How to play
Puck Duel is air hockey seen from above. Pink guards the goal on the left, Cyan guards the goal on the right, and each of you may only move your mallet inside your own half of the table. Knock the puck into the slot at the far end. The first player to reach seven goals wins the match, and you can pick five or nine on the menu instead.
- Pink moves with W A S D and dashes with Space.
- Cyan moves with the arrow keys and dashes with Enter.
- Gamepads work too: the stick or d-pad moves, A dashes. The first pad is Pink, the second is Cyan.
- On a phone, hold it sideways. Each player owns one half of the screen: drag anywhere on your half to steer the mallet, and tap the lightning button on the outer edge to dash.
- Playing alone? Choose vs Bot and pick Easy, Normal or Hard.
- P or Esc pauses. The game also pauses by itself when you switch tabs.
The puck and the mallet
The puck floats on air, so it barely slows down and bounces off the rails almost as fast as it hit them. Your mallet passes its own speed to the puck: a mallet that is standing still only blocks, while a mallet moving through the puck sends it flying. The corners are cut at an angle, so the puck never gets trapped in one.
Whoever concedes a goal serves next: the puck is placed in the middle of their half after a short countdown.
Dash
Press the dash button and your mallet lunges in the direction you are moving, about twice as fast as normal, for a split second. Without a direction it lunges straight at the other goal. A dash that meets the puck sends it at top speed. Afterwards the ring around your mallet empties and refills over roughly a second, and you cannot dash again until it is full. A wasted dash can leave your goal open, so time it.
Blazing puck
Every time the puck changes hands, it heats up: the ring on the puck turns from white to yellow, orange and red, and the flame marks above the table light up one by one. After six exchanges it catches fire. A goal with a blazing puck counts double. Any goal cools the puck back down. You can switch the blazing puck off on the menu for a classic game where every goal is worth one.
Too slow
You may not sit on the puck. If it stays in your half for about seven seconds, a ring around it counts down the last three, and then the serve goes to your rival. Hit it across the centre line before the ring closes.
Own goals
If you push the puck towards your own goal and it goes in, it counts for the other side and is announced as an own goal. A puck that was already heading in and only brushed your mallet on the way is a normal goal for your rival.
Strategy
Hit through the puck, not at it. Line up behind the puck on the line to the goal and keep moving as you meet it. The speed you carry is the speed the puck gets.
Use the rails. A shot that bounces off the top or bottom rail comes at the goal from an angle the defender is not covering. The Hard bot likes bank shots too.
Do not chase it backwards. When the puck slips past you, step sideways and let it come off the end rail. Running back into it is the fastest way to score against yourself.
Build the heat on purpose. A long rally makes the puck blaze. If you are behind, keep the rally going and save your best dash for the burning puck.
Like duels on one keyboard? The big-headed football of Bobble Kick and the maze battles of Bounce Tanks are built for two players on the same screen as well.
If you enjoy Puck Duel, try Reflex Party or Rock Drift next.
