Create a Pong Game in Python - Pygame

Last Updated : 27 Apr, 2025

Pong is a table tennis-themed 2-player 2D arcade video game developed in the early 1970s. The game consists of two paddles/strikers, located at the left and right edges of the screen, and a ball.

Create a Pong Game in Python

The basic theme of this game is to make sure that the ball doesn't hit the wall behind you. If it does, the opponent scores a point. And if the ball touches the opponent's wall, you score a point. This article covers how to create such a game in Python using the Pygame module.

Key Controls

This is 2 player game and hence there will be two controllable paddles in the game. One at the leftmost edge of the screen and the other at the rightmost edge of the screen

To control the left paddle, use the 's' and 'w' keys. 'w' will move the paddle upwards and 's' will move the paddle downwards
To control the right paddle, use the UP and DOWN arrow keys. UP arrow will move the paddle upwards and the DOWN arrow will move the paddle downwards

Implementation to Create a Pong Game in Python

The game is developed in the Object Oriented Programming(OOP) style.

Create a "Striker" (paddle) class that handles all the controls related to the player
Create a "Ball" class that handles all the controls related to the ball
Two objects of the Striker class, geek1, and geek2, are instantiated
One object of the Ball class is instantiated.
The "main" function acts as the game manager and controls the game logic and flow

Initial Setup: This is the initial setup that consists of all the initializations and global variables that are needed

Python3

import pygame

pygame.init()

# Font that is used to render the text
font20 = pygame.font.Font('freesansbold.ttf', 20)

# RGB values of standard colors
BLACK = (0, 0, 0)
WHITE = (255, 255, 255)
GREEN = (0, 255, 0)

# Basic parameters of the screen
WIDTH, HEIGHT = 900, 600
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((WIDTH, HEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption("Pong")
# Used to adjust the frame rate
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
FPS = 30

Striker: The Striker class has the following methods:

init() used to initialize the class variables
display() used to render the object on the screen
update() used to change the state of the object
displayScore() used to render the score of the player on the screen in text format
getRect() used to get the rect object

Python3

# Player class
class Striker:
    
    # Take the initial position,
    # dimensions, speed and color of the object
    def __init__(self, posx, posy, width, height, speed, color):
        self.posx = posx
        self.posy = posy
        self.width = width
        self.height = height
        self.speed = speed
        self.color = color
        # Rect that is used to control the
        # position and collision of the object
        self.geekRect = pygame.Rect(posx, posy, width, height)
        # Object that is blit on the screen
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    # Used to display the object on the screen
    def display(self):
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    # Used to update the state of the object
    # yFac represents the direction of the striker movement
    # if yFac == -1 ==> The object is moving upwards
    # if yFac == 1 ==> The object is moving downwards
    # if yFac == 0 ==> The object is not moving
    def update(self, yFac):
        self.posy = self.posy + self.speed*yFac

        # Restricting the striker to be below
        # the top surface of the screen
        if self.posy <= 0:
            self.posy = 0
        # Restricting the striker to be above
        # the bottom surface of the screen
        elif self.posy + self.height >= HEIGHT:
            self.posy = HEIGHT-self.height

        # Updating the rect with the new values
        self.geekRect = (self.posx, self.posy, self.width, self.height)

    # Used to render the score on to the screen
    # First, create a text object using the font.render() method
    # Then, get the rect of that text using the get_rect() method
    # Finally blit the text on to the screen
    def displayScore(self, text, score, x, y, color):
        text = font20.render(text+str(score), True, color)
        textRect = text.get_rect()
        textRect.center = (x, y)

        screen.blit(text, textRect)

    def getRect(self):
        return self.geekRect

Ball: The Ball class has the following methods:

init() used to initialize the class variables
display() used to render the object onto the screen
update() used to change the state of the object
getRect() used to get the rect object

Python3

# Ball class
class Ball:
    def __init__(self, posx, posy, radius, speed, color):
        self.posx = posx
        self.posy = posy
        self.radius = radius
        self.speed = speed
        self.color = color
        self.xFac = 1
        self.yFac = -1
        self.ball = pygame.draw.circle(
            screen, self.color, (self.posx, self.posy), self.radius)
        self.firstTime = 1

    def display(self):
        self.ball = pygame.draw.circle(
            screen, self.color, (self.posx, self.posy), self.radius)

    def update(self):
        self.posx += self.speed*self.xFac
        self.posy += self.speed*self.yFac

