Back Hi Ball

Edit History

  1. By OPDB
    display_type
    alphanumeric
    month
    1
    name
    Hi Ball
    opdb_id
    GR7j6-MDxWl
    opdb.images
    [{"type":"backglass","urls":{"large":"https://img.opdb.org/68c9a94d-51f7-4f8f-bf25-1e1c2a025abd-large.jpg","small":"https://img.opdb.org/68c9a94d-51f7-4f8f-bf25-1e1c2a025abd-small.jpg","medium":"https://img.opdb.org/68c9a94d-51f7-4f8f-bf25-1e1c2a025abd-medium.jpg"},"sizes":{"large":{"width":382,"height":253},"small":{"width":250,"height":166},"medium":{"width":382,"height":253}},"title":"Backglass","primary":true}]
    player_count
    6
    technology_generation
    solid-state
    year
    1988
  2. By IPDB
    gameplay_feature
    Flippers ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Pop Bumpers ×2
    ipdb.corporate_entity_name
    Tecnoplay
    ipdb_id
    3709
    ipdb.image_urls
    ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-4.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-7.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-6.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-8.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-9.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-5.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3709/image-2.jpg"]
    ipdb.notable_features
    Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2). The playfield is suspended on springs so that it can be shaken almost like a normal pinball cabinet. A vacuum-formed horseshoe-shaped ramp is accessed by the ball on each side of the mid-playfield (entrances are marked Space Journey) and allows the ball entry at the top of the playfield to the clear plastic aerial crossover ramps, returning the ball to a flipper.
    ipdb.notes
    The backglass also shows the name 'Space Team' which is a reference to Tecnoplay's 1988 'Space Team', the same game as 'Hi-Ball' but in a different cabinet. The operator could purchase, as an option, an additional backglass and ROMS to convert this game to a sort of bingo pinball. Because bingo games were forbidden in Italy, this conversion kit was never advertised publicly, although the flyer does hint at it by stating "Disponibile in due versioni" ("two versions available"). Information about it was written in a sheet inside a game and carried by word of mouth. Reinstalling the original ROMs and backglass would restore the game to the original version. Thr flyer also indicates that operators would be able to change the playfield and game with future playfields and games, as kits, but the company did not stay in operation long enough to produce any future games or kits. In fact, Federico Croci, a collector in Italy, states this kind of conversion was not very successful. He recalls visiting Tecnoplay in the 1990s while they were throwing away unused backglasses and other parts, most of them for the bingo version of this game. Reportedly, the schematics for Tecnoplay's 1987 'X Force' can be used to trouble-shoot this game.
    player_count
    6
    system
    tecnoplay-2-2c-8008-ls-68000-cpu
    technology_generation
    solid-state
    theme
    Outer Space
    theme
    Space Fantasy
    year
    1988