Our editors have compiled a list of the “Top 5 Strangest (or Coolest) Pong Creations” for your enjoyment. Which ones are your favorites?

Honorable Mention – LEGO Mindstorms Pong

A LEGO fanatic created this Mindstorms robot capable of playing a Pong-like game. Here’s what its creator had to say:

I have a webcam and it’s controlled through infrared using a laptop computer. There’s no tricks.

5. LED Pong Hat

LushProjects created this nifty hat that sports “two 21×10 dot displays each made from 6 LED modules” — capable of displaying text, Invaders, and Pong.

I wanted to have the display respond to its environment. The system includes a microphone and amplifier which feeds in to one of the A/D ports on the AVR

4. 3D Display Cube Pong

James Clar presents the “3D Display Cube”, “a spatial display device capable of presenting true 3D video and animations”.

Using 1000 LEDs as spatial pixels, each display Cube is able import photoshop files and video to be viewed in the display region. Interactive elements such as video cameras and live audio can also be connected to the Cube to generate live spatial imagery

3. De Pong Game

De Pong Game is an interactive gaming installation — designed by Arjan Westerdiep — that explores augmented reality “by using and interacting with urban architectures [buildings] as background for the game.” Basically, “the ball is limited to frame of the building” — “as you touch the ball with the slider, its speed increases and because the ball bounces on all the obstacles of the architecture it becomes more and more difficult to play.”

Thus the game is projected on a building and the limits of that building are becoming the limits of the game area. The ball projected on the building bounces along the limits of the walls. The software is also using the windows as an obstacles for the game

2. Electro-Mechanical Pong

Yes, this version of Pong is 100% electro-mechanical. The playing field consists of a ball and paddles that are attached to servo controlled cables, sandwiched between two sheets of glass. Instead of microcontrollers and integrated circuits, Pongmechanik uses three sensors to determine mechanical movement. Players use the joystick to drive a relay computer (simple logic circuit).

“The score counters go from 1 to 5 and the numbers are displayed on two rotating discs; as soon as a player gets five points, the game resets. The sound effects (all two of them) are created using solenoid plungers.”

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1. Brain-to-Computer Pong

Two players are enjoying a friendly game of Pong, using only their thoughts to control paddle movements.

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