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Create a Pong Game in Python – Pygame

Last Updated : 27 Apr, 2025
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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.

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

Installing pygame Module

Since pygame is an external module, we need to install it. We can install it using the following pip command:

pip install pygame

Initial Setup

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

[GFGTABS]
Python

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


[/GFGTABS]

Striker Class

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

[GFGTABS]
Python

class Striker:
    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
        self.geekRect = pygame.Rect(posx, posy, width, height)
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    def display(self):
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    def update(self, yFac):
        self.posy = self.posy + self.speed * yFac
        if self.posy <= 0:
            self.posy = 0
        elif self.posy + self.height >= HEIGHT:
            self.posy = HEIGHT - self.height
        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


[/GFGTABS]

Ball Class

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
  • reset(): Resets the ball to the center after a point is scored.
  • hit(): Reflects the ball on collision with a paddle.
  • getRect() used to get the rect object

[GFGTABS]
Python

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 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
        return 0

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

    def hit(self):
        self.xFac *= -1

    def getRect(self):
        return self.ball


[/GFGTABS]

Game Manager (Main Function)

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

[GFGTABS]
Python

def main():
    running = True
    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]
    geek1Score, geek2Score = 0, 0
    geek1YFac, geek2YFac = 0, 0

    while running:
        screen.fill(BLACK)

        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 in [pygame.K_UP, pygame.K_DOWN]:
                    geek2YFac = 0
                if event.key in [pygame.K_w, pygame.K_s]:
                    geek1YFac = 0

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

        geek1.update(geek1YFac)
        geek2.update(geek2YFac)
        point = ball.update()

        if point == -1:
            geek1Score += 1
        elif point == 1:
            geek2Score += 1

        if point:
            ball.reset()

        geek1.display()
        geek2.display()
        ball.display()

        geek1.displayScore("Geek_1 : ", geek1Score, 100, 20, WHITE)
        geek2.displayScore("Geek_2 : ", geek2Score, WIDTH - 100, 20, WHITE)

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


[/GFGTABS]

Complete Code

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

[GFGTABS]
Python

import pygame

pygame.init()

font20 = pygame.font.Font('freesansbold.ttf', 20)

BLACK = (0, 0, 0)
WHITE = (255, 255, 255)
GREEN = (0, 255, 0)

WIDTH, HEIGHT = 900, 600
screen = pygame.display.set_mode((WIDTH, HEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption("Pong")
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
FPS = 30

class Striker:
    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
        self.geekRect = pygame.Rect(posx, posy, width, height)
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    def display(self):
        self.geek = pygame.draw.rect(screen, self.color, self.geekRect)

    def update(self, yFac):
        self.posy = self.posy + self.speed * yFac
        if self.posy <= 0:
            self.posy = 0
        elif self.posy + self.height >= HEIGHT:
            self.posy = HEIGHT - self.height
        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

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 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

    def hit(self):
        self.xFac *= -1

    def getRect(self):
        return self.ball

def main():
    running = True
    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]
    geek1Score, geek2Score = 0, 0
    geek1YFac, geek2YFac = 0, 0

    while running:
        screen.fill(BLACK)

        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

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

        geek1.update(geek1YFac)
        geek2.update(geek2YFac)
        point = ball.update()

        if point == -1:
            geek1Score += 1
        elif point == 1:
            geek2Score += 1

        if point:
            ball.reset()

        geek1.display()
        geek2.display()
        ball.display()

        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()


[/GFGTABS]

Output:

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