Old School Ball Park

A baseball dexterity game that uses all the rules of baseball and devices that hit and pitch a small metal ball. Advertised as "The Fastest, Most Realistic Baseball Game in the World," it uses a plastic ballpark with a "pitcher," "batter," and "catcher." The batting player uses the "batter" (a small metal bat attached to a spring that swings like a bat when a button is pushed) to hit a small metal ball from the "pitcher" (a set of three levers controlled by the pitching player that pitches the ball toward the plate and controls it) before it lands in the "catcher" (a pit behind home plate.) If the ball is put into play, it may land in a cup, stay in the ballpark, go foul, or be hit outside. Various cups are labeled as to the result, which may be an out or an extra-base hit. If the ball is still inbounds but not in a cup, it is a single. If it leaves the ballpark, then it is a homerun. The controls of the pitcher allow the ball to be shot forth at varying speeds, moved with a magnet beneath the playing field, and dropped through a trapdoor so the batter is unable to hit it. The game rules describe six different "pitches" that can be thrown: a fastball, change-up, curveball, screwball, slider, and sinker. The game revolves around this element of the pitcher/hitter struggle. While it is very difficult to hit any pitch but a fastball or change-up, if the batter does not swing at anything else it is a ball, as in baseball. Various deceptions by the pitcher can be employed, such as opening the trapdoor while the ball is approaching the bat then closing it at the last moment so it will be a strike.