This arcade-style baseball game of skill and strategy is made in America and designed for all lovers of baseball. Easy to learn and rewarding to master, this table-top baseball game has the real feel of pitching and hitting and features the timeless charm and character of classic ballparks in a detailed 1-inch-to-18-foot scale-model setting. The game can be played alone, head-to-head or on teams. "Ballpark Classics draws people together for a great, authentic experience that's fast and fun and plays like real baseball," Doug Strohm, president of Ballpark Classics Inc., told TDmonthly. Launch date: December 2007.

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TDmonthly Review:

What It Is
Designed on a 1:18 scale, this mostly wooden tabletop ballpark lets players pitch and hit alone or in teams. The game easily assembles to recreate a classic ballpark, down to the vintage advertising decals on the fence and the lawnmower trails on the field. The pitcher rolls a ball down the pitching tube and the batter swings a miniature bat by pulling a lever. Since there’s a lever on both the pitcher’s and batter’s sides, it’s easy to play solo. Players keep track of innings with a peg by home plate. Each player also has a scoring disk to tally runs.

What We Thought
Ballpark Classics is a beautiful, arcade-style game that is good-looking enough to hang on the wall. The game is easy to play in concept, but as on a real field, it’s much harder to get a hit than it seems. The pitching pipe, however, allows a player to “throw” different types of pitches, and one can simulate various scenarios, including fastballs, sliders, walks, strike outs and home runs. The classic design will especially appeal to those with nostalgia for smaller, outdoor fields before the days of Astroturf. The no-batteries-needed game is made in the USA of quality materials, but does carry a high price tag.

Why They´ll Want It
Ballpark Classics would be a perfect gift for a baseball fan who can’t bear to hang up his cleats in the fall. It would be fun game for families to play together, since little legs wouldn’t be a hindrance to getting a home run. Dad will definitely forget the bad report card as long as he finds Ballpark Classics under the tree. — Alison Marek, 3/16/09