Air hockey games have evolved from being found only in arcades to well-known international tournament sports. The popularity of the games have made air hockey tables a common sight in social areas and game rooms, giving enthusiasts and beginners the opportunity to enjoy a fast-paced game with opponents. Air hockey essentially involves a low-friction air hockey table over which two players try to direct a puck into the opponent’s goal.
As the game is now played internationally, there are many standards for the equipments that are used. This allows players to incorporate specific tactics which would be useful regardless of who they are playing against. If you own an air-hockey table, or you are eager to improve your game, this guide would help you develop the most popular defense move in air-hockey.
The triangle defense method
This technique is popularly used to defend against attacks from most directions. It involves keeping the mallet about one foot in front of the goal and protecting an imaginary triangle formed by the points right in front of the ends of the goal and the mallet. Most straight shots and banking shots can be defended by holding the mallet at one of these three points.
The advantages
The triangle defense method is a winner because of its simplicity and efficacy. As there is only one of three positions that the player needs to take, it makes the game play very efficient. Unnecessary movement is curtailed completely and straight shots become absolutely ineffective against someone who holds their triangle defense steadily.
Practice
As with all other moves in air-hockey, the triangle defense strategy depends upon accuracy and speed. As you keep playing more and more games, you would realize that holding the mallet steady when defending against attacks is the best thing to do while employing the triangle defense. This conserves your energy which you can use later in a series of quick attack moves. Predicting the opponent’s moves would come naturally as you play more and more opponents, making the triangle more effective as a defense strategy so that you would be able to dominate over the air-hockey table.
