Hyperball

Hyperball, designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics on December 30, 1981, is a flipperless, two-player solid-state target game -- officially classified as "Not A Pinball" rather than a standard pinball machine -- with artwork by Seamus McLaughlin, sound by Tim Murphy, and software by Ed Suchocki. It was also the first Williams game to include an alpha-numeric display, a technology that would not appear again in a Williams pinball machine until High Speed in 1986.

The game's centerpiece is the Hypercannon, which fires up to 250 3/4-inch balls per minute at targets around the outer edge of the playfield. With no flippers, players rely purely on timing and positioning as they operate the cannon, while an alpha-numeric display in the lower playfield -- driven using the circuitry originally intended for player 3 and 4 displays, which is why Hyperball supports only two players -- adds real-time feedback.

Williams originally forecast sales of 50,000 units, but actual demand fell well short, and the confirmed production run settled at 5,000 units. The backbox required a uniquely shaped, short backglass, and the surplus cabinets and backboxes originally built for Hyperball were later repurposed for production runs of Defender, Time Fantasy, and Firepower II.