ATARI PONG - Playable Mechanical Coffee Table
While modern video games can do just about anything and Star Trek-like Holodecks are probably only years away at this point, I kind of miss simpler games where a couple of players try to get a high score and then move on with their day. Well, ATARI has brought back one of the simplest arcade games ever made, PONG, except this time they made it completely analog and it doubles as a coffee table.
This cool new yet quite retro-inspired ATARI PONG Playable Mechanical Coffee Table is an electromechanical version of PONG that has been recreated on top of an arcade-style table that uses magnets and motors to move the ping pong ball and ping pong paddles around. Each player sits on either side of the table (or go solo and play the computer) and then uses the precision spinner controller to move the real-life white paddle up and down the non-video screen/tabletop to hit the moving ping pong ball/cube back to the other side. If a player misses it, the other side scores. See, fun and simple.
It features built-in colorful LEDs, speakers to play arcade-style sound effects, digital scoring, and has multiple game options, including computer difficulty, ball speed, and number of goals needed to win. When not in use, hinged doors hide the controls, the white LED scoring changes to a handy clock, and now you can use it as a regular coffee table. Check out the videos below to see it in action. Cool, huh?
