Looking like a vintage Air Hockey table (of which there are no vintage air hockey tables!) – this group of friends in Uruguay have created this awesome mechanical (and digital!) version of Atari Pong, the 1972 title helped kickstart gaming and is in the gaming hall of fame, but while you can still play it anywhere, a physical version is now reality.
The concept table uses rectangle paddles and a square ball, but the puck is guided by magnets. Like the original arcade game, the game uses knobs to control the paddles and has an LED display for the score. The team used Arduino, which is used to create open-sourced hardware and software, to control everything that happens on the table.
The prototype took 2 years as it was built in the group’s spare time. Since they didn’t have much experience in electronics or manufacturing, they referred to YouTube, Google and forums regularly while building it. The guys are looking for funding to help complete this project.
This Pong table was executed so perfectly that it feels like the original game but operates like something straight out of a modern-day arcade. This will definitely bring out some nostalgia for many of you.
