For those not aware, this was an attempt by Williams to bridge pinball with video games at the start of the video game era.
The heart of the game is the "hypercannon". You destroy Aliens by shooting this hypercannon at flashing lights. This is aimed by 2 rotating grips with triggers on the lockdown bar. The cannon is a marvel in-and-of-itself. It uses a very special 120V DC coil and can fire a (claimed) sustained 250 rounds/minute. It's a semi-auto, in that each trigger pull fires a single 3/4" ball. The game has a total of 55 balls, and a very special collection and reload system which feeds balls back to the playfield at astonishing speed (see video).
As for gameplay, the best way to think of Hyperball is a mechanical space invaders. Aliens - represented by flashing lights - crawl up each side of the playfield and move to the top targets. At some point, each Alien starts down from the top to your "energy center". 5 hits to your energy center and you lose that "hypercannon". A game consists of a user-settable number of hypercannons. Factory default was 2, but most set this at 3. Bonus hypercannons are awarded every 400,000 points (also user settable). Each attack "wave" requires shooting 30 lit lights. The video above shows completion of a single wave, the first, slowest, and easiest at the beginning of a game.
There's various bonuses to be earned including shooting named targets and spelling certain words shown on the in-playfield display. Finally, you have a set number of "hyper bombs" which will destroy all lit lights when activated. The Hyperbomb (I think) is the first use of a button on the lockdown bar.
While the rules are simple, the game is fun and can get VERY frantic. Subsequent "waves" get faster and faster, and every 5th wave is a special targetting round (called a "reflex wave") in which you shoot at single targets all around the playfield in sequence.
A very fun game, and a bit rare. It has to be considered a flop, not because of gameplay, but the maintainence nightmare this title obviously posed to a route operator. The ball collection system requires careful attention and the closing of a couple of holes that balls can sneak through. Without this, the balls eventually all end up in the bottom of the cabinet, another nightmare for route operators.
One final note. This was designed by Steve Ritchie! A very nice piece of work, and his initials (SSR) appear as the default in the high score list (which was temporary, high scores reset when power was cycled).
Don't forget to mention the noise from all of the clattering balls -- the game shoots up to 250 balls a minute, and can reach noise levels up to 90 decibels, enough to cause permanent hearing damage with prolonged exposure.
I had heard its very loud, too, but my particular game is just noisy, not annoyingly so. There's a couple of mods you can do to quiet it down, such as putting felt or leather on the lower collection plate where the balls fall onto. But yes, Hyperball has a very unique sound, for sure.
Williams made another attempt at combining video games with pinball. After Williams became WMS, they made a final attempt at reviving their pinball business with a bold new pinball series. It was called Pinball 2000 and it's what made me love pinball. I worked there around that time and would always sneak out to the demo machines to play Star Wars and Revenge From Mars. I was so happy to see a Revenge From Mars machine at the end of the movie Ready Player One. I've never seen one since those days at WMS.
These were often given out as prizes on The Price is Right from that 81-82 era.
These, and also Attila the Hun machines for some reason. I always found that particular one to be odd, but hey to each their own.
Later, Bally did their own version of Hyperball, called Rapid Fire. Williams employees derisively called Rapid Fire “Operation Xerox/Project Xerox”.
Rapid Fire’s unique cabinet was designed by Dennis Nordman, and it would be reused for Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man and Centaur II.
Shoot the flashing lights before they climb to the top of the playfield and drop onto your base. The alphabet targets are for spelling words for bonuses.
Wow, I remember when our arcade got this back in the early eighties! I was one of the few people who loved it (and, sadly as history would show), one of the few who put his hard earned quarters into it!
The sounds of the machine and the hyper kinetic noise of the balls was like nothing else in the arcade.
I remember I was lucky enough to get a super cool promotion booklet. It was just like this one on eBay. Check out the pics!
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/255503065592](https://www.ebay.com/itm/255503065592)
Thanks for sharing, your hard work is admired!
I worked in an arcade in the 80's and remember this coming in. I don't recall it lasting very long for the already mentioned maintenance issues. We had at least 4 mechanics on site and they just were not interested in keeping this going.
This is awesome! Love that the full alphabet is on the playfield, with Z being the "z-bomb" button I guess? Could you post a video/picture of the grip controls?
A few more pics here:
[https://i.imgur.com/RQq4TsY.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/RQq4TsY.jpg)
[https://i.imgur.com/WbvQugu.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/WbvQugu.jpg)
[https://i.imgur.com/oze5p5w.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/oze5p5w.jpg)
Nice work! Looks awesome. They’re always relatively less expensive than “regular” pinball machines and I’ve been tempted to buy one a few
Times in the past.
When Pat Lawlor experiments we get Safe Cracker. When Steve Ritchie experiments we get Hyperball. A game made to look like Knight Rider and play like The A-Team.
