The invention provides methods, systems, and devices for detecting a physical collision between two client devices based on sensor data. A server computer receives a first collision signature from a first client device, and a second collision signature from a second client device. Based on determining that a correlation of the first collision signature and the second collision signature does not achieve a detection threshold, the server computer lowers, for a limited period of time, the detection threshold. If the server computer receives, within the limited period of time, a third collision signature from the first client device, and a fourth collision signature from the second client device, and determines that a correlation of the third collision signature and the fourth collision signature achieves the lowered detection threshold, the server computer detects a collision between the first and second client devices.