All Star Baseball

All Star Baseball, manufactured by Chicago Coin Machine Manufacturing Company in 1962, is a two-player electro-mechanical bat game (model number 297). Rather than flippers, the player controls a bat, swinging at pitched balls in the long tradition of coin-operated baseball games that manufacturers like Chicago Coin had been refining for years.

Gameplay centers on hitting targets to avoid outs. The player shoots until three outs are made, with each missed target registering one out; hitting all seven hanging targets cancels an out, extending the turn at bat. Light animation in the backglass shows men running the bases, adding a dynamic display that brings the on-field action to life. At 5 cents per play, it is a reminder of the era's accessible, affordable arcade entertainment.

The game's design emphasizes clear, intuitive mechanics typical of early-1960s bat games. Surviving examples show playfield color variations: the path between the pitcher's mound and home plate appears either white or as unpainted woodgrain, and the base paths are colored either salmon or bold orange, suggesting variations across the production run.