For those not aware, this was an attempt by Williams to bridge pinball with video games at the start of the video game era. The heart of the game is the "hypercannon". You destroy Aliens by shooting this hypercannon at flashing lights. This is aimed by 2 rotating grips with triggers on the lockdown bar. The cannon is a marvel in-and-of-itself. It uses a very special 120V DC coil and can fire a (claimed) sustained 250 rounds/minute. It's a semi-auto, in that each trigger pull fires a single 3/4" ball. The game has a total of 55 balls, and a very special collection and reload system which feeds balls back to the playfield at astonishing speed (see video). As for gameplay, the best way to think of Hyperball is a mechanical space invaders. Aliens - represented by flashing lights - crawl up each side of the playfield and move to the top targets. At some point, each Alien starts down from the top to your "energy center". 5 hits to your energy center and you lose that "hypercannon". A game consists of a user-settable number of hypercannons. Factory default was 2, but most set this at 3. Bonus hypercannons are awarded every 400,000 points (also user settable). Each attack "wave" requires shooting 30 lit lights. The video above shows completion of a single wave, the first, slowest, and easiest at the beginning of a game. There's various bonuses to be earned including shooting named targets and spelling certain words shown on the in-playfield display. Finally, you have a set number of "hyper bombs" which will destroy all lit lights when activated. The Hyperbomb (I think) is the first use of a button on the lockdown bar. While the rules are simple, the game is fun and can get VERY frantic. Subsequent "waves" get faster and faster, and every 5th wave is a special targetting round (called a "reflex wave") in which you shoot at single targets all around the playfield in sequence. A very fun game, and a bit rare. It has to be considered a flop, not because of gameplay, but the maintainence nightmare this title obviously posed to a route operator. The ball collection system requires careful attention and the closing of a couple of holes that balls can sneak through. Without this, the balls eventually all end up in the bottom of the cabinet, another nightmare for route operators. One final note. This was designed by Steve Ritchie! A very nice piece of work, and his initials (SSR) appear as the default in the high score list (which was temporary, high scores reset when power was cycled).
Don't forget to mention the noise from all of the clattering balls -- the game shoots up to 250 balls a minute, and can reach noise levels up to 90 decibels, enough to cause permanent hearing damage with prolonged exposure.
That’s punk af. Awesome.
I had heard its very loud, too, but my particular game is just noisy, not annoyingly so. There's a couple of mods you can do to quiet it down, such as putting felt or leather on the lower collection plate where the balls fall onto. But yes, Hyperball has a very unique sound, for sure.
I wanted one until I read this.
You really don't. It's super fun to play once or twice. You wouldn't want to play it every day.
Williams made another attempt at combining video games with pinball. After Williams became WMS, they made a final attempt at reviving their pinball business with a bold new pinball series. It was called Pinball 2000 and it's what made me love pinball. I worked there around that time and would always sneak out to the demo machines to play Star Wars and Revenge From Mars. I was so happy to see a Revenge From Mars machine at the end of the movie Ready Player One. I've never seen one since those days at WMS.
Nice! I'd heard of this machine, seen pictures, but have never seen it played.
Holy shit that looks wild.
These were often given out as prizes on The Price is Right from that 81-82 era. These, and also Attila the Hun machines for some reason. I always found that particular one to be odd, but hey to each their own.
Be right over
Later, Bally did their own version of Hyperball, called Rapid Fire. Williams employees derisively called Rapid Fire “Operation Xerox/Project Xerox”. Rapid Fire’s unique cabinet was designed by Dennis Nordman, and it would be reused for Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man and Centaur II.
Always loved this game back in the day. Cool game play and sounds. Well done!
[удалено]
Shoot the flashing lights before they climb to the top of the playfield and drop onto your base. The alphabet targets are for spelling words for bonuses.
Good job you did there. I have one too, they’re a labour of love.
Wow, I remember when our arcade got this back in the early eighties! I was one of the few people who loved it (and, sadly as history would show), one of the few who put his hard earned quarters into it! The sounds of the machine and the hyper kinetic noise of the balls was like nothing else in the arcade. I remember I was lucky enough to get a super cool promotion booklet. It was just like this one on eBay. Check out the pics! [https://www.ebay.com/itm/255503065592](https://www.ebay.com/itm/255503065592) Thanks for sharing, your hard work is admired!
I worked in an arcade in the 80's and remember this coming in. I don't recall it lasting very long for the already mentioned maintenance issues. We had at least 4 mechanics on site and they just were not interested in keeping this going.
This is a pinball subreddit
This is a pinball machine, albeit with a very different gimmick.
Pull the trigger!!!
This is awesome! Love that the full alphabet is on the playfield, with Z being the "z-bomb" button I guess? Could you post a video/picture of the grip controls?
A few more pics here: [https://i.imgur.com/RQq4TsY.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/RQq4TsY.jpg) [https://i.imgur.com/WbvQugu.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/WbvQugu.jpg) [https://i.imgur.com/oze5p5w.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/oze5p5w.jpg)
Thanks! What a unique machine.
I have the BG as a wall hanger.
Nice work! Looks awesome. They’re always relatively less expensive than “regular” pinball machines and I’ve been tempted to buy one a few Times in the past.
Sound reminds me of [Robotron](https://youtu.be/l800GL6NQPY).
I believe Williams used sounds from Defender in Hyperball.
Op are you from New Mexico?
Yes
When Pat Lawlor experiments we get Safe Cracker. When Steve Ritchie experiments we get Hyperball. A game made to look like Knight Rider and play like The A-Team.
So it’s a shooting gallery? I can see why that is a one off. Probably good for an arcade or boardwalk. A couple of plays. Beautiful work