Sufflepuck Cantina is a cute little casual game about air hockey simulation, ideal for playing in small doses. What it does it does perfectly with a smooth mouse response and clear and intuitive controls.

Long story short, you play as an astronaut stranded in a distant planet inhabited by a bunch of freaks obsessed with air hockey. In order to get them help you to fix your broken spaceship you need to make youself a name as an air jockey player and beat (a looot of times) the 13 opponents. You start with a basic mallet and puck and the 3 beginner opponents, and you must grind your way up to the rest of them, their special mallets and pucks and some other unblockables, such as concept art, pieces of background for the diffferent characters, etc. Each enemy has their own mallet and puck and a special move, but the concept of the game is always the same.

Some people have said it resembles Star Wars Tatooine cantina aesthetics, and it does indeed. There's even a "Twi'lek" girl and a guy cosplayed as Han Solo, and every alien is very Star Warsy, so if you like the saga then you'll probably find Sufflepuck Cantina attractive to the eye. Most defining trait is the grinding, which many people have complained about; there's no ingame purchases inherited from its former app game nature, yet you will need tons of ingame currency to buy everything, from access to more challenging enemies to new mallets and its upgrades. As there are only 13 enemies and the only mechanics in the game are the short, intense air hockey matches (no other minigames included), this may get repetitive after a while. You can, however, buy your classic coin doubler upgrade, which I recommend you to do first thing (there are a couple upgrades for the puck to give you money when it hits the table and the mallet).

Also the lack of multiplayer really damages a game like this one, which could use it to add some replayability and extra fun. However, the developers are considering to add it in the future if they get funding, and you can read about it in the Steam forums. I had this game on a bundle so I will definitely be investing a couple bucks :p

+ Cute design and characters
+ Addictive and tons of unlockable content
+ Polished and responsive controls and puck behavior

+/- Some people may find the grinding annoying, while others (like me) may find it catchy

- The concept gets repetitive quickly
- No multiplayer (although it could have it eventually)
- Some will find 10€ is a bit pricey due to lack of variety

After playing for 6 or 7 hours I say it's a good game, fun and with a fair amount of content, but it can get old quickly. If, like me, you are a sucker for casual games and achievement hunting, you will sure enjoy it. If you are looking for a more hardcore game, I would advice to avoid this one, specially at full price, as some will consider it to be a bit too much for what it offers; I had it in a bundle though, so I am more than happy with the value. I totally recommed it if you get it on sale and enjoy some good old casual gaming.

This game took me by surprise, it's really fun. Some people might know the term Shufflepuck as 'Air Hockey'. The only thing I am not enjoying about this game is the endless music (remix of the Star Wars Cantina tune).

This game is just 64 MB and delivers good graphics,textures,sounds and gameplay.This game is a must have.10/10

I hate Shufflepuck.

The original game that is. Whenever i heard as a kid that droid go 'Njyy Njyy' on me when it scored on the Amiga version i wanted to throw that (expensive) monitor through the window. It did not get any better on the misc. linux versions where the motionless poker-faced Tux the linux penguin would own my ♥♥♥ and take numbers while maintaining a stony faced posture worthy of Clint Eastwood.

Now this game is different for us slow pokes as the system is such that there are a lot of missions to do which in turn enables an enviroment where it's possible to learn to be better (and get different equipment and special shot abilities) while collecting misc stuff.

And suddenly it works. Best shufflepuck game ever. Kill the others with fire. this is the only one worth playing.

I've been told air hockey isn't a sport. But despite that I found this game to be charming and easy to play. Basically you go around playing different people games to get parts to replace your ship that has crashed on some planet and you need to build a new one to get home. For a game as simple as air hockey the graphics are really nicely done. And the cast of players different with their own play styles and charm. You have to unlock parts of your opponents biography to progress through the game. As you go up to nicer floors the competition also gets tougher to beat.

There's 3 game types duel, bet, and survival. And the missions each character will give you are missions of the survival variety. Although I genuinely enjoy playing this game it fails to give you a unique variation of missions / quests. In later missions it might change the puck you have to use but the developer could have had missions where you were forced to play with a mini mallet or puck, maybe some style of collect the most coins, just a missed opportunity to make the challenges more than "beat this player in survival mode for X amount of goals."

