Skateball

This entry documents the original, unproduced version of Skateball (Model 1150-E), designed by Greg Kmiec for Bally and released to production status on paper on February 7, 1978 — though ultimately only a single unit is confirmed. According to Kmiec, this "whitewood" design featured a motorized appearing/disappearing target assembly, but the motor caught fire during life testing, and the design was scrapped. Bally instead handed the Skateball name and backglass artwork to newly hired designer Claude Fernandez, whose redesigned game became the actual production Skateball released in 1980 (Model 1210). Kmiec's original playfield and a single backglass bearing his name are believed to be among the only surviving artifacts of this version.

As a Solid State Electronic (SS) game, Kmiec's Skateball would have used Bally's electronic scoring technology of the period, following on his earlier games Wizard! (1975) and Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1976), and drawing on the economy-game concept of Hokus Pokus (1976). Specific gameplay details for this scrapped version, beyond the target assembly, are not documented.

Because it never entered real production, little else is known about this version of Skateball. It stands as an unusual footnote in Bally's history — a game whose name, artwork, and design lineage were passed to another designer before reaching the public.