        # If the ball hits the top or bottom surfaces,
        # then the sign of yFac is changed and it
        # results in a reflection
        if self.posy <= 0 or self.posy >= HEIGHT:
            self.yFac *= -1

        # If the ball touches the left wall for the first time,
        # The firstTime is set to 0 and we return 1
        # indicating that Geek2 has scored
        # firstTime is set to 0 so that the condition is
        # met only once and we can avoid giving multiple
        # points to the player
        if self.posx <= 0 and self.firstTime:
            self.firstTime = 0
            return 1
        elif self.posx >= WIDTH and self.firstTime:
            self.firstTime = 0
            return -1
        else:
            return 0

    # Used to reset the position of the ball
    # to the center of the screen
    def reset(self):
        self.posx = WIDTH//2
        self.posy = HEIGHT//2
        self.xFac *= -1
        self.firstTime = 1

    # Used to reflect the ball along the X-axis
    def hit(self):
        self.xFac *= -1

    def getRect(self):
        return self.ball

Game Manager: The game manager consists of all the required game logic, like the game loop, event handling, entity handling, updating the scene, etc., and ensures proper game flow. The main() function is used to implement the game logic

Python3

# Game Manager
def main():
    running = True

    # Defining the objects
    geek1 = Striker(20, 0, 10, 100, 10, GREEN)
    geek2 = Striker(WIDTH-30, 0, 10, 100, 10, GREEN)
    ball = Ball(WIDTH//2, HEIGHT//2, 7, 7, WHITE)

    listOfGeeks = [geek1, geek2]

    # Initial parameters of the players
    geek1Score, geek2Score = 0, 0
    geek1YFac, geek2YFac = 0, 0

    while running:
        screen.fill(BLACK)

        # Event handling
        for event in pygame.event.get():
            if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
                running = False
            if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
                if event.key == pygame.K_UP:
                    geek2YFac = -1
                if event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
                    geek2YFac = 1
                if event.key == pygame.K_w:
                    geek1YFac = -1
                if event.key == pygame.K_s:
                    geek1YFac = 1
            if event.type == pygame.KEYUP:
                if event.key == pygame.K_UP or event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
                    geek2YFac = 0
                if event.key == pygame.K_w or event.key == pygame.K_s:
                    geek1YFac = 0

        # Collision detection
        for geek in listOfGeeks:
            if pygame.Rect.colliderect(ball.getRect(), geek.getRect()):
                ball.hit()

        # Updating the objects
        geek1.update(geek1YFac)
        geek2.update(geek2YFac)
        point = ball.update()

        # -1 -> Geek_1 has scored
        # +1 -> Geek_2 has scored
        #  0 -> None of them scored
        if point == -1:
            geek1Score += 1
        elif point == 1:
            geek2Score += 1

        if point:   # Someone has scored a point and the
          # ball is out of bounds. So, we reset it's position
            ball.reset()

        # Displaying the objects on the screen
        geek1.display()
        geek2.display()
        ball.display()

        # Displaying the scores of the players
        geek1.displayScore("Geek_1 : ", geek1Score, 100, 20, WHITE)
        geek2.displayScore("Geek_2 : ", geek2Score, WIDTH-100, 20, WHITE)

        pygame.display.update()
        # Adjusting the frame rate
        clock.tick(FPS)

Complete Code

By joining all the above classes and the game manager together, the final code would look like this

Python3

import pygame

pygame.init()

# Font that is used to render the text
font20 = pygame.font.Font('freesansbold.ttf', 20)

# RGB values of standard colors
BLACK = (0, 0, 0)
WHITE = (255, 255, 255)
GREEN = (0, 255, 0)

# Basic parameters of the screen
WIDTH, HEIGHT = 900, 600
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((WIDTH, HEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption("Pong")

clock = pygame.time.Clock()    
FPS = 30

# Striker class


class Striker:
        # Take the initial position, dimensions, speed and color of the object
    def __init__(self, posx, posy, width, height, speed, color):
        self.posx = posx
        self.posy = posy
        self.width = width
        self.height = height
        self.speed = speed
        self.color = color
        # Rect that is used to control the position and collision of the object
        self.geekRect = pygame.Rect(posx, posy, width, height)
        # Object that is blit on the screen
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    # Used to display the object on the screen
    def display(self):
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    def update(self, yFac):
        self.posy = self.posy + self.speed*yFac

