On a server, a collision handler is called by a physics simulation engine to categorize a plurality of rigid bodies in some simulation data as either colliding or not colliding. The simulation data relates to a triggering event involving the plurality of rigid bodies and is generated by a simulation of both gravitational trajectories and collisions of rigid bodies. Based on the categorization and the simulation data, a synchronization engine generates synchronization packets for the colliding bodies only and transmits the packets to one or more client computing devices configured to perform a reduced simulation function.