Games in our Archives

Gorgar was designed by Barry Oursler and was the first talking pinball machine commercially released with a vocabulary of seven words. The talking feature was optional to operators and had an additional cost of $70.  This option was ordered on the majority of the machines produced.  The Snake Pit, which is located on the top part of the playfield, has a magnet under the playfield that holds the ball for a brief movement while scoring the lit value.  

Play Meter magazine, in their January 1980 issue, featured a multiple page advertisement for Gorgar that included a red three-minute floppy record that gave details about the game. 

This widebody game was designed by John Osborne and features three playfields - an industry first. Each playfield is themed to be a part of a haunted house - the main level being the main floor, the lower level being the cellar, and the upper level being the attic. 

The game was also the first game to feature eight flippers that are controlled with two separate sets of flipper buttons.

The lower playfield is accessible any time during the game with a “secret passage”, which is a false standup target that drops down after impact to allow entrance to cellar. The game also has a trap door that opens behind a ramp to allow entrance into the cellar. 

In 2019, ToyShock released a 3/4 scale version of the game with a digital monitor acting as the playfield, which was sold at Walmart stores. 

    High Roller Casino was released in January 2001 and is Sterns Pinball’s last original concept game since every game produced after has been licensed. The game was designed by Joe Balcer, John Borg, Jon Norris, and Keith P. Johnson and the concept for the game came from Jon Norris. 

The game features a slot machine on the playfield that the player can shoot to earn jackboots and to start multiball. The player can also shoot for a roulette wheel where the pinball acts as the determining factor for the skill award. The game had a limited run of only 500 units. 

  High Speed is based on a real-life police chase involving their designer, Steve Richie. One morning while testing the limits of his newly acquired 1979 Porsche 928, Richie was apprehended by nine police vehicles on Interstate 5 in Lodi, California. He was speeding 146 mph for twenty miles. Richie received restricted “business only” driving, given a $250 fine and reckless driving for seven years. Once in court, Richie was told by the judge, “You can go, sir. I want you to slow down” where Richie replied, “I will never do that again.” Looking back, Richie stated that was the biggest lie he ever told in his whole life.

There was a rearview mirror incorporated into the backglass art that depicts the player in the backseat of the police car. The game was made into a game cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991.

Richie felt the use of green on the playfield was bad luck for the success of the game, yet artist Mark Sprenger incorporated green regardless. Mark sketched a very small four-leaf clover near the pop bumpers as a good luck charm for the success of High Speed.

    Hurricane was designed by Barry Oursler with artwork done by both John Youssi and Python Anghelo. This was the last of the three roller coaster theme pinball machines made by Williams (Comet, Cyclone). 

The game features two Ferris wheels on the playfield that carry the ball for a portion of its rotation. This feature appeared earlier on Cyclone. The game also features a mechanical backbox animation and a ball popper arch called The Juggler.

  One of the "SuperPin" line of widebody games, “Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure” was the first game to use Williams' DCS sound system. A collaboration designed of Mark Ritchie, Brian Eddy, & Doug Watson, the game features a unique idol ball locking mechanism on the right of the playfield. The game features three video modes including “A Gunfight at the Raven Bar”, “Escape in the Mine Cart” and “Choose Wisely”.

When Roger Sharp from Williams was pursuing the Indiana Jones license, they were pressured to utilize the “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” series. Sharp was able to persuade the license holders to utilize the popular movie series instead and blend all three Indiana Jones movies into the game. 

   'Jack-Bot' is third in a series of games including Williams' 1986 'PIN·BOT' and Williams' 1991 'The Machine: Bride of 'PIN·BOT’. The playfield itself is nearly identical to the game 'PIN·BOT'. Game designer Larry DeMar stated they had briefly considered naming this game "Lucky Star". Python Anghelo, who designed the two previous games, left this project mid-design and John Youssi and Doug Watson finished the game, with Doug doing the playfield art and John doing the backglass and cabinet art. 

While the game is in attract mode, be sure to press the Extra Ball button when the display shows "In Memory of Joe Joos Jr." Joe Joos Jr. was the designer of many innovated pinball mechanisms including the 5 bank target in 'PIN·BOT' , Catapult arm seen on Taxi and Fish Tales, “Thing” from Addams Family, and the Ferris wheel on Cyclone and Hurricane.

