We’ve seen a supersized version of it on the side of a skyscraper, now check out this miniaturized effort on the screen of a tiny smartwatch.
Yes, folks, the classic paddle-and-ball game that kicked off the whole video game circus in the early 70s has just landed on the Apple Watch.
Called, appropriately, A Tiny Game of Pong, this delightful creation is the work of developer Matt Wiechec, and is available from the iTunes store now.
The tiny game features a tiny paddle controller in the form of the watch’s fairly tiny Digital Crown, so you’ll need to hone your twisting technique to have a chance of chalking up multiple wins.
Two playing modes are offered: Arcade, a “fast-paced…endless game with an unbeatable opponent,” and Classic, where you can pit your wits against an AI opponent in a first-to-three-points match. The latter costs 99 cents as an in-app payment, which also gets you 10 custom theme colors “to match the style and color of your Apple Watch band,” Wiechec says.
Certain to generate a warm fuzzy feeling for nostalgic types old enough to remember Atari’s popular game when it landed on the scene all those years ago, A Tiny Game of Pong plays standalone on the Apple Watch, though pairing it with an iPhone brings additional functionality.
The original Pong was created by Atari’s s Nolan Bushnell back in 1972. Repurposing it for the wrist brings the game slap-bang into the 21st century, and its simplicity and retro-infused fun could even win it a whole new generation of fans (among Apple Watch owners, that is).