Name: Basketball - バスケットボール Year: 1966, new cabinet + dome 1968, old cabinet + dome ~1971 Company: セガ (Sega)
Sega's Basketball is one of the most iconic arcade machines of the electromechanical era. It is among the first Japanese machines to use a plastic dome. This article will discuss the original 1966 Basketball, with the angular dome, the 1968 release which with the smooth dome and iconic body that most people know, and another edition that has the original body and smooth dome, that we see in 1971.
At first, I thought Basketball was a Sega design. Then I discovered that at the 22nd Amusement Trade Exhibition there was an identical basketball game, but being sold by a UK company called Jollymatic, which is many months before Sega's Basketball first appears in the public record. Researching Jollymatic, I found they were selling imported / rebranded machines from Italy!
So where do we begin?
Italy and L'automatico
Pallacanestro Elettrica by L'Automatico
Pallacanestro Elettrica by L'Automatico
These L'Automatico machines must be at least 1965 because they were rebranded for Jollymatic (UK) to appear in January 1966 for ATE 22. The control panels of the above machines show a slight design variation, but I do not know which would have come first.
article on L'Automatico and the Ugolini family. Coin Slot 1966-03-26
This article mentions their basketball game, as well as their Water Pistols game. Both of which were picked up by Jollymatic in the UK for the ATE 22 show.
Jollymatic's Basketball
The 22nd A.T.E. show in London, England took place at the start of 1966. The 23rd A.T.E. show would occur at the end of 1966, as they were shifting when it should occur on the calendar. So 1966 was the awkward year where they had 2 A.T.E. events.
At the 22nd A.T.E. a company called Jollymatic showed off their Basketball machine.
Automatenmarkt 1966-03
Transcription:
Ein Basketball-Gerät von Jollymatic Ltd. fand aufmerksame Betrachter. Das Spielfeld (unter Kunststoff ist in Vertiefungen aufgeteilt, aus denen der Ball seine Stöße erhält. Zu beiden Seiten des Spieltisches befinden sich etwa fünfzehn numerierte Knopftasten, mit denen die Spieler ihren Ball in Bewegung setzen und versuchen, ihn der Spielregeln entsprechend in den Korb des gegenüberliegenden Tors zu bringen. Bel einem anderen Gerät, in dem der Spielablauf ebenfalls unter einer Glashaube stattfand, konnte der Ball mit jeweils zwei feinen Wasserstrahlen bewegt werden.
Viel Zuspruch fand ein TorpedoSchießgerät. Der Spieler tritt an eine verchromte, dem U-Boot-Original nachgebildete Stereoskopsäule und blickt nach dem Einwurf einer Münze auf das Diorama einer periskopierten Meeresszene. Langsam fahren am Horizont magisch erleuchtete Schiffe vorbei. Beim Abdruck wird die Blasenbahn des abgefeuerten Torpedos als Leuchtspur sichtbar. Nach einigen Abschüssen ist zwar der Vorhaltewinkel bekannt, doch das nächste Schiff gleitet mit anderer Geschwindigkeit vorüber.
caption: Basketball mit Knopfdruck
Machine translation:
A basketball device from Jollymatic Ltd. found attentive viewers. The playing field (under plastic) is divided into depressions from which the ball receives its impacts. On both sides of the gaming table there are about fifteen numbered buttons with which the players set their ball in motion and try to get it into the basket according to the rules of the game opposite gate.
In another device, in which the game also took place under a glass hood, the ball could be moved with two fine jets of water.
A torpedo shooting device was very popular. The player steps up to a chrome-plated stereoscope column modeled on the original submarine and, after inserting a coin, looks at the diorama of a periscoped sea scene. Magically illuminated ships slowly pass by on the horizon. When the print is made, the bubble path of the fired torpedo becomes visible as a tracer. After a few shots the lead angle is known, but the next ship glides past at a different speed.
caption: Basketball at the push of a button
Basketball by Jollymatic Automatenmarkt 1966-03
1966-01-29 Coin Slot "The currently popular water pistol game was presented by the firm, and yet another novelty was a basket ball two-player game on show for the first time in England."
