Keep the ball out of your goal and send it past your opponent. Play the computer on three levels or a friend on the same device; first to 7 wins.
What is Paddle Ball?
Paddle Ball is a two-paddle ball game in the style of classic video table tennis: each side moves a paddle along its own end of the court, keeps the ball from getting past, and tries to send it past the other paddle. Every time the ball gets by a paddle, the other side scores a point, and the match goes to whoever reaches 7 points first.
You can play against the computer at three difficulty levels or against a friend on the same phone, tablet or computer. A match takes a few minutes, and the rules fit in one sentence, but placing the ball where your opponent is not takes practice.
How to play Paddle Ball
On a wide screen the paddles stand on the left and right; on a phone held upright they sit at the bottom and top, with blue at the bottom and orange at the top. The ball bounces off the two long walls of the court and off the paddles. If it passes a paddle and leaves the court, the other side wins the point.
After each point the ball reappears in the middle, blinks for a moment and is then served toward the side that just lost the point, at a random angle of up to 30 degrees. Every new serve starts at the same moderate speed.
Where the ball meets your paddle decides where it goes. A hit in the middle sends it straight back. The closer to either end it lands, the steeper the return, up to 60 degrees at the very end. The speed of your paddle at the moment of contact does not change the shot; only the contact point matters.
Each hit on a paddle makes the ball 5 percent faster, up to a fixed top speed, so long rallies get quick. The first side to reach 7 points wins, and there is no need to win by two.
Paddle Ball tips and strategy
Hit with the ends. A straight return in the middle of the paddle goes back to where your opponent usually is. Moving so the ball lands near one end of your paddle sends it at a sharp angle, often off a wall, and forces the other side to cover the whole width of the court.
Let rallies build against the computer. The computer predicts where the ball will arrive, including bounces off the walls, but it misjudges by a random amount on each approach, and the error grows with the speed of the ball. Every hit adds speed, so the longer a rally lasts, the more likely the computer is to miss. Keep the ball in play safely for a few hits, then go for a steep angle.
Use the computer's return to the centre. When the ball is moving away from it, the computer drifts back toward the middle of its end. A sharp angle that crosses the court quickly gives it the longest distance to travel, and on the lower levels it may not get there in time.
Get back to the middle yourself. Between hits, return your paddle toward the centre of your end so that no angle is out of reach. Watch the ball after it leaves your opponent's paddle and move early, especially once the rally is fast.
Be ready for the serve. The serve always goes to the side that lost the last point, so if you just conceded, the next ball is coming at you within a second.
Game modes and difficulty levels
One player mode puts you on the blue paddle against the computer. On Easy the computer moves slowly, reacts late and misjudges the ball often. Normal is quicker and more accurate. Hard moves fast, updates its aim three times as often as Easy and misses much less, so beating it usually takes long rallies and well placed angles. The game saves your chosen mode and difficulty, and keeps your highest number of points scored in one match against the computer.
Two player mode is for two people on one device. With a phone held upright, the players can sit facing each other with the phone between them: blue plays on the bottom half and orange on the top half, each dragging a finger on their own side. On a computer, blue uses W A S D and orange uses the arrow keys.
Where paddle ball games come from
Table tennis is one of the oldest ideas in video games. In 1958 the physicist William Higinbotham showed a tennis game on an oscilloscope at a laboratory open day in the United States. In 1972 the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, included a table tennis game, and the same year Atari released its paddle arcade game, which became the first big commercial hit of the video game industry.
Paddle Ball was written for Hevagames from scratch. It keeps the simple formula of two paddles and one ball and adds a computer opponent at three levels, two-player play on one screen and a layout that turns to fit a phone held upright.
Play Paddle Ball free on Hevagames
Paddle Ball runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, with no download. In one player mode you can drag anywhere on the screen or move the mouse to steer, or use W A S D or the arrow keys. In two player mode each player drags on their own half, or presses and drags with the mouse.
You can pause with P, Esc or the pause button and return to the menu between matches. The game is silent, so it works for a quick match anywhere, and its interface is available in 30 languages.
How to play
- 1Choose 1 player or 2 players. For 1 player, pick Easy, Normal or Hard. Then press Start.
- 2Move your paddle to stop the ball from getting past it. When the ball gets past a paddle, the other side scores a point.
- 3Where the ball meets your paddle sets the angle: the ends send it off steeply, the middle sends it straight back.
- 4The ball gets a little faster with every hit. The first side to 7 points wins the match.
Controls
Tips
- Hit the ball with the end of your paddle to send it off at an angle your opponent has to chase.
- On a phone held upright the paddles sit at the top and bottom, so two players can face each other across the phone.
- After each point the ball is served toward the side that lost the point.
