Volleyscope

What is Volleyscope?

Volleyscope is free browser tennis drawn the way a lab oscilloscope would draw it: a glowing ball trailing phosphor, a ground line, a net, and nothing else. There are no rackets and no players on screen — when the ball is over your half of the court, it's yours to strike. You choose one thing: the angle. Time the swing, shape the arc, and make the other side miss.

It's an original homage to the famous 1958 physics-lab experiment at Brookhaven — widely considered the first video game — in which visitors rallied a glowing dot across an oscilloscope screen with a knob and a button. Volleyscope shares no code, art, or name with it (or with any other game); it borrows only the idea that gravity, a net, and one good knob are enough to have fun.

How to play

• Aim — hold W/S (or drag up and down on your half of the screen) to sweep your needle between flat and steep. The dial in your corner shows the angle; while the ball is yours to hit, a dashed ray on the ball previews the launch direction.
• Hit — press space (or tap) while the ball is over your court. You get one swing per crossing, any time before the second bounce — volley it early or take it after the bounce.
• Serve — after each point the ball hangs frozen on the server's side. Take your time, pick an angle, and swing. Serves alternate every point.

The rules — how points are won

• The ball bounces twice on your opponent's side: your point.
• Your shot grounds on your own side — usually off the net band: their point.
• A ball that flies off the scope without bouncing in is out: hitter loses it.
• First to 5 points wins the match.

One angle is a whole arsenal

Because every hit leaves at the same speed, the angle decides everything. Flat drives (10–25°) cross fast and skip long — but from a low ball they'll eat the net.Mid angles (~45°) are the safe rally ball.Steep lobs (60–80°) float high, drop short, and die near the net — the closer to the net you take the ball, the steeper you must swing. Rallies also speed the ball up the longer they run, so the safe ball gets less safe every exchange.

Two ways to play

• Vs CPU — the machine plays by the same physics and the same needle speed as you. It starts a little slow and sloppy and sharpens as the match goes on, so early points are yours to bank and late points are earned.
• Two players — one keyboard (W/S+ space vs ↑/↓ + enter) or one phone held between you, each player dragging and tapping their own half.

Tips

• Mix depths, not just angles — a lob after three drives lands in an empty court.
• Taking the ball early (on the volley) steals reaction time, but you inherit its height: high volley, flat smash; low volley, be gentle.
• Near the net, forget drives — anything under ~55° comes straight back off the band.
• Long rallies heat the ball up. If the exchange is getting too fast, buy time with a high lob.