Backyard Slugger is a baseball batting game seen from high above the field. You stand in the batter’s box at the bottom of a small ballpark while the pitcher throws one pitch after another. Your only job is to swing at the right moment. Hit the ball between the foul lines and past the outfield wall for a home run. It plays like open batting practice: there is no clock and no final out, so you can keep swinging as long as you like. Frank Force made it with the LittleJS engine and Box2D.
How to Play Backyard Slugger
Press Play and the first pitch arrives a moment later. Each pitch comes in at a slightly different speed and spot. About two thirds are aimed at the yellow strike zone over home plate, and the rest miss wide, high or low.
Press Space, click or tap to swing. The bat sweeps through the zone in about a quarter of a second. If it meets the ball, a message shows your contact quality as a percentage. The ball then flies off at a right angle to the bat, so an early or late swing pushes it toward the foul lines.
Missed swings and called strikes add strikes, and pitches outside the zone add balls. Three strikes is an out, four balls is a walk, and both reset the count.
Backyard Slugger Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swing the bat | Space (gamepad A) | Left click | Tap the screen |
| Call the next pitch right away | Enter | — | — |
| Reset your session stats | R | — | — |
| Pause, restart or quit | Esc | Click the menu icon (top right) | Tap the menu icon (top right) |
Tips and Strategies
- Start the swing early. Begin your swing while the ball is still a few steps in front of home, because the bat needs a moment to come around.
- Let bad pitches go. Pitches that miss the zone are balls if you hold still, so there is no need to chase them.
- Find the sweet spot. Contact close to the end of the bat and on the center line gives the highest quality and the fastest ball.
- Adjust after a foul. If a hit goes foul past the left line, wait a touch longer next time. If it goes right, swing a little sooner.
- Use Enter to keep a rhythm. Calling the next pitch yourself skips the short pause between throws.
Features
- Live count: balls, strikes, walks and outs are tracked the way a real at-bat works.
- Contact quality score: every hit shows a percentage, with PERFECT for the best swings.
- Session stats: hits, perfect hits, home runs and your longest hit stay on screen until you press R.
Tested and updated:
