#Shortstops: Board of The Game
When baseball was introduced to Japan in the 1870s, no one could have predicted how big it would become. Baseball is the most watched sport in Japan with over 26.5 million fans in attendance across all Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) games in 2024. With the rise in popularity of Japanese baseball, it is no surprise that a number of baseball themed children’s toys have been produced through the years.
The Yakyuban Japanese Table-Top Baseball Game was the first toy manufactured by Japanese toy company Epoch Co. The company’s founder and game’s inventor Taketora Maeda was fascinated by baseball and wanted a board game that would reflect the dynamism of the real-life sport.
The name comes from the Japanese words yakyu (lit. “field ball” or baseball) and ban (board). The board is a baseball diamond featuring small plastic figurines for six fielders, a pitcher, a batter, and three offensive players. Metal baseballs similar to pachinko balls are pitched to the batter using a spring-load mechanism built into the underside of the board. When the player on offense pulls a knob, a string winds up the batter to swing. If the batter makes contact with the pitch, magnets embedded in the board draw the metal baseballs either into a fielder – an out – or into the outfield, where different areas of the board denote if the play is a single, double, triple, home run or out. The offensive player’s figurines are then moved on base and the game plays like real-life baseball.
The original version of the toy, released in 1958, was a 60-by-60 centimeter wooden board with hand-carved kokeshi dolls as the players, but the dolls were substituted for illustrations on the boards in subsequent versions. The Yakyuban was wildly successful and became the first toy to be advertised on Japanese television in 1960.
In the 1970s, Epoch Co. updated the game by changing the hitting device and adding a ball/strike/out counter. The new Yakyuban AM Type sold three million units. An electric baseball board was invented in 1988, allowing the game to be played by a solo player. The 2005 Baseball Board Deluxe, the version of the game in the Museum’s collection, reintroduced the baseball player figurines. Since then, versions of the game have been released with electronic scoreboards, curveball ability, retractable stadium walls, right- and left-handed batters and more. Baseball boards were released in collaboration with NPB teams such as the Yomiuri Giants, Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers. Boards featuring popular manga and anime characters from franchises like Astro Boy, Star of the Giants and Doraemon boosted the popularity of the game.
Although there were multiple pachinko-inspired baseball games before 1958, the Yakyuban Japanese Table-Top Baseball Game was the first of its kind to reflect the gameplay of real baseball. Since its release, the game has gone through more than 70 iterations. While each edition brought aesthetic changes, the fundamental mechanics of the game have remained relatively the same.
With a 67-year lifespan and counting, the Yakyuban Japanese Table-Top Baseball Game connects generations of baseball fans through the accessibility and fun of board games.
Annika Edwards is a 2025 Library-Giamatti Research Center intern in the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development