Jollymatic advertisement for ATE 22. 1966-01-22 Coin Slot
Jollymatic is an obscure company. They exhibited at the 22nd show at the start of 1966 where they had Basketball, but were not in the 23rd show at the end of 1966. But at the 23rd show, at the end of 1966, that is when Sega unveiled their Basketball game, which looks exactly like the Jollymatic version from earlier in the year.
Jollymatic were not listed as exhibitors at the 20th A.T.E. show in 1964. I have yet to find a listing for 1965's show (21st).
A.T.E. 20 listing (part 1) does not have Jollymatic - Billboard 1964-02-01
A.T.E. 20 listing (part 2) does not have Jollymatic - Billboard 1964-02-01
Jollymatic is listed as an exhibitor at the 22nd A.T.E. - Coin Box 1966-01-29
the exhibitor list was also printed in Billboard (1966-01-29) and it gives Jollymatic's address as 42 New Compton Street, London, .W.C.2
Jollymatic is NOT listed as an exhibtor at the 23rd A.T.E. - Cash Box 1966-12-03 Sega is not listed here either, but their products were being exhibited by Mar-Matic, IIRC
This is the last positive mention of Jollymatic I was able to find, February 1966.
Billboard Magazine 1966-02-12
Jollymatic allegedly did not pay taxes on their imports/exports, and ended up in court. I'm assuming that was the end of them.
In the English-language press, the earliest mention I've found of Sega's Basketball is in reporting on the 23rd A.T.E. show in London, England.
1966-12-17 Cash Box
1966-12-17 Cash Box excerpt: "Among other games the Sega basketball found favour with visitors,"
From May 1967, this article discusses Sega's plans for low-priced amusement machines, a desire to co-exist with USA companies instead of just compete with them, and how U.S. manufacturers are interested in licensing Sega's games to make them available in the USA.
1967-05-27 Billboard magazine
Magazine readers also get their first image of Sega's Basketball, which is unlike what most people think of:
Sega's original Basketball 1967-05-27 Billboard magazine
We then see this model in advertisement a month and a half later:
1967-07-08 Cash Box
1967-07-08 Cash Box by the buttons it says "SEGA BASKET BALL"
Note: in this 1971 version there is no gap between BASKET and BALL in this detail of a control panel
Already we have seen 2 variations in the scoreboards:
Look at the 1967-05-27 photograph, the scoreboard resembles this:
"SEGA BASKETBALL" is visible on the scoreboard in red letter on black. Top scores are red and white, and bottom scores are black and white.
And from the 1967-07-08 advertisement, the scoreboard is like this:
no space above the two lines of scores, but an area that can light up saying "BASKET BALL" in the white space beneath.
A brief mention in this article confirms Sega's Basketball appeared at the Paris Fair 1967:
1967-06-17 Cash Box
1967-07-22: Midway is showing interest in licensing Basketball from Sega for the USA market.
1967-07-22 Billboard
1967-07-22 Billboard excerpt: "Seeking other areas of innovation, Midway has shown licensing interest in various games developed by the big Japanese firm, Sega. It has been reported that Midway will manufacture a basketball game under license to Sega for the U. S. market."
It is hard to see in this photo, but between the two people, beneath the man's extended arm, you can see Sega's Basketball with the angular dome.
1967-10-21 Cash Box
For the MOA show in 1967, this confirms Sega has yet to decide on how to deal with the USA market, but they are expected to announce things for the show.
1967-10-28 Billboard relevant transcription: "The firm has not announced that it will market its low-cost games in this country, but during the show make known whether it will appoint its own distributors in the U. S. or license a U. S. game manufacturer to pro- duce and market its games. One of the new games to be shown by Sega will be a basketball game widely tested in the U. S. President David Rosen and a large staff will be on hand to meet U. S. operators."
1967-10-28 Cash Box advertisement announcing Sega at the MOA show.
From the MOA show, we read that Taito was also there with their similar Crown Basketball machine
1967-11-11 Cash Box
At the show it was revealed that Williams would be getting the licensing deal:
1967-11-18 Cash Box
Transcription: [emphasis mine]
Williams to Wholesale Sega Games in U.S.
CHICAGO - During the recent MOA Trade Show, it was disclosed that Williams Electronics, Inc. had entered into an arrangement with Sega Enterprises and president David Rosen to distribute Sega's line of amusement equipment in the United States through the Williams distributor network.
