Play Ball

Play Ball, manufactured by H. C. Evans & Company in 1941, is an electro-mechanical, single-player baseball-themed bat game. Its most distinctive feature is that balls are pitched and hit through the air rather than rolled along the playfield, giving it a more dynamic, baseball-like feel than typical pin games of the era.

The console-style cabinet measures approximately 31 inches long, 13 inches high, and 10 1/2 inches deep for the backbox, a compact footprint typical of bat games of the period. Players navigate a baseball theme that reflects the sport's growing popularity in 1940s America.

Limited additional information survives about Play Ball's designer, artist, or production numbers, but its airborne-ball mechanic makes it a notable and unusual entry among electro-mechanical baseball games of its era.