaneously. It works best on a tablet in landscape.

Scoring beyond the match

The match score is the eleven-point one on the table. Alongside it the game keeps an arcade score that rewards long rallies, smashes and won points, and that is the number saved as your personal best.

The two reward different things on purpose. You can win a match eleven-two and score poorly, or lose eleven-nine after a series of long rallies and post a personal best. Both are legitimate ways to play.

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 Paddle Attack the physics run at the site's standard values, which makes it a good reference point for the variants that change them.

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 Paddle Attack the blade is 19 world units wide and travels at 118 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 28 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

• Winning a point is worth 200 plus a bonus for the length of the rally that produced it.
• Winning the match adds a flat 1,000 points on top of everything banked.
• 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

Paddle Attack is rated Medium overall. A balanced opponent that returns most things competently and misjudges perhaps one ball in eight. 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. Wait for the ball that sits up. Smashing a low ball is the fastest way to hand over a point, and the AI gives you a floaty return roughly one rally in eight.
2. In two-player games, agree a handicap before you start if the players are uneven — cross-court only, or no smashing, are both easy to police.
3. Serve to the corners. You serve on about half the points, and a deep serve wins you a weak return more often than anything else in the game.
4. At nine-all, stop attacking entirely. The two-point cushion means a deuce can run long, and unforced errors decide almost all of them.
5. The wide blade makes small angle changes finer but big angles harder, so aim earlier than you would on a narrower paddle.

Features

• Genuine local two-player on one keyboard or one touchscreen
• First to eleven with a two-point cushion and alternating service
• The strongest smash on the site at a 1.5 speed multiplier
• A wide blade for both paddles, identical rules at both ends
• Canvas scoreboard readable in fullscreen as well as inline
• Separate arcade score saved locally alongside the match result

Paddle Attack — frequently asked questions