Padel Chess – tactical simulator for padel
padelchess.me
padelchess.me
Waiting on the IOS app
I would suggest either making those clickable, or styled less like buttons somehow, so they don't have such an affordance for being the thing to press.
Android pixel 9 on Brave
It’s doubles so you only need four people to play. The underarm serve gives it a very shallow learning curve so almost anybody can play. However, there is enough nuance to the game that there’s lots of tactics and skill to learn as you get better.
Also the app (Playtomic) for organising games works great.
We have indoor courts here in the UK where’s there’s not much else to do in the winter. It’s a lot easier to get four people together to play padel for 90 minutes than trying to get 10/12 together for a 5/6-a-side football match.
To be clear I realise you were mostly talking about learning curve specifically; this is not an attempt at refuting what you said, just adding to the discussion.
1/ Easy to start, hard to master.
2/ Good balance between being still athletic (you have to run), while not punish less-fit players a lot.
3/ Social component. In Portugal you must get a beer after each match. Suddenly you have 100+ friends and a shared interest.
4/ Full gradient between 'funny dumb ass game with friends with no experience' to 'professional competitive sport'. With a lot of options in between like beginners games, clubs events, amateur leagues and semi/pro tournaments.
5/ The game is more tactical, that athletic. After you get initial technical background, you start to play more 'chess' than 'overpower opponent' style.
6/ Good business. More people on less space = more revenue. More social = more spending in a bar. Coaching is more profitable as well (groups of 4).
7/ Open to all social groups. My wife is playing female-only tournaments. We play mixed tournaments together.
I play padel for 3 years, played tennis for year, tried squash and badminton.
And Sweden seem to be way ahead than any other country in this padel mania and who knows, many same future is prepared for other countries soon.
But now in Portugal we see a different situation, a lot of clubs are 90% to 100% booked and new padel clubs still appear.
They are similar games and have similar advantages making them popular. But in general, padel is slightly more athletic/intense than pickleball.
I agree the skill gap is wider in padel, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you want to play with.
I tried playing with Playtomic, with better players, and everyone expects to play the same, go and play at the net as that's the main goal, but I dislike staying close to the net and playing the reflex game, while trying to not get hit by the ball. I have a lot more fun playing back court, and volleying the ball, but apparently that's not the way to play this sport.
Also, the wall part of the game, once you play against better players, is not fun. Most of the balls go in the corner, and you have to wait for the ball/predict and avoid hitting the glass or hit from an uncomfortable position, which is not as fun as the open play game.
Love the concept. Feedback: more explanations for beginners. I didnt know what ”mine’s up/ your’s up” means.
When you guess wrong, also show what the right answer would mean (lines, animation and explanation) Also more than 5 puzzles per day for free tier please. For me to even begin the habit i want to spend more than 2 minues a day here. After i feel i could convert. But i’m not paying for a habit i dont yet have and might not establish. Good luck with the product!