| Silver Series |  Ball |
 Flagman |
 Vermin |
 Fire |
 Judge |
|---|
Ball is an electronic game that is part of the Game & Watch series developped and produced by Nintendo. Released on April 28, 1980, it is the very first console in the Silver Series, as well as the very first Game & Watch as a whole. The main color of this Game & Watch is a maroonish red.
In other regions, Ball sometimes had other names such as Toss-Up in the United States when sold by Mego under the brand Time-Out and Jolly Jongleur in Germany when sold by Bienengraeber under the brand Tric O Tronic.
The game features a character juggling balls, with the goal of the game being to not let the balls fall on the floor.
Although originally released in 1980, this Game & Watch unit was later reissued through Club Nintendo to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Game & Watch and the game Ball itself saw multiple ports, remake, alternative versions and via the 2020 Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. system (which has the original game with either Mario or Luigi replacing the player's character), and the DSiWare service, to name a few. The game also saw a modern version in the Game & Watch Gallery series and a version with somewhat enhanced graphic in the Game Boy Gallery game, and has been included as easter eggs in the Game Boy Camera and in the Nintendo DS dictionnary Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten DS.
Gameplay[]
Ball (Original) Gameplay - Nintendo Game & Watch
Example of a "Game A" game of Ball goinf from 17 to 23 point
Game A[]
In the "Game A" mode, the objective of the game is to juggle with two balls without letting either of them fall to the ground. To achieve this, the player takes control of a character that can be controlled by using two buttons: one moving its arms to the left and another moving them to the right.
Whenever a ball is successfully caught, a point is added to the player's score.
Unlike other Game & Watch games, the player cannot make mistakes and is granted only a single attempt. The game concludes when the player fails to catch a ball.
As the player successfully catches the balls, they will start moving faster. However, their speed decreases when the player's score reaches a multiple of 100.
Game B[]
The "Game B" mode of Ball shares the same objective as the "Game A" mode, keeping balls in the air as long as possible, the difference being that in "Game B," the player must juggle with an additional ball, making the game more challenging.
In the "Game B" mode, 10 points are added to the player's score each time a ball is caught.
In contrast to "Game A," the balls in "Game B" do not slow down when the player's score reaches a multiple of 100.
Trivia[]
- This is the very first Game and Watch game to be released.
- This game was re-released in 2009 via Club Nintendo in Japan. It was re-released in 2011 in the United States.
- In the Super Smash Bros. games, Mr. Game and Watch's throw sees him juggle characters in a similar manner to this game.
Gallery[]
