Artie's Pong Legends Alpha is officially launching! The Alpha represents a monumental first step in Artie’s mission to bring community-owned entertainment to the world.

Our first game is a free-to-play, real-time, beer-pong battler featuring power-ups and special abilities where you will:

“Face-off against an onslaught of opponents and ascend to take on the toughest Boss fights. Reign supreme as you hone your battle skills to win matches, earn upgrades, and climb the leaderboards. Unleash devastating power-ups and special abilities to crush your foes in style.”

Alpha Overview

If you’re new to game development, Alpha means the first playable version of the game is ready for testing. There is still a long trek ahead before full launch, but to get there we’re going to call on all Artiezens (and their Season 1 and/or Season 2 Arties) to join us on this journey, specifically during our defined playtest windows (more on this later).

While Alpha contains the first look at the core mechanics and gameplay loop, the deeper, more engaging, and shinier features are still in development. Additionally, our first Alpha rollout will initially feature a lower resolution version that should work with any device, but will be followed by a high resolution version as well soon after. Game Alphas typically represent roughly 5-10% of a full game. In other words, the Pong Legends Alpha is a first state, work-in-progress version of what will ultimately become a polished final product for the masses. In this phase, we are looking to test and gather information that will help refine all aspects of the game.

What Elements Are In The Pong Legends Alpha?

• Competitive Matchmaking: Warm up your good hand and get ready to shoot your best shots. You will be able to load up Pong Legends on a mobile web browser and queue up to find matches against fellow community members (as well as the development team!).

• Collectible Showcasing: You’ll be able to play as your Season 1 and 2 Arties! Simply connect your wallet to load up fully rendered Arties into your game, choose your character, and enter a match to show off their unique aesthetics.

• Win Rewards: As a special bonus for participating during the playtest window. Simply connect your wallet and play (no purchase necessary). Winners will be selected throughout the playtest period. So jump in, play, and rule the table.

How To Participate

Alpha will first be available to all Artie holders and opened to more players over time. While the community is able to play at any time, it is crucial to participate in our regularly hosted play sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with the following sessions:

• Morning Session - 1000 - 1100 Pacific Time, 1300 - 1400 Eastern Time, 1800 - 1900 UTC

• Afternoon Session - 1300 - 1400 Pacific Time, 1600 - 1700 Eastern Time, 2100 - 2200 UTC

• Evening Session 2200 - 2300 Pacific Time, 0100 - 0200 Eastern Time, 0600 - 0700 UTC

This will ensure queue wait times are mitigated and the community can be rewarded for participating.

Where To Provide Feedback:

We will be collecting feedback throughout each playtest window. If you’re not already in the Discord, you will want to hop in and engage with us in the dedicated channel. At the end of the Alpha period, we’ll aggregate feedback and begin working through iterations to improve the game.

What Happens After The Initial Alpha?

There’s still a ton in development to give Pong Legends the right amount of flair and polish. Our Alpha period will have continuous releases and updates (specifics on these to come at a later date). Some of the awesome features still to come include:

• Super Pong Powers: Each collectible has access to special powers that can change the course of a match. Powers will range in how they are activated and what effect they have on the game. Powers will highlight the unique, quirky, and lovably absurd characteristics of the collectible(s) you own. Power up your Pong Powers and unleash your wrath by triggering a lightning storm over your opponent’s cups or deploy your defensive stance by building a barricade around your final cup giving you one final shot at victory. Pick the right collectible and time the use of your power to turn the tide in your favor.

• Tournaments: Ever want to be the best in the world? Here’s your shot to be the best and win some cool prizes on your journey to becoming the ultimate Pong Legend. We will host regular tournaments for fantastic prizes. Tournaments will range from free-for-all to character-specific prizes that are gated based on which collectibles you have. Prizes are still being defined but will range from cool in-game prizes to other ecosystem rewards.

• Seasonal Events & Boss Battles: Participate in unique, thematic moments spread across an Artie Season. Events will range in function, reward, and duration and will always be time limited. Across our games, there will be multiple types of events including:

  • Seasonal Battle Passes where you earn prizes based on your level of engagement.

  • Collector Events will be reserved for those with the required entry collectible. In these events you'll compete against others with similar collectibles and stake your claim as the best in the group. Gain access to exclusive rewards only for digital collectible holders.

  • Boss Battles where you are pitted against ultimate foes across the Artie character universe (ALPHA ALERT…  and other universes…). These will be far from your regular game of beer pong and the first person to take down a boss will be immortalized.

• Earning Economy: Once we’re locked on the features above, we’ll enable the ability for you to start earning progress towards your very own collectible. Win enough matches to make enough progress and you’ll win your very own Artie collectible. But keep in mind…there are limited collectibles that will be available with the launch each new season.

• And this is just the start…

Have additional questions? Read on to our FAQ.

• What is the game about?

Pong Legends is a free-to-play, real-time, PvP beer-pong battler featuring power-ups and special abilities.

• How do I get into the game?

Join our Discord/Twitter to follow us and stay up to date on the latest developments. When the game is ready, we’ll post links that take you directly into the game. No app download required!

• Is the game playable horizontally (landscape) or vertically (portrait) on mobile?

At this time the game is only supported in vertical format with no current plans to support horizontal. We advise you to not turn your phone sideways while playing.