It is the first deal of its kind involving the distribution and marketing of a Japanese made amusement line in the United States. Sega is expected to take on a prominent role in the U.S. as a result of the deal.
Rosen recently announced that Sega would begin introducing five new games per year, to be manufactured in their multi-million dollar plant in Tokyo.
The three Sega games ready for delivery now are the Sega Basketball Game, Sega Punching Bag and the Rifleman... a gun game that vends a target to let the shooter know how accurate his aim is.
1967-12-16 Cash Box confirms that Williams is distributing Sega machines, with some Basketball units sold within the USA by mid-December
But that is not the last of Midway in this article, for 2 months later there is buzz about Midway's new Basketball game. I do not feel it is a coincidence that the game is positioned as a lower priced machine, a strategy Sega announced for their Basketball game in May of the prior year.
1968-02-03 Cash Box
And soon after, we can see a photograph, show
1968-02-17 Billboard
It appears Midway has taken Sega's Basketball design and given is a sleeker look. The buttons panels are on a slight angle towards the player, but the big difference is the smooth dome top. Sega's basketball has wooden legs more common to pinball machines of the 1950s while Midway's legs were pointed and modern. Please note: while KLOV lists 1964 as the year for Midway's Basketball, the correct year is 1968. SegaRetro has it correct.
1968 Basketball by Midway
1968 Basketball by Midway
1968-07-07 Cash Box
So did the licensing deal with Midway fall through, and then Midway retaliated by releasing their own improved version of Sega's Basketball? Did Midway steal the design from Taito's Crown Basketball?
1968-07-07 Cash Box
While Midway's machine has buttons that resemble Sega's Basketball, the cabinet and dome design more matches Taito's Crown Basketball, which has a different style of buttons:
1967 Crown Basketball by Taito
I do not know if Sega was responding to Midway, or if Sega had shown them the idea for the dome top. My instinct is to say that Midway stole Sega's game design, so Sega stole Midway's cabinet design, but it'd be hard to discount the influence Taito had then too.
By August 1968, we see a photograph of Sega's domed Basketball redesign.
This brings us to the iconic flyer and machine design that almost everyone knows:
English flyer
It is featured prominently on the cover of the 1969 machine directory, with this wonderful photo of Sega's showroom:
1969 machine directory
scoreboard detail
control panel
1969 machine directory entry
The 1972 machine directory features BOTH versions of Sega's Basketball games:
1972 machine directory entry
1972 machine directory entry
In the index, they are both listed as by Sega. Did Sega continue manufacturing the old-style basketball game domestically while simultaneously selling the 1968 redesign?
In the company directory of the 1969 machine directory, here is a portion of Sega's listing:
1969 machine directory
In the company index of the 1969 machine directory, Sega lists
"バスケット・ボール(ドーム式・スタンダード)", "Basketball (dome type/standard)". The
assumption here is that the smooth dome one with the sloped control
panel is the "dome type", and the angular top with the flat control
panel is the "standard". And this tells us the standard (angular) version was still for sale in 1969.
The domed-top machine appears in the 1973 directory, but the angular version does not.
Sega's 1971 price list catalogue shows the early cabinet design, except with the domed top:
Sega 1971 Price List
For the time being, I am considering this a separate model and slotting it in 1971.
The original / angular version of Sega's Basketball appears in many iconic Japanese arcade photographs.
Sega's Basketball also (seemingly) made waves across Europe. I do not know for sure that these machines all came after Sega's machine, but I am readily assuming so.
Were these machines built from Sega parts? Faithful copies? I do not know, but they give us a detailed look at some of the common design features.
Pallacanestro Elettrica by L'Automatico
Note that inside the dome, the corners of the playfield look like a wooden panel. We see this on Sega's machines, sometimes with a cutout area that can light up.
Sega's Basketball
Sega's Basketball
You can see the corner wood panels, and illuminated cutouts, well on this version. Mind you, note the slight angle to to the control panel, suggesting this one is a copy and not using the Sega chassis.
International Basket
International Basket, where the corners say "International Basket"
Another one with the same corner design:
Basket by Walmatic the corner lights up to say "Hop Ball"
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