Stink

StinkStink emulates the classic ping pong video game. In time mode, the watch plays against itself, and an activity measure is displayed. But you can challenge the watch’s AI to a game, or try to achieve the longest rally.

When playing a game, you can choose between three difficulty levels. You can control your bat by tapping the screen or tilting your wrist. Stink keeps track of your best scores.

When in time mode:

  • touch near the top of the screen to swap the topmost number between date and seconds
  • touch near the middle of the screen to play a game
  • touch near the bottom of the screen to change which activity measure is displayed.

To serve in a game, touch the screen anywhere except the button at the bottom right. To abandon the game, touch the button.

Stink has an Always On Display mode, two colour themes, and optional vibration effects.

Cost: $1USD + tax.

Get Stink

Tags: ping pong, tennis, game.

Bat Control

Unfortunately, there are issues with each of the bat control modes.

When using tap control, holding your finger on the screen for too long will result in the watch displaying the Clocks app. This can’t be avoided. If this happens to you, try using multiple shorter taps instead of one long touch. Be careful not to swipe sideways on the screen, which can cause other apps or tiles to be displayed.

When using tilt control on a Versa 4 or Sense 2, the bat may fail to move after a while. This is due to a bug in those watches. The bug has been reported to Fitbit. Until it is fixed, the only way to get tilt control working again is to switch to a different clockface and then back to Stink. Alternatively, use tap control.

FAQ

How do I change the gameplay in 'time' mode?

In ‘time’ mode, the difficulty and control settings for the last-played game will be used. These affect ball speed, bat size and bat motion. To change the ‘time’ mode behaviour, start a game and select the settings you want for ‘time’ mode. After you finish or abandon the game, the same settings will be used for the ‘time’ mode gameplay emulation.

Why doesn’t the time mode gameplay keep moving in Always On Display mode?

In Always On Display mode, the display enters a low-power state to extend battery life. When that happens, the on-screen image can only be updated once every minute.

When returning from Always On Display mode, why doesn’t the game resume from where it left off?

The game, and especially the AI, depends on a lot of timers, and the state of the timers (ie, how long they’ve been running for) can’t be ascertained. This makes it impossible for Stink to save the state of the game while the ball and bats are moving.

Why do the bat and ball sometimes stop briefly when they shouldn’t?

Fitbit watches use a single-core CPU. As a result, any background processing can cause the clockface to slow down or freeze. Background processes include collecting activity and health data, syncing, memory management, etc.

Why does my bat jolt when using tilt control with vibrations enabled?

The watch detects the vibrations and misinterprets them as orientation changes. If this is disconcerting, turn vibrations off in Settings or use touch input.

Why does the ball move faster when travelling diagonally?

Stink's physics are modelled closely on an early video game, in which the ball always moved horizontally at the same speed regardless of how fast it was moving vertically. The Stink clockface will provide more realistic physics.

Why does the ball bounce off the bat in a random direction?

Stink's physics are modelled closely on an early video game, which behaved like this. The Stink clockface will provide more realistic physics.

Why does the AI sometimes go in the wrong direction?

The AI is programmed to be imperfect, otherwise you could never beat it. Sometimes it misjudges where the ball is, and sometimes it reacts too late. The AI makes fewer mistakes when playing at higher difficulty levels.

Why does the ball speed up in rally mode?

Rally games get gradually harder so that you can’t play forever, which would get boring!

Why do the bats shrink in rally mode?

Rally games get gradually harder so that you can’t play forever, which would get boring!

Why can’t I beat the AI in rally mode?

The AI is infallible in rally mode because the idea is for you to play as long as possible. You don’t want to penalised for the AI’s mistakes! Think of rally games as a single-player game of squash in which you hit the ball against a wall.

How come the best score doesn’t display the best score?

Stink keeps track of the best score separately for each game type (vs. AI and rally) and difficulty level.

Why don’t my settings changes work?

Settings may take a few seconds to be sent from the phone to the watch. Therefore, after changing settings, you may want to wait for a few seconds before starting a game. In addition, settings changed on the phone won’t take effect while you’re playing a game on the watch, but they should take effect within a few seconds of the end of the game.

How do I change the colour theme?

Use Stink’s Settings, which you can find in the Gallery section of the Fitbit app on your phone.

How do I enable or disable vibration effects?

Use Stink’s Settings, which you can find in the Gallery section of the Fitbit app on your phone.