Your paddle is on the left. Move it up and down to deflect the ball. Where the ball hits determines the angle — the edge sends it sharp, the center keeps it flat. And your paddle's motion adds english: flick through the ball at contact to bend the return steeper, or hold still for a clean flat shot.

Every paddle hit increases the ball's speed, and each point becomes a race to outlast your opponent as the pace escalates. On Pro and Apex, the rally snaps up to tempo the moment the first return lands — only Rookie gives you a slow rollout.

Two large gold domes rise from the dead-center of the top and bottom walls — the heart of the arena. Every long rally crosses the midline, so any shot with real angle on it is heading straight for one. Where it lands on the curve decides everything: clip the crown and it rebounds straight back down the line; catch the edge and it caroms sideways into the far corner at a completely different speed and angle. Flatten your shot to slip beneath a dome, or steepen it on purpose to bait a wild ricochet your opponent can't read — mastering that choice IS the game.

Score by getting the ball past your opponent's paddle. The first player to reach 7 points wins the match (the Weekly difficulty swaps in its own target for that match — anywhere from 3 to 10, see its card on the difficulty screen). Head-to-Head is free during the open beta — at paid launch, the winner will take 80% of the on-chain prize pool.

If the score reaches 6–6, the match enters Overtime: the scores turn gold and the finish line moves. There's no sudden-death target to race to — the match keeps going, point for point, until one player leads by two. It's rare, it can run long, and it's usually where the best rallies of the match happen.

No account needed: you can queue for free Head-to-Head as a guest right away. Every match counts toward your Glicko-2 rating — the same number that drives matchmaking and the live leaderboard. It converges fast for new players and moves more the less certain the system is about your skill, so beating stronger opponents pays off more than farming weaker ones. Your rating is tracked from your first match, but only shows on the leaderboard once you claim a free account. Free Play against the AI never touches it.

Free Head-to-Head matches also earn Ping Points — +10 for a win, +3 for a loss, plus a bonus for long rallies. Unlike rating, they never drop and never reset: it's a running total, not a skill score. They're tracked the moment you play, but only show on the leaderboard and your profile once you claim a free account.

Quitting or disconnecting from a Head-to-Head match forfeits it — playing out a losing game is always at least as good as leaving it. In paid matches the pot still pays the player who stayed: a rage-quit never turns into a refund. Refunds only happen when a match genuinely never completes — for example both players losing connection — and then both stakes come back automatically from the on-chain contract.