Doodle badminton

Doodle00Bun

Beat Bun!

Bun likes long, friendly rallies.

Wins: 0
Best rally: 0
Smashes: 0

Paused

You win!

7–4 · best rally 12

Doodle grabs a racket and steps onto the court. Hit the shuttle as it comes, and time it right for a perfect shot. Jump and hit for a smash, or hold Soft for a sneaky drop that falls just over the net. Four rivals are waiting, each tougher than the last, and Bolt the champion reads every shot: a real test for grown-ups too.

How to play

Hit when it comes.
Tap the picture, or press Space, as the shuttle reaches Doodle’s racket. Right on time is a perfect hit.
Jump to smash!
Press Jump, then hit while Doodle is in the air. A smash comes down fast and steep.
Win the rally.
Land the shuttle on the other side. Every rally is a point, and the first to the points wins by two.

Controls

Touch: Tap the picture, or the big racket button, to hit. Jump and Soft are next to it. With auto-run off, the arrows on the left move Doodle.
Mouse: Click the picture to hit.
Keyboard: Space or J hits, ↑ or W jumps, hold ↓, S or K for a soft shot, ← → or A D move. P or Esc pauses.
Two players: Doodle: A D move, W jumps, S soft, Space hits. Friend: the arrows, and Enter hits. On a tablet, each taps their own half.

Shots to learn

Clear. A plain hit over the head sends it high to the back.
Smash. Jump, then hit: fast and steep. Best from the front half.
Drop shot. Hold Soft for an overhead that falls just over the net.
Net shot. Soft, close to the net: it tumbles over the tape.
Net kill. A shuttle floating high near the net? Hit it down hard.
Short or deep. Hold toward the net as you hit for a shorter shot, away for a deeper one.

Four rivals

Bun: Easy, at the park. Friendly rallies to the middle of the court, slow and floaty. First to 7.
Kiki: Medium, at the beach. Quick feet, a drop shot now and then and the odd smash. First to 11.
Bruno: Hard, at the ice rink. Hits hard, plays to the corners and jumps on anything high. First to 15.
Bolt: Champion, at the big arena. Reads every shot, fakes the smash and lets out-balls go. First to 21, at full speed and more.

Auto-run is on against Bun and Kiki and off against Bruno and Bolt; switch it on the start card. Each rival you beat gets a trophy.

Tips for big players

Move them around. Clear to the back, then drop short while they’re still back there.
Smash from close. From the back of the court a smash comes in flat and slow enough to return.
Let it go. A shuttle sailing past the baseline is out. Leave it and the point is yours.
Keep your net shots low. One that pops up high gets killed.
Timing beats speed. A perfect hit flies truer than a hurried one; a weak one sits up in the middle.

What kids practice

Timing. Waiting for the shuttle and hitting just as it arrives.
Watching where it goes. Following a fast thing as it slows, floats and drops.
Playing fair. Taking turns with a friend on one screen, and shaking off a lost point.

For grown-ups

Doodle badminton has no ads, no accounts and no trackers. Wins, the best rally and smashes are saved only in this browser on this device. Sound stays off until your child turns it on with the speaker button. Against Bun the game runs at about three quarters of full speed, and against Bolt a little faster than full speed, so it grows with your child.

The shuttle flies like a real one: fast off the racket, then the air slows it down and it drops almost straight. Love games that need good timing? In the Little Paper app, Snack swing is all about snipping a rope at just the right moment.

Questions

Is Doodle badminton free?

Yes. All four rivals and the two-player game are free to play in the browser, with no ads, no sign-up and nothing to download.

Can a young child play it?

Yes. Against Bun, Doodle runs to the shuttle by himself, a tap a little early still hits right on time, the racket reaches far and the game runs slower. Bun keeps the rally going with friendly shots to the middle and never smashes.

Can two people play?

Yes. Pick “A friend” on the start card. On one keyboard, Doodle plays with A, D, W, S and Space and the friend with the arrows and Enter. On a tablet, each player taps their own half of the picture, or uses their own buttons.

How hard is the champion?

Very. Bolt reacts in a tenth of a second, reads where the shuttle is going, plays to the open court, fakes smashes and lets a shuttle going out land out. The game runs faster, your racket has to be close to the shuttle, and it’s first to 21, win by two, like real badminton.