All-American Automatic Base Ball Game

The All-American Automatic Base Ball Game, manufactured by Amusement Machine Corporation of America in 1929, is an early and interesting example of electro-mechanical (EM) game design, predating the classic EM machines of later decades. Designed by George H. Miner, the game earned a patent (No. 2,064,025, filed 1932, granted 1936) for its game apparatus, though Miner, who died in a 1935 plane crash while serving as Bally's chief engineer, never lived to see the patent granted.

Gameplay is straightforward: for 5 cents, the player gets three outs, with pitching handled entirely automatically so the player's only job is to swing the bat. This "bat game" format removed the need for a second player to pitch, distinguishing it from other baseball-themed amusement devices of the era.

Little specific documentation survives about the cabinet's artwork or exact visual design. What is clear is that this machine, and its close relative, 1931's 'The All-American Baseball Game' from the same manufacturer's later incarnation, represent some of the earliest baseball-themed coin-operated amusements, an important thread in the pre-pinball history of the industry.