‘Pong’ In Real Life Is Something We All Need in Our… Real Lives

  All you decrepit old Ego-gamers will know Pong. All you studly young Ego-gamer dudes will also know Pong, no doubt. Much like Asteroids, Pac-Man and Space Invaders, this pioneering release was one of the first big video games. Just like those, it’s now a pop culture icon, one you’ll probably see on manchildren’s t-shirts across the world.  

Also like those, it looks like hell today. This is just to be expected of seventies tech, natch, and we won’t judge its pixeltastic craptastic. It’s the age old story of blurry bat meets blurry ball, and past and future generations alike will always appreciate its glory.

Pong has been ported to/rereleased on just about every system known to humankind over its long life. One thing we never quite mastered, though, is real life Pong. Air hockey tables are close, but it’s just not quite the same deal. Luckily, Daniel Perdomo has heard our cries.

Perdomo’s sure gone to great lengths to make sure the machine he’s rigged up feels authentic. ‘Despite what it looks like,’ EnGadget reports, ‘it's not just an Atari-themed air hockey table. Instead of letting physics take over, the machine maps virtual ball and paddle movements to objects. All the eccentricities of Pong gameplay are intact, just in a more tangible (and arguably, far more immersive) form. LEDs track the score, while the controllers are rejiggered hard drives.’

Color me impressed. He also hopes to manufacture more of these bad boys, apparently. Check out the machine in action below.