Stern Electronics’ Nine Ball, released in 1980 and designed by Steve Kirk, racks up a billiards theme on an ambitious, target-heavy playfield — and stands out among early solid-state games for offering a three-ball multiball, still a relative novelty at the time. With multiple drop-target banks, a horseshoe lane, a rollunder, and a spinner, it’s a deep, rewarding machine for a player willing to learn its pool-hall logic.
The scoring runs through the horseshoe and the drops. Shooting the upper horseshoe lights a fat 173K bonus, collected by hitting the drop there — a shot that can be relit indefinitely for huge points. The drop targets up top advance your bonus multiplier and increase the spinner value, and there’s a precise plunge skill shot: hit the white target squarely under the rebound rubber to max the spinner at 2,500 a spin. The multiball is the deep goal — the lit “5 ball” lights a lock behind the left drops, and completing all nine balls with a ball locked starts the show. Clear all nine drops in order on one ball and you’re rewarded with a 77K super bonus next ball.
Deep, fast, and unusually feature-rich for 1980, Nine Ball is an underrated Stern gem. For collectors who love billiards themes and a genuine multiball from the early solid-state era, it’s a satisfying and surprisingly strategic classic.