Pong, for real

posted Jan 6th 2010 3:00pm by
filed under: home entertainment hacks, toy hacks

Over at EvilMadScientistLaboratories.com they’ve asked a question that many of us have never thought to ask. What exactly is Pong supposed to be? Instead of assuming it was ping pong like the rest of us, they decided to build a literal physical  interpretation. They may have taken some liberty, using solenoids as the paddles, but the end effect is quite nice. Watching them play actually looks both challenging and fun. There’s a great writeup about the construction, so be sure to check out the project page.

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22 Responses to Pong, for real

  • brian says:
    January 6, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    Would play a little more consistently if they added a very slight gradient to the play field; sloping from the center to each paddle.

    Very cool though.

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  • fenwick says:
    January 6, 2010 at 3:31 pm

    Brian stole me idea.

    Reply Report comment
  • Alpay Kasal says:
    January 6, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    oh my god, this is priceless (not just because it look like it was cheap to make either)… my whole office had a good laugh. I love the “gravity well” at the bottom right. this is actually pretty inspiring… i want to remake donkey kong on the side of my apartment building with a dude in a gorilla suit! now where to i get a whole mess of wooden barrels? great work.

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  • Musso says:
    January 6, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    Brian stole my idea too… lol. Great minds think alike. I love the concept though and it looks like it plays very well.

    Reply Report comment
  • Stephen says:
    January 6, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    http://www.cyberniklas.de/pongmechanik/indexen.html

    Like all the best stuff it was already done in Europe. A better job too i think.

    Reply Report comment
  • Paul says:
    January 6, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    hah, me and my team considered doing this autonomously, but we decided blackjack would be a better choice for user interactivity

    Reply Report comment
  • Urza9814 says:
    January 6, 2010 at 4:36 pm

    @Stephen:

    No, what you linked to is a computerized pong game, it’s simply displayed through physical objects rather than a screen – the ball and paddles are attached to strings and moved by a computer. The ball is not free to move on it’s own as in this version. This is physical pong, that is computer pong with a unique display.

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  • xrazorwirex says:
    January 6, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    They should hook magnets or solenoids or something up to the barrier so the ball doesn’t stall.

    This is sweet.

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  • KayDat says:
    January 6, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    Agree with xrazorwirex, maybe something like pinball bumpers for the walls (not as extreme tho) to keep the ball moving. I disagree with the slope idea, the ball would still have to move back up the slope, and if it doesn’t have enough momentum, it could roll backwards.
    Maybe have an electro magnet on the solenoids for serving, so you can serve just like in-game–from the paddle. Magnet would disengage as you activate the solenoid.

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  • dave says:
    January 6, 2010 at 5:07 pm

    @Urza9814:

    In this version the paddles look like they sense and then react to the ball via electronics. So the real physical pong you are talking about would probably be closer to air hockey.

    Regardless both projects are cool.

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  • Seth says:
    January 6, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    That’s really great. And it actually looks like a lot of fun.

    Reply Report comment
  • Raged says:
    January 6, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    Why not have the platform on a pivit point (in dead center) and raise/lower the corners to keep the ball’s speed constant. I’m sure you could do object tracking with some clever sensor and programming. Slightly raise and lower corners to keep the ball’s speed constant.

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  • RoboGuy says:
    January 6, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    I always thought Pong was supposed to be like air hockey – the “puck” moves at a constant rate, you use the paddles to bounce it back to the other side, and if the puck passes you by, you lose a point.

    Hmmm…mechanized air hockey…

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  • Hirudinea says:
    January 6, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    pong (third-person singular simple present pongs, present participle ponging, simple past and past participle ponged)

    (Australian, New Zealand, British, slang) To stink, to smell bad.

    And this dosn’t.

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  • ak77 says:
    January 6, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    RoboGuy,

    mechanized air hockey?


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNEjtVUxyX4

    Reply Report comment
  • nubie says:
    January 6, 2010 at 8:24 pm

    Instead of solenoids you could have the board tilt toward the direction (or use magnets?) to accelerate the ball.

    Then use pinball bumpers for the paddles.

    This is simple and stunning for nearly the same result. Maybe just make the board gently crowned in the center and have a bubble level to keep it from getting stuck.

    Interesting take on a classic, I like it!

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  • JBu92 says:
    January 6, 2010 at 8:27 pm

    I think integrating some sort of AI for one-player operation would be quite a fun build (but a bitch-and-three-quarters to code)

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  • robb says:
    January 7, 2010 at 3:45 am

    maybe they could put an arduino in there to control the gradient via using some ir detectors to detect when the ball looses momentum.

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  • shiftybill says:
    January 7, 2010 at 6:19 am

    they should have the center of the field raised slighty so the ball doesnt get stuck in the middle

    Reply Report comment
  • Agent420 says:
    January 7, 2010 at 7:00 am

    Props for the build quality!

    However, I agree that some kind of table gradient design needs to be incorporated.

    Reply Report comment
  • lenny says:
    January 7, 2010 at 7:11 am

    I say… level it and leave it alone…leveling the table would make the ball stay on course reguardless of speed… the speed changes add challenge… for once I feel the simplicity makes it great

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  • Andar_b says:
    January 7, 2010 at 9:31 am

    A miniature air hockey style would work better, since the ball is affected too much by gravity and friction, hence the ‘gravity well’ in the corner. Overall, though, it looks pretty cool, if silly.

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