Home Run Derby

Tips for Home Run Derby

Home Run Derby is all about timing. Swing early and the ball goes to left, swing late and it goes the other way, and meeting it with the barrel as it crosses the plate is what clears the wall. Watch the pitch grow as it comes and follow its shadow on the grass. Changeups float in slowly and curves break late, so a swing timed for a fastball will be early against them.

Match your swing plane to the pitch: low for line drives, level for the sweet spot and high to lift one. A pitch up at the letters met with the wrong plane only gives a lazy fly that the centre fielder settles under. You can also slide your stance to pull the ball or go the other way, which helps in Around the Park, where the targets sit on the scoreboard, the pennant and the hot-dog stand. In the main derby anything that is not a home run counts against you, so focus on clean contact, and five in a row earns a bonus ball.

How to play Home Run Derby

In Home Run Derby you stand in as the batter, seen from behind, and look up the field at the pitcher and the ivy-covered wall. The aim is to hit the ball over that wall as often as you can before your turn runs out.

The pitcher mixes fastballs, sinkers, curves that break late and changeups that float in slowly, and each pitch grows as it comes in with its shadow running along the grass. One input swings: Space on a keyboard, or a tap on the park on a phone or tablet. Before the pitch you can slide your stance with the left and right arrows and pick a low, level or high swing plane with up and down. Timing then sets the direction: early pulls the ball into left, late pushes it the other way. After every swing you see the distance and exit speed, and the ones that leave the park get a slow replay.

The mode decides how you score. In Home Run Derby you have ten outs and anything that is not a home run costs one, with a bonus ball after five in a row. Around the Park gives you twelve swings at targets painted around the ballpark. Streak counts the hits you string together, and in Pass & Play two to four batters get five outs each. P pauses and M mutes.

About Home Run Derby

Home Run Derby takes its name and its idea from the home run contests held in baseball, where batters face pitch after pitch with the single aim of clearing the fence, with no fielding, base running or innings to think about. Kiloo's game keeps that focus on the batter and stages it in a hand-painted 1950s ballpark with a striped roof, a full grandstand and fireworks going up behind the wall.

It suits players who know baseball and want the feel of timing a swing, and those who have never held a bat, because one button is enough to start and the distance after each swing shows what went right. Five pitch types, three pitchers to face and a choice of swing plane leave plenty to get better at, and Pass & Play makes it a game for a group around one screen. Home Run Derby is made by Kiloo and plays in portrait or landscape.

Frequently asked questions