Pong, the world’s first video arcade game, made its debut in arcades on Nov. 29th, 1972. Though the sport of table tennis, in which the game is based, may sound simple, there are many creative ways to play the game, including on clocks, electro mechanical machines, with flashlights, and more. Click here for more pictures. Continue reading for the eight creative ways to play.

1. Pong Clock

The Pong Clock features an autographed serial numbered, smoked pmma case (laser engraved logo), custom designed circuit board with embedded software, and power supply with plug converters. In addition to being a clock, you can even switch to game mode and play a game of Pong. It measures 180 x 120 x 30 mm and weighs 500g. Unfortunately, due to a C&D from Atari, this creation is no longer available for purchase.

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).

3. Flashlight Pong

Display22 puts a new twist on the classic game of Pong by adding a new level of interactivity — using flashlights to control the paddles. The entire surface of the screen was fitted with light-tracking sensors to follow movement.

Concretely, Flashlight Pong should be playable in the input area on the display installed

4. Pong Computer

Here’s a first: a computer that uses a webcam and custom software to play Pong against itself.

By utilizing a webcam as the machine’s eyes, he was able to write up an image recognition program that could detect borders and make appropriate movements based on where the ball currently was

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5. BioPong

BioPong basically consists of a “modified a ThinkGeek Pong kit with an Analog Devices instrumentation amplifier and differential electrodes.”

A Teckjunkie was inspired by Hack-A-Day to build a bio-interfaced game. Flexing either arm actuates the inputs on the Pong game

6. Pong Watch

Designed by John Maushammer, this watch features a 1.2-inch 96×64 yellow-and-white OLED display and a rechargeable battery

7. Real-Life Pong

A group of Pong fans have recreated the classic game “at the donauinsel in Vienna.”

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8. Pong Drum Machine

MusicThing reports that a group of Japanese coders hacked a Akai MPC-1000 Drum Machine to play Pong.

Aside from the snazzy custom loading screen, the game itself looks to work fairly well, and also triggers samples of your choice to loop in the background while gaming. The good news is that the Pong upgrade will only set you back $30, but the bad news is that would require you to actually already own the Akai machine

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