        # Restricting the striker to be below the top surface of the screen
        if self.posy <= 0:
            self.posy = 0
        # Restricting the striker to be above the bottom surface of the screen
        elif self.posy + self.height >= HEIGHT:
            self.posy = HEIGHT-self.height

        # Updating the rect with the new values
        self.geekRect = (self.posx, self.posy, self.width, self.height)

    def displayScore(self, text, score, x, y, color):
        text = font20.render(text+str(score), True, color)
        textRect = text.get_rect()
        textRect.center = (x, y)

        screen.blit(text, textRect)

    def getRect(self):
        return self.geekRect

# Ball class


class Ball:
    def __init__(self, posx, posy, radius, speed, color):
        self.posx = posx
        self.posy = posy
        self.radius = radius
        self.speed = speed
        self.color = color
        self.xFac = 1
        self.yFac = -1
        self.ball = pygame.draw.circle(
            screen, self.color, (self.posx, self.posy), self.radius)
        self.firstTime = 1

    def display(self):
        self.ball = pygame.draw.circle(
            screen, self.color, (self.posx, self.posy), self.radius)

    def update(self):
        self.posx += self.speed*self.xFac
        self.posy += self.speed*self.yFac

        # If the ball hits the top or bottom surfaces, 
        # then the sign of yFac is changed and 
        # it results in a reflection
        if self.posy <= 0 or self.posy >= HEIGHT:
            self.yFac *= -1

        if self.posx <= 0 and self.firstTime:
            self.firstTime = 0
            return 1
        elif self.posx >= WIDTH and self.firstTime:
            self.firstTime = 0
            return -1
        else:
            return 0

    def reset(self):
        self.posx = WIDTH//2
        self.posy = HEIGHT//2
        self.xFac *= -1
        self.firstTime = 1

    # Used to reflect the ball along the X-axis
    def hit(self):
        self.xFac *= -1

    def getRect(self):
        return self.ball

# Game Manager


def main():
    running = True

    # Defining the objects
    geek1 = Striker(20, 0, 10, 100, 10, GREEN)
    geek2 = Striker(WIDTH-30, 0, 10, 100, 10, GREEN)
    ball = Ball(WIDTH//2, HEIGHT//2, 7, 7, WHITE)

    listOfGeeks = [geek1, geek2]

    # Initial parameters of the players
    geek1Score, geek2Score = 0, 0
    geek1YFac, geek2YFac = 0, 0

    while running:
        screen.fill(BLACK)

        # Event handling
        for event in pygame.event.get():
            if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
                running = False
            if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
                if event.key == pygame.K_UP:
                    geek2YFac = -1
                if event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
                    geek2YFac = 1
                if event.key == pygame.K_w:
                    geek1YFac = -1
                if event.key == pygame.K_s:
                    geek1YFac = 1
            if event.type == pygame.KEYUP:
                if event.key == pygame.K_UP or event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
                    geek2YFac = 0
                if event.key == pygame.K_w or event.key == pygame.K_s:
                    geek1YFac = 0

        # Collision detection
        for geek in listOfGeeks:
            if pygame.Rect.colliderect(ball.getRect(), geek.getRect()):
                ball.hit()

        # Updating the objects
        geek1.update(geek1YFac)
        geek2.update(geek2YFac)
        point = ball.update()

        # -1 -> Geek_1 has scored
        # +1 -> Geek_2 has scored
        #  0 -> None of them scored
        if point == -1:
            geek1Score += 1
        elif point == 1:
            geek2Score += 1

        # Someone has scored
        # a point and the ball is out of bounds.
        # So, we reset it's position
        if point:   
            ball.reset()

        # Displaying the objects on the screen
        geek1.display()
        geek2.display()
        ball.display()

        # Displaying the scores of the players
        geek1.displayScore("Geek_1 : ", 
                           geek1Score, 100, 20, WHITE)
        geek2.displayScore("Geek_2 : ", 
                           geek2Score, WIDTH-100, 20, WHITE)

        pygame.display.update()
        clock.tick(FPS)     


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()
    pygame.quit()

Output:

Save/load game Function in Pygame

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Create a Pong Game in Python - Pygame