

“It’s a level playing field,” he said, “and what someone does with it is up to them.”īut when he moved to New York in 2013, he found that few people felt the same way. But for him, as much as he thinks it’s corny to say, air hockey is an art. He’s an engineer in training, a really no-nonsense guy. He can’t sum up what he loved about the game in a single sentence, or really at all - it’s just “too big” for him. Flores became hooked on air hockey while shooting photos of the national championship for his college paper a decade ago in Houston, a hotbed of elite players. “I’ve never seen anyone play like that,” he said. One bearded observer took the Juul out of his mouth and looked stunned. The subsequent annihilation of his opponent drew stares.

Flores let the Canadian score a few points.
Best air hockey table how to#
He also knows how to put the puck into a so-called circle drift, gently cycling it back and forth before executing a killer shot. Flores, who is 30, holds the mallet by its edge, not by the knob, the way most people do, which is the mark of a novice. If it was hard for him to attract opponents, it was no problem drawing a crowd once a game was underway. When the Canadian sidled over between periods, Mr. Both he and his mentee are attending and fully expect to achieve glory if not win much in the way of money.īut he was always on the lookout for more disciples, and he was always up for a game. He himself was also getting ready for the World Championships that were set for the end of July in Colorado Springs. He’d recently found a student - a New Yorker named Liz Cash, who hoped to become the top-ranked female player in the world, and he had her training with the appropriate intensity. His name was Justin Flores, and he had been coming to Ontario, a dive bar in Williamsburg, for weeks, waiting for anybody to approach the table. 10 in the world and was almost certainly the best air hockey player in New York.

He neglected to mention that he was currently ranked No. He challenged the Leafs fan to a game of air hockey and even offered to buy him a beer if he won.
Best air hockey table tv#
At a bar in Brooklyn this spring, when the hockey playoffs were still going on, a guy with a nose ring and glasses approached a visitor from Toronto who was watching the Maple Leafs game on a small TV in the corner of the bar.
