Soft-Ball Queens

Soft-Ball Queens, manufactured by Munves Manufacturing Company in August 1946, is a flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine themed around softball, reflecting the sport's popularity in postwar America. It was one of several conversion kits Munves offered that let operators repurpose earlier flipperless Bally and Westerhaus games with a new playfield.

Gameplay-wise, Soft-Ball Queens features 14 passive bumpers, a substantial number for a machine of its type, along with a single kick-out hole that adds variety to the player's experience. As a flipperless, single-player game, scoring depends on where the ball naturally falls among the bumpers rather than any skillful aiming.

The design and artwork on Soft-Ball Queens are characteristic of early EM pinballs, featuring bold, colorful graphics that evoke a bygone era. Little is documented about the specific designer or development process behind Soft-Ball Queens, leaving room for curiosity among enthusiasts of pre-flipper pinball.