Pingtime is a table tennis concept that captivates the players in an augmented reality world, where surfaces bend and fluorescent balls send ripples of electricity.

Developed by Sergiu Doroftei, Bogdan Susma, Ion Cotenescu, and Silviu Badea for Rokolectiv, an arts and electronic music festival that takes place every spring in Bucharest, Romania, the table features a surface that visually reacts to the match in real-time. As the players become more immersed in the game, Pingtime examines whether computer animations are challenging their reaction speed.

This is not the first project of this sort, but the execution is spectacular. On the technical side, the team incorporated sensors in the paddles and used VVVV mapping toolkit to generate the striking graphic and sound effects.

Although created primarily for recreational purposes, Pingtime calls into question how digital enhancements might change the way we engage with the physical space.