Basketball is an exciting sport as it is, with athletes displaying an amazing performance on the playfield. With such high jumps and far throws, the game has reached the pinnacle of its entertainment value. Or did it? Because, for a brief period, a juiced-up version of the game was played all over the world, involving even higher jumps with the use of trampolines. It was called “Slamball”, and it had more than just 15 minutes of fame in the media.
The first steps of Slamball
Mason Gordon, the inventor of Slamball, was an idealist seeking to turn basketball into something you see in video games only. I’m sure his taste in games was different from mine, as I didn’t see any similar action in my favorite online casino red flush casino games. Slamball was developed with television in mind, which is obvious given the spectacular way the game is played. Gordon approached TV producer Mike Tollin with his idea, who ultimately agreed to give it a go. The first games were the result of six months of planning, and a long, meticulous recruiting process which involved over 500 candidates. With the best six of them selected, the game was ready to go.
Flying slams with trampolines
Slamball is as spectacular to see as it must have been amazing to play. Basically, it’s a basketball game, but with four trampolines built into each half of the playfield. It combined the “fluidity of basketball, the aggressiveness and physicality of football… and also this idea that video games kind of unleash your imagination in the sport”, Gordon said about his Franken-sport. After a lot of planning and training, Gordon put on a game that was convincing enough for Spike TV to buy into the idea. This has resulted in a TV deal, with two seasons of Slamball landing in most homes in America.
The glory days
Slamball was incredibly popular among viewers. Its high flying acrobatics and video game like feeling, all this combined with basketball, created a large fan base. According to the times’ statistics, the second season’s premiere in 2003 attracted 2.3 million viewers in the US, and the sport’s ratings were just 2.9% below those of the MLB game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. But all good things have to come to an end – disagreements between the owners and the channels forced the Slamball League off the airwaves, its popularity in the US began to wane.
Is it still alive?
Slamball has disappeared from the front page of any media for years. The most recent news about the game was a Kickstarter campaign which would have seen the game return to Vegas (and the TV screens), which has unfortunately failed due to lack of backers. It was a game insanely fun to watch, but it seems that today’s youngsters prefer proper video games instead of a real-life counterpart. But the hope is always alive…