If you happen to be a table tennis player who’s never able to find a partner to play with, here’s your chance: a Japanese company called Happinet is selling some kind of virtual table tennis game that requires neither a second person nor a ball to play. Their so-called Takkyuu High-Tension toy is all about sounds and rhythm (strange video below).
The toy is essentially a bat that’s equipped with speakers and motion sensors. There are three game modes: rhythm mode (for beginners) plus rally mode (intermediate/hard), and the idea is to let players swing the bat (again, there are no balls) to the sound that’s coming out of the speakers. If your timing skill is good, you can eventually hit a “winning super smash” at the end of the rally.
The Takkyuu High-Tension toy will be released in Japan in October (price: $25).
Our friends over at Diginfonews have a shot a video that shows the toy, apparently called “Go with the rhythm! Hyper Ping Pong” internationally, in action (in English):
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