Southpaw

Southpaw, a solid-state electronic pinball machine from 1977, was manufactured by Sega Enterprises of Tokyo. As a single-player baseball-themed game, Southpaw brings America's pastime to the playfield with a distinctly late-1970s design.

The gameplay features two flippers, two pop bumpers, and eight standup targets, along with a horseshoe lane and a kick-out hole. A standout mechanical element is the spinning disk mounted on a post in the center-left of the playfield, which contacts the top of the ball to simulate a pitcher throwing a pitch. A ball flipped up the right-side Home Run ramp returns to the shooter lane, and if the player shoots it back into play within three seconds, a Special is awarded. Southpaw also includes the separate "Your Number" match feature common to Sega machines of this era.

Design-wise, Southpaw reflects classic 1970s pinball aesthetics with a drop-down cabinet. No information on its designer has survived. A similar aerial spinning-disk mechanism appears on Sega's 1976 machine "Big Together." Southpaw stands as an early example of Sega's entry into the solid-state pinball market.