Court Hop

About Court Hop

Court Hop is volleyball in a park rather than a stadium. There are courts across an open space, you walk to one, and a rally starts. The whole thing is deliberately low-ceremony — the game you want is about forty seconds away from the moment the page loads.

The moves are jump, dive, lob and hit, and the dive is the one that makes it. Reaching a ball you had written off is the feeling the game is built around.

Rallies, not scorelines

Matches are to 7, 11 or 15 points, and the difficulty runs Relaxed, Normal, Challenging. Relaxed is genuinely relaxed — rallies go long because both sides want them to, which is the right way to learn the timing.

The career

Career matches and cups sit on top of the park, with a record of points, wins and good hits that follows you. The park itself is always there if you would rather just roam and play whoever is on the next court.

Controls

WASD to move around the park and the court, with jump, dive, lob and hit on their own keys. The camera follows you or shows the whole court.

How to play Court Hop

1. Choose Explore the park from the welcome screen. The solo park has six connected courts and 23 computer players already playing on them.
2. Walk over to any court with WASD or the arrow keys and press E when you are close to join it. If you would rather pick from a list, Tab lets you browse the courts and switch between them.
3. Choose a team. Every match has four spots, two a side, and computer players fill whichever ones are empty.
4. Get under the ball and your player bumps it automatically. Press J or left-click to hit, and time it with your jump for a spike. K dives for a low ball, and L or right-click plays a high lob.
5. Press C to cycle between the follow, court and park cameras until you find the view you like.
6. Play to the match target. When the match ends you can stay for the next one or press E again to leave the court and walk somewhere else.

Court Hop tips and strategy

• Let your feet make the first touch. The bump happens on its own when you are under the ball, so put your effort into positioning and keep the buttons for the touch that attacks.
• Keep the dive for low balls. K is built for the ball that is about to hit the ground. Diving early leaves you on the floor and out of position for the return.
• Finish rallies yourself. When your team wins a rally, both of you get a point, but the player who made the winning touch gets three extra. Putting the ball away rather than leaving it to your computer partner pushes your total up much faster.
• Remember the two-point rule. A match is only won with a lead of at least two, so 7–6 in a short match is not the end. Do not relax on match point.
• Use the lob to change the pace. Spike after spike is easy to read. A high lob on L or right-click slows the rally down and gives you time to recover your position.
• Walk close before pressing E. E only joins a court when you are near it. From across the park, Tab is the quicker way to reach the court you want.
• Tune the settings menu. Lower graphics detail helps on older devices, and the bot difficulty and match length settings apply to the solo park, so you can set them to suit the time you have.

Scoring and the career in Court Hop

Your points in the park count more than the scoreboard on one court. You earn one for every rally your side wins, three more on top for the winning touch, and ten for every match your team takes. The table on each court ranks players by points first and wins second, which is why a player who keeps finishing rallies climbs above one who only wins.

When you want more structure than wandering between courts, the career offers a twelve-stage circuit. The next career match is always one button away, and your record of points, wins and good hits keeps building whichever way you choose to play.