Basketball has always inspired friendly competition and, as such, games based on the traditional sport have been finding their ways into local game rooms, going all the way back to the days of the penny arcade. All sorts of ways to simulate the game have been devised, using everything from flippers, levers or even puffs of air to launch some sort of ball or other projectile into a net-lined hoop.

Starting way back in the 20s, basketball-based games were beginning to hit the market, thanks to manufacturers like A.M. Emenheiser and Bally. Using a glass-enclosed court, players controlled color-coded holes embedded on the court. If a ball made its way to a red hole, for example, the player in control of that color could then launch it towards a hoop defended by the blue player. These games remained popular well into the 40s, thanks to such titles as Bally Baskets.

In 1947, newer ideas emerged, such as Basketball Champ, created by Chicago Coin. This time around, players controlled a metal figurine via a handle grip control. When squeezed, it would launch the ball towards the hoop, where a metal defended tried to keep it from reaching its goal. Basketball Champ was an enormously successful game that stayed in existence for many years after its introduction. It’s success caused competitors to create their own games such as Genco’s Two Player Basketball in 1954, which allowed two players to compete on opposite ends of the court as they both tried to sink as many shots as possible in any of four potential hoops. Point values were assigned to each hoop and these changed as the game progressed. Again, the grip handle was utilized, which could aim at any of the targets. Head to head competition was formally introduced into the world of coin-operated basketball and it was here to stay.

Chicago Coin took notice of the success of Two Player Basketball and devised their own competing product in 1961. Called Pro Basketball, it was a success in its own right, but it marked the end of this type of basketball game.

These certainly weren’t the only games on the market over the years, however, as other companies tried to vie for their piece of the basketball pie. Flipper-type games, such as Victory’s Professional Basketball debuted in 1947 and were met positively, as were games that harkened back to the days of the color-coded holes, like Richmond Corp’s Set, Shot Basketball. Then, in 1964, the granddaddy of these games was released, Midway’s Basketball, which revived the dome-shaped, hole-filled playing area. This time, players took control of multiple numbered buttons as they vied to launch their balls first from opposite sides of the court.  

And finally, Sega launched Basketball in the early 70s, which proved popular even in a world where the electronic video game was taking over arcades everywhere. Eventually these electronic games would devise their own versions of the game, like Atari’s Basketball, where two semi-realistic looking players battled on the video screen. It spelled the end of the prominence of mechanical basketball games, but they live on in the memories of many who played, and in the clutches of collectors who still pay large sums of money to have one or more of these classic games for their very own.