• Does the game require me to own an Artie collectible to play?

Not at all! We will be giving first access to our Artie collectible holders and Discord/Twitter Community members; however, anyone with an Internet connection and a mobile device will be able to access our game.

• If I wanted an Artie collectible, how do I acquire it?

Artie collectibles from Season 1 - Supercute and Season 2 - I'm Already Dead can be used to play our game! Check them out on our OpenSea page

• How do I play the game / what is beer pong?

In a match, both players will have 10 cups in front of them in a triangle/pyramid configuration. They will take turns throwing a ball and trying to land the ball into a cup.  Each time a shot is made into a cup, that cup will be removed. Once all 10 cups are removed from the opponent that player will win the match. To throw the ball, you’ll use the swiping motion on your phone. Be sure to practice out various ways of throwing the ball to improve your accuracy.

• Who goes first in a match?

We will have a simple coin flip to randomly determine who will go first. To balance this out the first player will have one throw on the first turn, then the second turn and beyond both players will have two throws.

• Are there any ways to make the game more difficult / easier?

We balance the throwing in multiple ways. As your opponent makes shots against you, it will fill up your Fazed meter. This meter will affect how accurate you are with your throws. The higher the meter the more your character will feel the effect of being Fazed and have their shots be a bit more inaccurate. This meter will go down gradually every turn until your accuracy returns to normal. On the other hand, if you make 3 shots in a row, you’ll be on fire! This removes all penalties from the Fazed meter and helps to increase your accuracy until you miss a shot.

• What happens after I make a few shots and the layout of the cups becomes a mess?

You’ll have the ability to “re-rack” the cups of your opponent after reducing their total down to 6 cups, 3 cups, and the final cup. This will re-center all of the cups in another triangle/pyramid formation to make them easier to aim at.

• Will bounce shots be allowed?

Yes, you’ll be able to both throw the ball via swiping and having it land in the cup or throw it a bit short and have it bounce off the table/other cups to land in a cup as well.

• My opponent completely wiped the floor with me, is there a way to turn the tables?

Once all 10 of your cups are gone, you’ll have one final chance to make a comeback.  With one chance you’ll have the chance to keep throwing until you miss a cup.  If you sink all your shots and clear your opponents cups as well, the game will reset to a 3 cup vs 3 cup game.  If this 3 cup vs 3 cup game ends in a come back situation again, it will go to a 3 cup vs 3 cup sudden death game. The first person to miss a shot will lose! The comeback feature will be added in after our initial Alpha launch.

• How will my Artie collectibles affect gameplay?

Your Artie collectibles will be your own personal character in the game. No one else will have that exact character variation and as we add more characters to the game you’ll stand out even more with your unique character.

• What should we expect after the Alpha build?

We will be performing bug fixes, improvements, and adding features after the Alpha phase is completed.  The next step in the cycle is a Beta build that will come a few months after the Alpha build that will include things such as leaderboards, trophies, improved skill based matchmaking, events, character powers, and boss battles.

• When can we start winning Artie collectibles?

Players will be eligible to receive an Artie collectible based on their engagement as early as the Alpha phase, with exact details to be determined. The collectible winning feature that comes along with leaderboards and PvP content will be a feature goal for the Beta phase of the game.

Alpha Build Specifics

• What is a Community Alpha?

A Community Alpha is a special, super early release of a game that is meant to give our great community members a preview of what we’ve been up to. The game you will play is not representative of the final version of the game and will only contain a small number of the final features we intend to ship.  The purpose of the Alpha is to work in partnership with our community to make our games great.

• How long will the Alpha last for?

Alpha will be ongoing. There will be multiple Alpha play windows where we will have group play sessions. During these sessions you will get to play Run the Table against other community members and members of the development team.

• How do I get access to the Alpha?

All Artie holders (Season 1 + Season 2) will have access to our Alpha to start.  We will open it up to other community members on Discord, and beyond that, as time goes on.

• Will I be able to win Artie collectibles in the Alpha?

While the full collectible-enabled economy will be available during an upcoming release, any Alpha participant will have the chance to win an Artie collectible. Simply play the game during the specified Alpha play windows to win some great prizes.

• Will I be able to bring my Artie collectibles to the Alpha?

Yes! Any Artie collectible you own will be waiting for you in game. Simply connect your wallet by heading to the character collection screen in game and connecting your wallet. Launch the game and your Arties will be waiting.

• How do I use my collectibles in game?

After connecting your wallet and verifying your Artie collectibles, they will all be waiting for you in our character selection menu, where you can choose which character you play as. This will show off your character to anyone you play against, be your profile picture on the leaderboards and events, and be featured in any match win/loss animations.

• What will be available to test out in the Alpha?

You’ll be able to join our game, connect your wallet, import any characters from Artie that you own, play as those characters, and be able to test out our Beer Pong game experience with a live opponent. When in the Alpha, you’ll connect via our matchmaking service to another live opponent also in the queue at the same time.  From there you’ll play a standard 10 cup vs 10 cup Beer Pong game. Sink all 10 cups to win!

• What sets this apart from something like a hyper casual web game?

At Artie we are delivering game experiences that are on par with mobile games. This is a premium web game experience delivering something to come back to rather than a simple hyper casual web game that won’t hold your attention for too long.  We have things such as live player matchmaking, synchronous servers, live events, and much much more coming up.