Oh thanks a lot :) I appreciate that. Do you agree with what I think is the central point of Pong or do you have another interpretation? Im interested to hear either way :)
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Hmmm.....I think you're right about the game being a dance between two people. Just like ping pong or tennis is a dance between two people, so is Pong. However, you also said that the game is about the relationship between two vertically synced paddles. And yet, in your game, the paddles aren't vertically synced at all, since they're on a circle. In fact, in your game, the paddles aren't even always opposite from each other. Since it's a lot harder to judge the trajectory of the ball in yours, the players aren't going to be constantly following the ball with their paddles, but reacting after the other person's bounce, keeping the paddles out of sync.
Also, your game is missing an important element of the original, which is the walls on the sides that bounce the ball up or down. Your circular arena doesn't have an equivalent to that. I think your game captures the most fun thing about Pong, which is the rhythm, and amplifies it, but it's not really analogous because it has a different sort of gameplay when it comes to geometry. ALSO also, I don't even like Pong, so I'm not sure if I'm the best person to judge what's good about Pong. :P