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Home-run derby. Time your swing as the pitch arrives — the better the contact, the farther the ball flies. Distance is your score; clear the fence for a home run. Three whiffs and you're out.
Tap to swing. A ball is tossed in toward the plate; tap exactly as it reaches the hitting spot.
How close your timing is to that moment decides everything. A perfectly timed swing barrels the ball for maximum distance; a little early or late still makes contact but travels less; way off is a swing and a miss.
Every hit adds its distance in metres to your score, and clearing the fence at 100 metres is a home run. A whiff, or letting the pitch go by without swinging, is an out — three outs and the game ends.
Each pitch takes a random 0.85 to 1.3 seconds to arrive, so you cannot swing on autopilot. That range shrinks by 0.4% with every pitch, and the timing window — about 0.2 seconds either side of the perfect moment at the start — shrinks by 1.2% per pitch, so the longer you last, the sharper you have to be.
Watch the ball, not the bat. Your swing fires the instant you tap, so the only thing your eyes need to track is the ball closing on the plate; lock onto it from the moment it is released and tap the moment it reaches the hitting spot, rather than glancing around the screen.
Because the pitch speed changes every toss, judge the moment by where the ball is, not by counting time. A slow lob hangs and tempts you to swing early, while a quick one is on you before you expect it. Reset your read at the start of each pitch and commit to that ball's pace alone.
The distance curve is steep near perfect timing, so small improvements in accuracy pay off hugely. The gap between an okay swing and a barrelled one is only a fraction of a second, but it can be the difference between a forty-metre flare and a hundred-and-thirty-metre bomb. Chase the centre of the window, not just any contact.
The timing window is the same width on both sides of the perfect moment, so a swing a tenth of a second late travels as far as one a tenth of a second early. Do not hedge by swinging late on purpose; aim for the centre every time. What does help is patience on slow pitches: a slow lob hangs and tempts you to go early, so wait for the ball to reach the spot instead of letting nerves decide. Fewer whiffs keep your outs down and your metres climbing.