Atari Table Pong uses mechanical dials, magnetic paddles, and electronic lights to re-imagine the classic game.
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Atari Table Pong cleverly re-creates the classic video game using physics

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 2 min

The nostalgia wave was strong at CES 2018, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas this week. I got a taste of it when I saw Atari Table Pong, a mechanical and digital table game in which you spin foam paddles to play.

It’s sort of like an air hockey table, with the action taking place under a glass enclosure. You spin a mechanical dial to move your paddle. A foam ball bounces back and forth between the paddles, which repel the ball through the clever use of magnets. It has retro sounds, and the back border lights up when someone scores.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.