Paddle Duel — 2 Player

About Paddle Duel — 2 Player

Two players on one screen: Yellow and White, one at each end of the court. Share a phone or tablet with a finger each, or share a keyboard.

Paddle Duel is the classic two-paddle tennis game: one paddle at each end, one square ball, and a rally that gets faster with every hit. Keep the ball in play, angle it past your opponent's paddle, and be the first to 11 points. Play against the computer at three levels, or against a friend on the same screen. On a tall phone the court turns on its side, so there's always room to play.

Also called: paddle ball, table tennis game, two paddle game.

How to play Paddle Duel

1. Press Serve. You play the yellow paddle: on the left of the court, or at the bottom when the court is turned upright on a phone.
2. Move your paddle with the mouse, by dragging a finger anywhere on your half, or with the arrow keys or W and S. With a finger or the mouse, the paddle slides to line up with where you point.
3. Return the ball by getting your paddle in its way. Where the ball meets the paddle decides where it goes: the middle sends it straight back, the ends send it off at a steep angle.
4. If the ball gets past your paddle, your opponent wins the point. The next serve comes toward whoever lost the point.
5. The first to 11 points wins the match. Press Esc or the pause button to pause.

Rules

• The ball bounces off the two side walls with no loss of speed.
• The return angle depends only on where the ball hits your paddle, from straight across in the middle to 60 degrees at the very ends. A paddle that is moving as it hits bends the return a little more in the direction it is moving, but never beyond 60 degrees.
• Every serve starts at the same gentle speed. Each paddle hit makes the ball a little faster, up to a top speed, so long rallies get quick. The speed resets at the next serve.
• Serves go toward the player who lost the last point, at a slight random angle, after a short pause. The first serve of a match goes to a random side.
• A point is won when the ball passes completely beyond the far end of the court. A match is first to 11; there is no need to win by two.
• On the same-screen variant, Yellow uses W and S (or A and D) and White uses the arrow keys, or each player uses a finger or the mouse on their own half of the court.

Paddle Duel tips and strategy

• Use the ends of the paddle. A ball hit near an end flies off steeply and bounces off a wall, which is much harder to reach than a straight return.
• Get back to the middle. After you hit the ball, drift back toward the centre of your end so you can reach either wall in time.
• Watch the wall bounce. A steep ball will change direction when it hits a wall. Move to where it will be after the bounce, not where it is heading now.
• The computer judges a fast ball less well than a slow one. Keep a rally going and it will start to make mistakes as the ball speeds up.
• A flick of the paddle as you hit adds a bit of extra angle, handy for catching the computer out.