Free 2 player air hockey on one phone or tablet

How to start

1. Open bigboard.games on one phone or tablet and tap Start a table.
2. Pick the game; the players at this device are set before the match.
3. Lay the device flat between you and play.

One screen, two ends

Start a table on one phone or tablet with two people on it and pick Air Hockey. The rink lies along the screen's long side, whichever way you hold it, with a goal at each short end: sit across from each other with the device flat between you.

Nobody waits for a turn. Each of you grabs your own mallet in the ring at your end, then a 3-2-1 countdown drops the puck and you both play at once, two fingers on one screen. A tablet gives you the most room; a phone works for two players sitting close. With a phone each, air hockey on two phones gives each player a whole screen.

Hold it still

The rink is fixed to the screen. Where the browser can lock the orientation, it does; where it can't, turning the device mid-match lets go of both mallets and pauses the game until you turn it back, so a bumped phone never costs a goal.

Pick the winning score before the match: 5, 7 or 11 goals. Comeback goals narrow the trailing player's goal mouth unless you turn them off, and all five arenas play on one screen too. Hot Potato and Snake also put two players on one screen at once; see the 2 player games on one phone.

The end, and a bot instead

When a match ends, the result comes up as a split card, one copy facing each player, naming the winner, so neither of you has to read it upside down. Rematch starts the next match straight away, with nobody getting up from the table.

Alone? The far end can be a bot instead of a friend. It plays from the same device, guards its goal and shoots back, and the end card then faces you alone. And when more friends turn up with their own phones, push the devices together and the same game becomes a rink for three or four, as in 4 player air hockey.

Pass and play: questions and answers