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Comments on HoverBall Bids Farewell To Ballistic Motion
'...the ball darted in behind him.'- George Lucas, 1976. (Read
the complete story)
| "Yes, that's right Potter fans, I'm talking about the golden snitch.
" |
| "Consider also the game 'Velocity' from the Star Trek Voyager series. It used a holographic disk that responded to phaser shots.
" |
| " How about German Batball from Kurt Vonnegut?" (Alan 3/21/2014 6:52:53 PM) |
"That was from Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan; the game was played on Mars.
'The rules of the game are very similar to that of baseball. Like baseball, there are two teams, one of which must hit a ball and run bases to accumulate points. However, in German batball, the ball is played with a ‘flabby ball the size of a big honeydew melon. The ball is no more lively than a ten-gallon hat filled with rain water.’ Also, unlike baseball, there are only three bases, instead of four. In German batball, the offensive player is not pitched to, but he places the ball on one fist, and strikes the ball with his other fist. After the ball is struck, the offensive players attempt to round the bases. The defensive players attempt to peg the runner with the ball in between the bases." (Bill Christensen 3/22/2014 1:38:42 PM) |
| "I also forgot Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy from Aldous Huxley's 1931 classic Brave New World. It uses a regular ball, but an unusual device alters its trajectory:
"The Director and his students stood for a short time watching a game of Centrifugal Bumble-puppy. Twenty children were grouped in a circle round a chrome steel tower. A ball thrown up so as to land on the platform at the top of the tower rolled down into the interior, fell on a rapidly revolving disk, was hurled through one or other of the numerous apertures pierced in the cylindrical casing, and had to be caught..." " |
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