This is my go to game when I just want to play something casual. If you're an achievement hunter be warned that even though it's got plenty missions and goals and all that good stuff this game is a grind. Don't expect to get everything in 20 hours. Heck I've already spent well past 60 hrs and I'm only at some 75% completion. Multiplayer is also something that could have been a good addition to this game but perhaps in a future sequel the developer might consider it. If you see this game in a sale I'd recommend picking it up. It's something to do when you're not looking for something casual and pick up for a couple minutes at a time.

Fun little game that's a remake of a game I got addicted to in 4th grade. We would all play Shufflepuck Cafe for hours, and even ditch out on recess and spend it in the computer lab playing the original. This one builds off the original. Simply love it.

A game of air hockey/shufflepuck/air puck; whatever you want to call it, based on a pseudo Star Wars like planet hence the name. Fast reactions count, very fun in short bursts. 6/10

Fun to play! The game itself doesn't make sense but it's a good choice if you want to play something easy and a little hard at the same time. It's that type of the game that won't let you go until you make enough money to buy new stuff in it.

It's air hockey. Don't expect anything else but air hockey. Anyway, it's air hockey in a great package. A lot of characters and plenty of additional options and features (mallets, pucks, achievements, missions, challenges, etc.) add surprising depth and immersiveness to this rather simple game. It adds unexpected complexity and addictiveness to a rather menial game. The graphics are also super nice for an air hockey game. Especially the NPCs are really nicely designed and come with distinct personalities which makes them quite likeable. Unfortunately the sounds are too repetitive and they may get annoying. If I had to hear one more "ohnonono" from Furry I would've probably broken the screen.

The worst thing about this game is the lack of multiplayer. I mean, come on, it's air hockey, imagine how cool multiplayer would have been! Leaderboards can never compensate. If it had multiplayer, it would've been a great game. Otherwise, it's just good.

An OK little game to remember the original game from the nineties with some flaws that cannot be overlooked.

Clearly designed originally as a free-to-play (an insame amount of challenges, in-game achievements requiring 50+ hours of gameplay and more than a thousand matches to win, different sort of currencies, XP, slot machine, etc...), these mechanisms only strenghten the impression of a lack of content.

Which is sad, because the grinding slowly kills a game that had good efforts put into it (there's decent writing, overall good controls, balanced AI). This should be a lesson to game designers: forcing the player to put more hours than he normally would have only makes him/her notice the little things that are wrong (repetitive sound design, aberrant mallet behaviour on some occasions, too many menus...).

If you are bent on 100%ing games, just don't buy this one, the time you will have to spend is not worth it. For the others who might enjoy a few arcade air hockey matches, you can spend a few bucks when the game is on sale.

Best Pong game on Steam.

Oh no no no...

Okay, I have to say that whenever I make reviews I try REALLY hard to find a way to recommend the game or show it in a positive light.

So, first off, if you like air hockey games, then get this game. It can be very enjoyable and has a long life span. This life span, however, is allowed because of one critical feature.

It's all about the grind.

OMG the grind man. If you are like me, and used to grinding, then this should not be a problem.

I primarily have been playing this game for the cards so I can also unlock (the super insignificant chance of) booster pack drops. I have to admit, this is the first game that I have purchased and am seriously considering not playing to get all possible badges.

I do not like air hockey THIS much.

I've read reviews that this was originally an app game, and that makes sense because I've played other air hockey games for the touchscreen. That works REALLY well. I don't know if it's my mouse sensitivity (I play on 3200 DPI with +2 acceleration {whatever that means; it's REALLY sensitive}) or if I just really, really suck at this game, but the grinding for me is taking especially long. I don't know if I can do it.

Here's a taste of what you have to go through:

There are multiple floors in the cantina, each with new, harder opponents than the previous floor. On the first floor, there is a small alien dude who keeps periodically saying: nonononono, and I want to stab him so badly because it is so annoying. There is a dancer alien girl who I haven't played yet, and there is a robot bartender. Cool.

