Overwatch Badminton Is Really A Thing

In case you’re somehow already bored with Overwatch’s brand of strategic run and gun action, some resourceful players have come up with a way to play a version of badminton within the game. Yep, you read that correctly, there’s now badminton in Overwatch.

And is it really so surprising that folks figured out how to play a game like badminton within Overwatch? I mean, games like Rocket League are getting official tweaks to their gameplay on a regular basis that turns a former “soccer” game into one of ice hockey or basketball. Over in Halo, those Spartans have invented their own version of Quidditch.

As for badminton in Overwatch, the folks over at Artisan & Quix have the scoop on this clever sporting craze taking Blizzard’s shooter by storm. They’ve got several selections of videos showing off how badminton works in the game, including the one below. You won’t be able to understand what is being said if you don’t speak Korean, but you’ll get the idea from the visuals alone.

As you can see, the game requires five players to run badminton properly, and they need to be very specific characters. First up, you need a pair of Mercy players. Set them in the middle of the play field and have them shoot boosts at each other, creating a net for the competition.

You’ll also need a single Junkrat in the game, who will fire a grenade at the team who is supposed to be on the receiving end of the serve.

Finally, each team is made up of a pair of Genji. Using his deflect ability, the two teams bounce the grenade back and forth until someone botches their swing and the grenade hits the ground and explodes. When that happens, the other team earns a point and the game resets for the next serve.

It’s not the most sophisticated version of badminton, but the teams playing here get into the groove after a couple of sets and you can see what a good volley looks like. Some great back and forth play is on display, complete with lobs, spikes and the occasional near miss that probably makes the game a heck of a lot of fun to play.

Seeing as how more than 7 million players have already picked up Overwatch, we expect even more games within the game to start popping up online in the coming months. For now, though, consider this a nice blueprint for putting together your own round of badminton within the game. If you’ve already managed to get a group together, we’d be interested to hear about your experience in the comments below. Also feel free to share your ideas for other games using characters’ powers in ways they probably weren’t intended.