Play Speed Spin online

On UsuArcade, Speed Spin goes head-to-head online against a friend: each of you on your own phone or PC, in the same game and in real time. Speed Spin is one of those arcade games that never made the magazines, but if you stumbled across it at a bowling alley or a corner arcade, it hooked you on the first game. It's arcade ping-pong: fast, simple and perfect for settling a score with whoever's standing next to you.

History

Speed Spin came out in 1994 from TCH, a small manufacturer whose machines never got the reach of the big arcade companies of the day. There's very little documented about how it was made, and we'd rather not make things up.

What we do know is what matters at the cabinet: it's a table tennis game built for short matches, where one lapse costs you the point and one great shot can turn the whole game around.

How to play

You move your player into position in front of the ball and use the buttons to hit it. Just like real ping-pong, the winner isn't whoever hits hardest but whoever places it best: running your opponent side to side usually ends with them missing.

Positioning is everything. Get there late and your return comes out weak or sails long; get there early and you have time to pick your angle. Your first few games are about learning the timing. After that, every point is a little battle.

Fun facts

• It's a little-known cabinet, the kind you discover by accident in the back corner of an arcade.
• Table tennis is a natural fit for the arcade: short points, quick matches and an instant rematch.

In the arcade

Just like the arcade, only from your own couch: sit down at the Speed Spin cabinet, invite your friend once they're in the lobby and play the ping-pong match against each other. Nothing to install: it runs in your browser on phone or PC, gamepad supported, and every game starts with INSERT COIN, free.

Anyone else in the lobby can drop in as a spectator and watch live while chatting, and your scores go up on the arcade's high score board.

FAQ