You play the bartender, and let's say you win 4 points to 2 (it is first to 4 on the first floor at least) in Duel mode. You get around 100 or so currency points.

A new puck costs 5000 points. A new mallet (the thing you hold) costs 5-15 thousand. Seriously. WTF.

Also, you can unlock biography codexes for each character, and after ALL the biographies of a character are unlocked, I'm guessing you unlock that character as a player(?). The tutorial explains that you will get their paddle and their unique skill. For example, the robo-bartender has a really annoying dodge shot skill where it will bank left or right and suddenly then go straight.

Did I mention that there are 19 (NINETEEN!) biographies for the stupid robot?!

Oh and did I also mention that all of the biographies (except the 1st one, I believe) cost 500 points?

That's at least 9000 points. OMFG.

If you are proficient in this game, it should go by pretty fast, I guess. If you arent, like me, then you will hate this game.

There is also a gambling feature that I feel is seriously trolling me. You unlock these gamble tokens that you can use to reveal face down cards, and the bonuses are nice, however, if you reveal a skull, you lose everything you've revealed (including the tokens you spent). I swear I have gone 2 consecutive prizes ONCE, every other time, the skull is second to be revealed.

I want to give this a recommendation, I really do. But I just can't, so this will be my first non-recommendation.

Air hockey with aliens, people, and robots. A fun, responsive and lightweight game for all ages! Oculus Rift support too, Get it!

I got this game a long time ago but just got around to trying it out. It is a fun and enjoyable game that gets harder as you advance floors.
As long as you like air hockey you will no doubt like this game

This is a solid arcade title -- it looks nice, controls well, has basic but satisfing gameplay (it's air hockey) with a few twists like special moves or unlockable upgrades. On top of regular matches against AI opponents, there are challenges with special win conditions for variety. It's all very classic, as you can tell, but it's well-made.

I have gotten a solid 4-5 hours of enjoyment out of Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe and would recommend it without reservation to anyone tempted by virtual air hockey/arcade game fans.

Fair warning: It seems like the progression curve is slow and built around the expectation that you'll play a lot (and I do mean a lot) of this game, which might frustrate the completionist in you if you have a mind to unlock all the equipment and every costume. None of it is required to have fun really, but you can tell that this game has roots in the mobile world just by how they stretched out content.

I do recommend the game if you NEVER played any air hockey or even shufflepuck game - in game or in real life (if you don't know air hockey, try it at least once, it is cool). I do recommend this game too if like me, you remember your teenage time playing Shufflepuck Cafe on Atari... good times. Now, I would not recommend this game just like that, because it is not that great. It is fine. Very repetitive (that's air hockey... better in real life with real friends), very grindy (win 15 times against him - good, now beat him 8 times without loosing - good, now you can duel the new opponent... who tells you to beat the previous one 10 times...), and the table is a TAD too small (actually, there is too much camera inclination), BUT the gameplay is really smooth, the different opponents moves are nice though as too simple as the original game, so, yeah, overall it is enough to pass the time if you buy it on sale.

It can be frustrating but it is also a lot of fun.

Shufflepuck Cantina is easy at the start, perhaps a little too easy, but it has charm. Once you get to the 2nd floor, the training mitts come off and you realize there is some challenge to this game after all.

The gameplay is deceptively simple. The controls boil down to moving your mouse and clicking your primary mouse button. However, each character has their own special skill, and each round includes its own distractions to overcome. The progression of this game is actually very addictive, and the only reason I wanted to quit playing was so I could go to sleep.

On that note, good night.

I love this game when it works and hate it when it doesn't. It's simple arcade action and when it's WORKING it rules. But after 10 to 20 minutes of play, I inevitably reach a situation where the puck is stuck on the playfield and I just stop playing because ♥♥♥♥ that. In real air hockey in the REAL WORLD, you can simply grab the puck and resume play. In this game when it is stuck in a loop in the middle of the playfield, you must restart your match. Pass.

okey really sweet and easy game but easy to get mad on too