What is the difference between Lifetime Basketball Double Shote and Spalding Basketball Pop-A-Shot?

What are the Lifetime Basketball Double Shot and Spalding Basketball Pop-A-Shot Arcade Games?
These games are meant to bring the carnival-style arcade games into your own home. Both of these games allow 2 players to go head-to-head in a timed basketball shoot-out. These systems both feature smaller-than-standard basketball rims and several mini basketballs. The game begins when a player scores a basket on either side of the game; a timer then begins a count down and the players try to score as many points as possible before the timer runs out. While a single player can play the game, it is much more enjoyable trying to beat out an opponent. If players score a sufficiently high amount of points by the end of the initial timer runs out, a bonus round commences where a shorter time clock begins and the victorious player or players continue shooting. These bonus rounds will continue if players continually score a sufficient amount of points during the bonus rounds. Another fun facet of the game is that during the final seconds of the game made baskets change from 2-pointers to 3-pointers, making point tallies increase at a far quicker rate.

What are the main differences between these 2 systems?
As mentioned above, the game play is pretty much the same. Where you really see the differences between these two systems is in the construction of the units.

Arcade Basketball Rim Comparison:
In these games, a score is made when the ball goes through the hoop; the difference comes in how the score is tracked. On the Spalding Pop-A-Shot game, the score is tracked by a plastic unit that moves down when the ball lands on it, making a “clicking noise”. This type of tracking mechanism would be considered a traditional design. Where problems come with this type of mechanism is the likelihood of breakage of the plastic clicker due to repeated use. Lifetime Products tried to improve on this design by removing the clicker all together and using a sensor to detect the motion of the ball through the hoop. This design to not only remove the worries of breaking the plastic tracking piece, but also track scores more accurately. As the Spalding Pop-A-Shot grows older the system tends to have more shakiness; thus, when a ball hits the rim without going in, the movement of the system will sometimes track a score inadvertently. The sensor on the Lifetime unit effectively eliminates this problem.

Construction Comparison:
Both of these systems can be pretty hard to fit into most homes. This problem is typically caused by lower ceilings. At standard height, the tops of these units reach as tall as 90″. If your ceiling is the typical 8 ft. (96″), that does not leave you with a lot of room to shoot the ball. Lifetime Products tried to improve on this design by creating a height adjustment mechanism that can lower the overall height of the system down to 82″. This ads a lot more space to shoot the ball.

Why purchase one over the other?
Both of the units are excellent units, despite the differences mentioned above. Both units are warrantied through the first 90 days of use. Lifetime Products Double Shot games are typically priced $80 to $100 more than the Spalding Pop-A-Shot games. If the differences are worth the extra price, then you are certainly going to be happy with the Double Shot game. If the differences above are not worth the extra cash, then the Pop-A-Shot is the way to go. Another added benefit of the Spalding Pop-A-Shot is that they also come in a Single-Shot arcade game. This unit is no only priced cheaper than both the Double Shot and the Pop-A-Shot games, but also decreases the overall width of the system considerably since the unit only has one basket instead of two.

Have fun shopping!

Tags: arcade basketball, double shot, lifetime products, pop a shot, spalding