How to play air hockey
- Choose the computer (Easy, Medium or Hard) or a friend, and how many goals win the game. Press Play.
- Move your green mallet with the mouse, a finger or the arrow keys. You can only move in your own half of the rink.
- Hit the puck into the goal at the far end. Faster mallets hit harder, so swing through the puck for a strong shot.
- After a goal, the player who let it in gets the puck in their half. First to the target score wins. Space or Esc pauses.
Tips for winning at air hockey
When you aren’t attacking, keep your mallet between the puck and the middle of your goal. If the puck is in the other half, get back into that spot instead of following it up to the center line; chasing leaves the goal open.
A bank shot off the side wall changes angle and is harder to block than a straight one. When a slow puck sits in your half, you have time: move behind it, line up the shot and only then strike.
About air hockey
Air hockey is played on a table that blows air through tiny holes, so the puck floats and glides with almost no friction. Two players use round mallets to knock the puck into each other’s goals. This version recreates the feel with a puck that slows only a little, bounces off the walls, and comes off a mallet faster the harder it’s hit.