How to play Air Hockey

What air hockey is

Air hockey is a fast two-player table game. Air blows up through hundreds of tiny holes in the playing surface, so a flat plastic puck floats on a thin cushion and glides with almost no friction. Each player holds a mallet, a round handle on a flat disc, and defends a slot-shaped goal at their end. Hit the puck into the other player's goal to score. A rally can last a second or a minute, and most goals come from a shot the defender reads too late.

Playing air hockey on AllFun

AllFun Air Hockey puts a neon table on your screen. You defend the bottom goal with the blue mallet; your opponent has the rose one at the top. Slide your finger on your half of the table and the mallet follows, just above your fingertip so you can see it. On a computer the mallet follows the mouse. The mallet cannot cross the centre line, the same as on a real table.

Play vs Computer at Easy, Medium or Hard, or choose 2 Players and lay a phone or tablet flat between two people, each playing one half. To play someone in another room, Play with a friend sends a link, and Play Online finds you an opponent. A match is first to 5, 7 or 11 goals. Air Hockey is also on our two-player games page.

The rules

Scoring

A goal counts when the puck drops into the opponent's goal slot. The usual tournament game is first to seven goals; casual games use any target the players agree on. There is no offside and no limit on how hard you may hit.

The serve

The player who conceded a goal takes the puck and serves it from their own half. Who serves first in a game is often settled with a coin toss. On AllFun the puck is always served to the side that let in the last goal.

Where you may play

• Each player hits the puck only on their own half. A puck exactly on the centre line can be played by either side.
• Under the common tournament rules, a player who has the puck on their side must send it across the centre line within seven seconds.
• A puck that leaves the table goes to the player who did not touch it last.

Fouls

• Topping: lifting the mallet over the puck and pressing down on it.
• Palming: touching the puck with a hand, an arm or any part of the body.
• Crossing: reaching past the centre line with the mallet.

A foul gives the puck to the other player. On a phone none of these can happen, so the game is only about speed and angles. If a puck stops dead and nobody plays it for a few seconds, AllFun gives it a small nudge.

Six tips to score more goals

1. Guard the middle of the goal. Wait a short way in front of your goal, in line with the puck. From there you can reach both corners.
2. Do not chase. Running up to the centre line leaves the goal open behind you; the return shot is the easy goal.
3. Hit across the puck. A puck moving sideways across your mallet can be struck at full speed. One coming straight at you is better blocked than hit.
4. Use the rails. A bank shot off a side rail arrives from an angle the defender does not expect. Aim the rebound at the far corner of the goal.
5. Vary your shots. The same straight shot three times in a row is easy to read. Mix straight shots with banks, and soft touches with hard ones.
6. Learn the computer levels. On AllFun the computer sees the puck a moment late, like a person. On Easy it leaves gaps; on Hard it reacts faster and banks more, so make it move before you shoot.

Air hockey FAQ