This is a nice mid-level table. By mid-level I mean that it doesn't provide arcade-level size and play, but it works very well in a large family or play room. When it arrived I was pleased to see that, while it carries the "Harvard" brand name, it is built by Escalade Sports. Escalade built our now 7-year-old "Stiga" ping pong table and we have had excellent experience with the build quality and Escalade's customer service.
As other reviewers have noted, the Harvard 7-Foot Air Hockey Table is heavy. If someone actually managed to get it downstairs by themselves on a Christmas Eve I am very impressed with his/her strength. It took me, my wife, son, and two daughters to muscle it downstairs without any damage to the walls or the package, and without dragging it across the wood floors or carpet.
The packaging is outstanding and everything inside was very secure, cosmetically perfect, with zero damage. All listed parts were there. Setup was about 45 minutes with four of us working on legs (simple bolts) and panels (simple screws, good panel fit, but alignment holes are off just slightly). We turned it right-side-up very carefully, moved it into place, plugged it in, and were greeted by the last strains of the National Anthem and the voice of the announcer.
Play for two is good fun. It has a smaller feel than an arcade table, but the action is still reasonably fast-paced with only minimal-moderate tendancy for the puck to destabilize or fly off the table. Play for four (four paddles and two pucks are included) is possible as long as the players are small.
Things I like:
Inconspicuous mostly black, with some silver accents, white playing surface, modern design, blends in well with the room, doesn't stand out
Good airflow has very even flow across the surface, uses medium-size pucks (not as large as arcade) which glide smoothly on the air cushion
Built-in score the score LED is built into the actual playing surface on each side and looks good
Multiple game modes allows different lengths of play such as 5 minutes or 10 minutes
Stable while heavy to move while in the box, once set up it is a solid table that holds up well under play but is not so heavy that it can't be repositioned in the room; has adjustable slider on the bottom and the surface is very level with no noticeable drift of the puck to one particular side which makes the play very even
Things I would like to see improved:
Alignment holes the alignment holds for the black panels on the legs could be positioned more accurately, purely for ease and speed of installation, did not affect function in any way
Goal nets plastic goal nets extend slightly onto the playing surface; very rarely a slow moving puck can stick under them without dropping into the return slot and registering a goal, creating the potential for your opponent to call you a cheater if you pull it out...or a good sport if you give them the point
The reason for the 4/5 stars instead of 5/5 is simply that I reserve the 5/5 for a true exceeds expectations. In this case that would have meant giving me a little bit more of the fast-action, wide-open play of a true arcade table (which I now realize would be a much larger, much more expensive table).
Overall, this is a well-built, nice looking, good playing, family room-size table that I expect will give years of fun.
After applying the laws of physics to get this beast from my garage to my basement by myself (I do not advise this) at night without waking anybody and without breaking the table or myself, my first thought was, "I hope I don't have to return this thing."I did not have to return it!
This was a present for my son on his 10th birthday.We have by now enjoyed many father/son games of air hockey (I am beating him less badly as time goes on).
I wanted a commercial quality extra large table but I could not fit one into my basement.This was a perfect compromise.Big but not huge.It is of sufficient quality, but it is not of the quality like you see in game rooms.My son and I are happy with it.
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I bought this game table from a neighbor a few months back and all i can say is that it is the best quality, most fun, and most maintenance free air hockey table you can buy. when i bought it, it was $600, and if you can find it for less, I would go for it. The countless hours my family and our friends spent on this table has made it a truly valuable and treasured item in our home. Hope this helps.
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I expected particle board legs and body.However, I (wrongly) assumed the parts of the table that actually come in contact with the puck (e.g., goals, side walls) would be durable.Instead, Harvard just puts a very thin (about 1/32") black plastic veneer over the particle board.
Within the first hour of use, the veneer started chipping.After about 2 weeks, there were missing chunks all over the board and the goals were being worn down significantly.Seriously, who puts virtually unprotected particle board in an air-hockey goal?
The table worked pretty nicely otherwise and the kids loved playing with it.The shame of it is that all this table needs is a 1/2" plastic coating on the bumper surfaces, which probably would have added like $10 to the manufacturing cost of this $600 table...
The only upside to this experience is that Amazon gave me a full refund without any hassles, and sent the shipping company back to pick it up for free.So the Amazon return process worked very nicely.
In summary, I STRONGLY recommend against buying this table.
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I was very excited about getting this delivered because I knew how much my whole family would enjoy it.Everyone was very excited about it.The first time we played, the puck kept getting stuck under the plastic nets as they are only secured to the table at the back.This became a frustrating experience and we figured out that those could be removed.So, then we finally felt like we were playing a real game.Only problem now is that the plastic near the goals is chipping off.I don't understand how a game that is meant to be played by banking the puck off the sides have sides that are chipping off after 3 days of playing time.So, I guess we will see how long it lasts.
The other issue, and I am not sure whether or not it's a problem is that the puck doesn't really float on the table.It moves easily, but when it hits the middle of the table it doesn't float, at all.
The barking surprised us (just squeeze) but we didn't read the product description very closely.Nonetheless, Spunky is quite soft and blue.
