Games / Solyr

Solyr

Table tennis, played by ear.

Coming soon

Solyr is not in the App Store yet. The screenshots below are from the game running.

Screenshots

Illustration: a Black woman with short natural hair stands in a dark teal living room at night, seen from behind her shoulder, eyes closed, a white earbud in, holding her phone up in her right hand like a paddle at the top of a forehand swing. A small gold ball hangs in the air above and three gold rings ripple on the floor where it will bounce. One warm lamp lights her from the upper left; the rest of the room is near black.
Hold the phone like a paddle. Hear the bounce. Swing on the beat.
Solyr's start screen: a gold SOLYR wordmark, by Kintsugiplay, Table tennis, played by ear, with Calibrate Your Swing, Start, Settings, Stats and How to Play.
The start screen.
The Solyr court at the start of a match against the computer, with score tiles, two paddles and the Read state, Silence and Coach buttons.
The court, with Read state, Silence and Coach.
The Solyr court during a rally with the ball in flight and a Bounce caption.
A rally in progress, captioned.
Solyr's match-won screen showing YOU WIN and the final score.
Match won.

About Solyr

An audio-first table-tennis game. Listen for the bounce on your side of the table, then swing on the next beat.

You hold the phone like a paddle, listen for the ball bouncing on your side of the table, and make a short forehand or backhand wrist swing on the next beat. The steady tempo itself tells you when to swing.

Original code, sounds, and design.

Hold the phone securely, use short wrist movements, and make sure the space around you is clear.

What is inside

Two ways to play

  • Vs Computer: practice solo, up an opponent ladder of six rungs.
  • 1 vs 1: one phone each, over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, with no account and no server.
  • Calibrate your swing: record your own swings and the game learns them. No angle to hold, no position to get into.

Played by ear

  • Left and right are coded by pitch and pan, never by stereo alone.
  • Sounds from the opponent's side are quieter and muffled, so you can hear where the ball is.
  • Ball speed and paddle size are real difficulty settings, not cosmetics.

Built blind-first

  • Every control has a VoiceOver label, value and hint.
  • Shake the phone for a full readback of the match at any time.
  • A one-finger long press or a two-finger tap silences speech.
  • A court control strip with Read state, Silence and Coach, and captions for everything spoken.
  • Choose a voice level: beginner, advanced or pro, with a speech-rate slider.
  • Auto-Return returns every ball, so you can follow the rhythm of a rally without swinging at all.
  • Color is never the only signal, touch targets are at least 44 points, and contrast is at least 7 to 1.

Details

Platform
iPhone

Display and sound

Saved only in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Makes all text larger or smaller.
100 percent
Brighter secondary text and borders.
Stops animation and smooth scrolling.
This page speaks its announcements aloud. Turn it off if you use a screen reader.
Used when self-voicing is on.
Shows spoken announcements as text at the bottom of the screen.
Page summary

Press Control to silence speech. Press R to hear the last announcement again.