Beating the computer at air hockey in Puck Smash
Puck Smash in Games by Zaweba is fast table air hockey against the computer. Hit the puck while moving, bank it off cushions and score seven first.
Puck Smash is fast, a match is over in a few minutes, and it brings table air hockey to the Skill & sport shelf of Games by Zaweba. You control a blue mallet, the computer controls the other, and the puck flies between you. The first to seven goals wins.
Controls
Steer your blue mallet with the mouse. It follows your movement around your half of the table. The arrow keys or WASD move it too, if you would rather use the keyboard. Your goal is to smash the puck into the slot at the right-hand end of the table, past the computer's mallet.
You must stay in your own half. The table is split down the middle, and your mallet cannot cross into the computer's side.
Giving the puck pace
A still mallet just blocks the puck. A moving mallet hits it. To shoot hard, hit the puck while your mallet is moving towards it. The faster your mallet is going at the moment of contact, the more pace the puck takes.
That means a good shot often starts a little way back. Move into the puck rather than waiting for it to arrive.
Using the cushions
The puck bounces off the cushions round the edge of the table, and bank shots are your best weapon. The computer has a weakness: it reacts to where the puck was a moment ago, not where it is now. It is always a split second behind.
Quick angles catch it out. A bank shot off a side cushion changes the puck's direction suddenly, and the computer's mallet goes to where the puck was heading before the bounce. By the time it catches up, the puck may be past it.
Straight shots are the easiest for the computer to stop, so mix them in only as a surprise.
Defending
When the computer has the puck, stay between it and your goal. Keep your mallet back towards your own end, so you have room to react. After a block, look to counter-attack quickly with a bank shot, before the computer has settled.
Do not overcommit. It is tempting to follow every shot up the table, but you must stay in your own half anyway, and the further forward your mallet is, the less time you have when the puck comes back. Charging forward to the halfway line leaves your goal wide open if you miss the puck.
A winning pattern
Many points follow the same shape. Block the computer's shot, let the puck come to you, move into it with pace at an angle so it hits a side cushion, and watch the computer chase the wrong line. Repeat that pattern and seven goals come quickly.
If the computer starts to score against you, slow your own game down. Wild, fast swings at the puck can send it straight back towards your goal off a cushion. A controlled hit at an angle is worth more than a hard one in a straight line.
Further games in the same spirit
Puck Smash is one of the quickest games on the Skill & sport shelf of Games by Zaweba, and one of the few played against the computer, along with Curling Stones and Hill Cannons. Games by Zaweba keeps your plays and wins, so you can track your record against the machine. Press Esc to pause and F11 for full screen.
