Air Hockey

Inspiration

Air hockey is a popular indoor game amongst people of all ages. In the game, the players have to think and react quickly, so their ability to focus is also improved. Despite its popularity and benefits, there is a drawback that air hockey usually comes with a bulky table that we simply cannot carry around. This poses a challenge for those who do not have easy access to the machine to enjoy it.

What it does

Using the Synaptics touchpad, we are proud to present to you a digitalized PORTABLE air hockey game. Just connect the touchpad with your laptop, and run our carefully crafted program, then ta-da an air hockey table appears on your screen. The two players play the game by using their fingers as the pucks and moving them around the touchpad.

How we built it

We used the pygame python package for the general game architecture. The touchpad reports the positions of the fingers of the two players. From the data, we apply physics tricks in the backend to model the collision scenario.

Challenges we ran into

Time constraint was a big issue. By the time we switched project there were ten hours left and we were tired. However, we were able to allocate time wisely and utilized good practices like pair programming to boost our efficiency and accuracy.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud to have finished this project in a relatively short time period and remained calm throughout the hackathon.

What we learned

Collaboration and high EQ are the keys to succeeding in a hackathon. It would also have been ideal if we have decided on a project idea before the hackathon. Preparation is important.

What's next for Air Hockey

We aim to create the real sense air hockey gives with an air cushion. It would potentially take some engine and fans around the touchpad. A 3D simulation of the game is also highly desired.

Built With

• python
• synaptics-touch-pad