Plasma Pong

Infobox VG
title = Plasma Pong


caption = "Plasma Pong" 1.3c
developer = Steve Taylor
publisher =
distributor =
designer =
license = Proprietary
series =
engine =
version = 1.3c
released = April 20, 2007
genre = Arcade Game
modes =
ratings =
platforms = Mac OS X, Windows
media =
requirements =
input =

"Plasma Pong" is an arcade game created by Steve Taylor. The game features a real-time fluid dynamics engine. The game is mostly focused on playing Pong by pushing and sucking on the surrounding fluid with the Pong paddles.

There are three game modes in "Plasma Pong". In single player, the player combats a progressively smarter AI in a fluid environment where the fluid moves faster and faster, affecting the ball more and more. Multiplayer is little different, with two players typically sharing a single keyboard to play against each other. The sandbox mode, however, gives the player near total access to color, particle, and fluid motion effects, allowing them to simply play around with the game's fluid dynamics engine and see what interesting motions they can create.

The game's designer has no immediate plans for releasing the game's source code, though he has not ruled the possibility out.

Steve Taylor is a student at George Mason University located in Fairfax, Virginia. When he posted the game online, the ensuing traffic slowed the GMU server to a crawl. An administrator traced the problem to the game, which had been downloaded 50,000 times, and ordered him to take it down.

"Plasma Pong" was named one of the top five indie games by the influential tech site Wired.com.

The Plasma Pong website is currently down, and development of the game has been halted; however, the author does state on the front page that he is working on another title to surpass Plasma Pong now that it has been removed. The message on the front page would suggest that this removal has been made at the request of Atari, the holder of the Pong trademark.