Rink Drive

Playbook

How to play Rink Drive

A rink recedes into the screen. Your mallet moves in x and depth. Hit the puck into the far net. Your own net costs a life. Air Hockey is a flat table with rails and banks. This is perspective ice: the puck’s z is the skill, not a top-down bounce.

The puck’s z is the skill

Rink Drive is 3D hockey depth. Play it when you want a puck whose z matters, not a flat table with rails, and not a hoop meter.

Far net scores; near net costs a life

The ice goes into the screen. Your cyan mallet is near. The far orange goal is the score. Your white near net is the life. The puck is the dark box. The AI mallet lives on the far line.

Meet, step in, recover near

You meet the puck in front of your net, step into depth for the drive, and recover to center-near. Goals come from that step, not from camping.

Too deep, or never left the goal

Name whether you were too deep to cover, or you never left the goal line so the puck had no speed. Next sitting, two drives then recover. Air Hockey is the flat cousin.

If you wanted a flat table with rails

This is not Air Hockey. Air Hockey is a top-down table with banks and own-goals. Rink Drive is perspective ice; depth is the verb.

Why we did not copy Air Hockey in 3D

A top-down rink with a fake camera tilt is still Air Hockey. Depth had to change the contact. Own-net lives give the sitting a stop. Banks and rails were cut so the readable objects stay mallet, puck, two nets.

Controls

Move the mallet in x and depth with WASD, arrows, or by dragging on the ice. Hit the puck toward the far net. Your own net, near the camera, costs a life. The opponent mallet is an AI on the far line. This is not a top-down table.

Scoring and lives

A far-net goal scores, and consecutive goals multiply. Your net costs a life and resets the streak. Three lives. Depth is the skill: a puff that only moves in x will not reach.

Habits that raise the ceiling

Meet the puck in front of your net, then step into depth. Do not camp on your goal line. After you score, recover to center-near before the AI return arrives.

Common mistakes

• Staying glued to the near net and never driving
• Swiping only left and right, as if the rink were Air Hockey
• Chasing a puck behind the AI instead of taking the next bounce

A two-minute drill

Score two goals while refusing to move past half depth except at the moment of contact. Then one sitting that is allowed to roam. Name which sitting still protected your net.

A longer sitting: two drives, then cover

Score two goals while staying near until the moment of contact, then recover. Camping on the goal line never gives the puck z. Roaming past half without covering is how own-goals happen. Depth is the verb; left-right only is Air Hockey in a costume.

The AI is a far mallet, not a personality. There is no body check and no crowd. If the high camera feels like too much motion, pick Paddle Duel. Stop after the two-drive drill even if a third looks open. The age note is 8+ with a motion warning.

Two goals without roaming past half until contact. The Rink Drive guide is the depth article.