- credit
- Steve Ritchie — Design
- credit
- Ed Suchocki — Software
- credit
- Tim Murphy — Sound
- credit
- Seamus McLaughlin — Art
- ipdb.corporate_entity_name
- Williams Electronics, Incorporated
- ipdb_id
- 3169
- ipdb.image_urls
- ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-5.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-6.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-7.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-8.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-4.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-9.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-10.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-11.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-12.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-13.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-14.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-15.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-16.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-17.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-18.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-22.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-23.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-24.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-25.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-26.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-27.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-28.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-29.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-30.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-31.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-19.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-20.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-21.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-32.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-33.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-34.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-35.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-36.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-37.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-38.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-40.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-39.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-41.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-42.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-A42.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-47.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-43.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-46.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-44.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-45.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-48.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-49.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-51.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-50.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/3169/image-52.png"]
- ipdb.manufacturer_trade_name
- Williams
- ipdb.model_number
- 509
- ipdb.notable_features
- Hypercannon fires up to 250 3/4" balls per minute at targets located around the outer edge of the playfield. No flippers. An alpha-numeric display in the lower playfield.
- ipdb.notes
- The alternate art found on the front of the cabinet has been attributed to the idea of stencils going to two different cabinet makers.
According to Williams production records, the initial sales forecast for Hyperball was 50,000 units. However, it was not long before that number had to be scaled back drastically, because the game was not selling as predicted. By this time, more cabinets (and backboxes) had already been made than what would be required for the final production run quantity. The backbox for this game was unique and required a short backglass. The excess backboxes would later be used for the production runs of Defender, Time Fantasy, and Firepower II.
This 1981 arcade game has an alpha-numeric display in the lower playfield. These displays did not appear in production pinball machines until Wico's 1984 'Af-Tor' followed by Premier's 1985 'Chicago Cubs "Triple Play"'. The first Williams pin game to use alpha-numeric displays is Williams' 1986 'High Speed'.
Programmer Ed Suchocki shares the following information about Hyperball:Steve Ritchie created the original logo for Hyperball. The backglass was re-designed several times and was originally to be screened upon Plexiglas. This was the first Williams games to have an alpha-numeric display. We used the drivers of Player 3 and 4 displays to drive the alpha-numeric. This is why it was a two-player machine. The system was modified to add more lamps to the display matrix. The original matrix could drive 64 lamps while the Hyperball lamp matrix was able to drive 96 lamps.
No Production Floor Records available for Hyperball.
From Steve Kordek Lists #3 and #11:
Production Start Date: Dec-30-1981
Production End Date: May-28-1982
Total quantity produced: 5,000
Product History Record for Hyperball:
Quantity produced for USA/Canada: 3514*
Quantity produced for export: 956*
Total quantity produced: 4470*
Price to Distributor: $2150.00
*These quantities may be sales estimates.
Audited Sales History Accounting Record:
Quantity sold: 4,444
- ipdb_rating
- 6.9
- month
- 12
- player_count
- 2
- production_quantity
- 5000
- system
- williams-system-7
- technology_generation
- solid-state
- theme
- Outer Space
- theme
- Fantasy
- year
- 1981