<p>Despite the simple impact of a rigid particle being a centuries-old problem, a conclusive treatment of the general case is still outstanding. The influences of particle shape as well as elastic and plastic deformation of the particle upon contact significantly complicate the problem. Experiments have shown the possibilities of backward movement as well as forward movement with backward rotation after an impact. This paper investigates the planar impact of a disc and square particle under systematic variation of the impact angle and initial particle orientation. We investigate the kinematic variables of the particle, both post-impact as well as their evolution during contact. For impacts with friction we find oscillatory behaviour of the tangential contact force in both discs and squares depending on the impact angle and initial particle orientation. We further demonstrate the possibility of backwards deflection for square particles with backward orientation under steep impact angles, which is not possible for round particles under the same conditions. In contrast, high deflection angles are achieved with a kind of “double-impact” where the centroid of the particle moves away from the plane so that the surface detaches first, but reconnects again due to induced rotation, which also is not possible for round particles. Lastly, we present different coefficients of restitution for the square particle with respect to the combined influence of impact angle and particle orientation upon impact.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>