A paddle is a game controller with a round wheel and one or more fire buttons, where the wheel is typically used to control movement of the player object along one axis of the video screen. A paddle controller rotates through a fixed arc ; it has a stop at each end.
Two Paddles for the Atari 2600
A paddle controller for the Sony PlayStation
A driving controller for the Atari 2600, similar in appearance to the Atari 2600 paddles
A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device or input/output device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game. Input devices that have been classified as game controllers include keyboards, mice, gamepads, and joysticks, as well as special purpose devices, such as steering wheels for driving games and light guns for shooting games. Controllers designs have evolved to include directional pads, multiple buttons, analog sticks, joysticks, motion detection, touch screens and a plethora of other features.
A player holding a North American Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller
A modern recreation of the controller for the 1958 video game Tennis For Two
A Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, a typical modern two-stick gamepad
Paddle controllers were popular early in the 2nd console generation for Pong games.