The playing surface is the bottom of the pool where play happens. Playing surfaces can vary greatly and the puck will move differently on each one. The most common playing surface is tile. Tiles provide a smooth surface that the puck slides across quite quickly. Some pools have cement bottoms, or a mixture of cement and tile. Some pools have a court installed for underwater hockey called sport court. This surface allows the puck to slide very quickly.
Different types of pucks are used for different surfaces. In general, pucks with brass sliders are very good for cement bottom pools while pucks with plastic sliders are much better on tile surfaces.