Trajectory Up-Kickers

A Kickers variant that launches the ball on an angled trajectory through the air toward a specific target, rather than firing it straight up like a Vertical Up-Kickers. The solenoid sends the ball on a parabolic arc — an aimed aerial shot more closely related to Catapults than to any vertical mechanism. Both IPDB-cataloged machines equipped with trajectory up-kickers are basketball-themed: Bally’s Hy-Roll (1947), where the ball flies toward a scoring basket, and Stern’s NBA (2009), where it sails toward a backboard hoop. The feature turns a mechanical kicker into a miniature free-throw shooter.