4-Player Air Hockey

Most air hockey is one against one. The 4-player round table is the version you sometimes find in arcades: a circular rink with four goals and four paddles spaced around the edge, everyone playing everyone at once. You can play it free in your browser here — online against real people, or against bots.

← Play it now on the home page (choose "4-Player Online" or "4-Player Bots").

The rules

• Four players, four goals. Each player defends one goal on the rim of a circular table.
• Three lives each. Every goal you concede costs you one life.
• Elimination. At zero lives you are out, and your goal is sealed into solid wall — so the remaining players have one fewer target.
• Last one standing wins. Four become three, then two, then a winner.

Because eliminated goals are sealed, the table gets steadily more dangerous: with two players left there are only two openings, and the puck comes back at you far more often.

Your zone

Each player is confined to their own quarter of the table, so nobody can camp in front of someone else's goal. Your paddle follows your mouse or finger within that wedge. You always see your own goal at the bottom of your screen, whichever seat you were given — everyone gets the same view of their own end.

Tactics that actually work

• Let others knock each other out. You do not have to score to win — you have to survive. Clearing the puck toward a crowded part of the table is often better than attacking.
• Clear toward the middle. Striking the puck away from your own rim buys time; hammering it straight at an opponent often rebounds back at you.
• Watch who is on one life. A desperate player takes risks and leaves their goal open.
• Angle your shots. Hitting the puck off-centre sends it away at an angle, which is how you reach a goal that is not directly opposite you.

Playing online with fewer than four people

You never have to wait for exactly four humans. When you join the queue the game waits a few seconds for other players, then fills any empty seats with bots and starts. Three friends plus one bot, two plus two, or you alone against three bots all work. If a player disconnects mid-match their seat becomes a bot, so the game keeps going.

Is it free?

Yes — free, in the browser, with no account, no download and nothing to buy. Same as the 1v1 game.