Invader Ball

The Invader Ball, manufactured by Red Baron Amusements of Australia in 1980, is a solid-state electronic pinball machine notable for being a pinball/video combination — a video screen displaying the familiar Space Invaders video game is built in behind the backglass, alongside a digital score display and a smaller credit/ball-in-play display. Its playfield design is identical to Gottlieb's 1980 'Buck Rogers'.

Despite the video screen, Invader Ball is evidently a standard one-player pinball game; it is unclear how, or whether, the on-screen Space Invaders scores and credits relate to the separate score and credit displays elsewhere on the backglass. Gameplay features two flippers, two pop bumpers, a 4-bank of drop targets, two 2-bank drop targets, a kick-out hole, and a messenger ball.

As an early Australian-made solid-state machine and an unusual hybrid of video game and pinball, Invader Ball is a scarce and unusual piece of pinball history, of particular interest to collectors drawn to novelty combination machines.