Remember Pong? The 1970s Atari classic had kids queuing at the arcade and families gathered around the TV to take part in a tiny pixelated tennis match. It was about as basic as gaming gets, but those bleeps and bloops are an iconic part of our cultural history – and they’re still inspiring developers even today.
Between the Walls! is a new game that takes the essence of Pong and cranks it up a notch. Instead of a two-player competition with one paddle each, the player controls a whole suite of paddles that spin through a colorful abstract sky. You need to keep the ball bouncing within the circle (or rather, Between the Walls) for as long as possible by rotating the paddles.
Initially, controlling things in this way messes with your head – but soon spinning the circle and planning ahead for the next bounce will be second nature. There are a bunch of game modes and levels to play through to ensure the formula doesn’t get stale too quickly.
It even works offline in airplane mode, which is rare for a free game supported by ads. Between the Walls! is a free download, but check out the trailer below to see if you dig the game’s simplistic neon appeal.