Fast Ball

Fast Ball, manufactured by Williams Electronics beginning March 25, 1969, is not a conventional flipper pinball at all but a baseball-themed "bat game." In this classic pitch-and-bat format, the player swings a bat mechanism at balls delivered by a pitching unit, aiming to send them into scoring targets. Williams had a long tradition of baseball games, and this two-player widebody entry continues that lineage.

Gameplay on Fast Ball features pop-up outfielders on the playfield and delightful mechanical backbox animation, with figures of men moving around the bases in the backglass as players advance runners. The ball pitching and batting devices give the game its distinctly interactive, arcade-like character, and the score displays count up to a maximum of 99 runs per player.

With its animated backglass baserunners and pop-up fielders, Fast Ball is a charming example of the electro-mechanical bat games that shared arcade floors with pinball machines through the 1950s and 1960s, making it an appealing piece for collectors of novelty and sports games.