Sensing spatial movement

Apparatus including a video baseball-simulating game and a special bat containing a combination of electronic, mechanical, and optical components for providing infrared radiation or other energy (typically electrical) that is modulated when the player swings the bat and thus actuates a centrifugal switch therein. Receiving and decoding means receive the energy and, responsive thereto, provide digital signals to software in the video game to control an animated batter in the visual display therein. An alternative form of the apparatus functions similarly, except that radiation is emitted from, and received at, a "home plate" on the floor and is modulated by the swinging of an ordinary bat to diffract a portion of the radiation in its path from emitter to receiver.