  James Bond 007 has film footage from the films that built the 007 legend: Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), and Diamonds Are Forever (1971).  Players are immersed in the world of espionage, tackling assignments, teaming up with key allies, and stopping SPECTRE’s villainous schemes. While playing the game, players gather gadgets from Q Branch as pinballs get ejected through the roof of a custom sculpted Aston Martin DB5.  

Pictures of two of the models leaked in early September 2022 when the Pro and Premium machines were being set up at the IAPPA Europe trade show in London ahead of the opening. The death of Queen Elizabeth II caused the launch and public reveal to be postponed, with the suggestion that it was the licensor who pushed for the delay in co-operation with Stern Pinball. The game was released with minimum code due to issues with approvals from the licensor.

     No Good Gofers was designed by Pat Lawlor and one of Williams’ last full size pinball machines. The game features a theme like the movie Caddy Shack and the game itself was heavily marketed to golfing centers. The mechanism that run the gofers Buzz and Bud are similar to the trolls in Medieval Madness

The game features many references to previous Williams games.  When two balls drain before scoring a jackpot in multi ball, Bud states, "Now, head for the cellar!" with Buzz replying, "You're in the wrong game, idiot!" - (reference to Whirlwind).   On the second attempt, Bud exclaims "Everybody, head underground now!" with Buzz replying, "Now you're really in the wrong game!"- (reference to Earthshaker!)  Lastly, spinning the wheel will cause Bud to announce "Round and round she goes!" – (reference to Cyclone.)

  The pre-production concept for ‘Laser Ball’ was a bowling theme with the name ‘Lanes’.  The backglass for ‘Lanes’ featured the then Company President Mike Stroll in the middle with a girl on each arm.  Artist Constantino Mitchell stated that that Williams originally wanted to do a bowling game featuring depictions of staff from Williams.   Constantino stated he wanted to do something different and came up with the Laser Ball art concept and Williams agreed with the change. The playfield design retains ‘Lanes’ the ten-star rollovers in the shape of a rack of bowling pins.

In 1984, Williams used a similar playfield layout to ‘Laser Ball’ with 'Star Light', yet they made this game in a narrow body format.

  Paragon was designed by Greg Kmiec and released in June 1979. It was Bally's first widebody production game and the first instance of in-line drop targets on a pinball machine. The interlude from the song "The Funky Worm", which was popular when the game was being developed, is played when the ball lands in the Golden Cliffs saucer. 

This particular Paragon has four flippers, yet a smaller portion of them were shipped to Europe with only three flippers. European distributors stated their players liked to be able to hold the ball with the flipper and the four-flipper configuration of the game didn't allow for it. European distributors also stated they preferred one return lane on each side of the flippers. This design was implemented on some Paragons and became known as the "Italian Bottom" and is used extensively throughout the industry to this day.

Party Animal was released by May of 1987 and was first in a series of four party themed games by Dennis Nordman.  The game features a jukebox on the playfield that plays eight different party songs.  The song can be changed on the jukebox by hitting all the targets under the jukebox.  The playfield also has a jumping toad on the toadstool. 

There were two back glasses available for the game.  One of the backglasses features a wolf holding a mug of beer and the other version is a wolf holding a mug with DAD'S ROOTBEER printed on it.

  The Party Zone contains characters from previous games designed by Dennis Nordman including Party Animal 1987, Elvira and the Party Monsters 1989 and Dr. Dude and his Excellent Ray 1990. The animated head in the middle of the playfield is named Capt. B. Zarr, which talks during gameplay and turns to follow the ball. Capt. B. Zarr also acts as DJ of the game and allows players to choose different songs including “Pinball Wizard”.

PIN•BOT was made between October 1986 and February 1987 and sold 12,001 units. The game was created by Barry Oursler and Python Anghelo, along with Bill Pfutzenreuter, Chris Granner, Bill Parod, and Joe Joos Jr. This game was the first machine that had the entire development team credited on the game (and all were paid sales commissions), at Python Anghelo’s insistence.

The voice of PIN•BOT is performed by game designer Barry Oursler and the game features a dropping bank of 5 standup targets that lowers to reveal two kick-out holes. In the backglass of the game, there is a mock reflection of the player in the pinball, which is used as a separator between the words PIN and BOT. The game is featured in the apartment scenes in the 1988 movie “Big” starring Tom Hanks. 

Police Force was originally designed to have a Batman theme, yet the license went to competitor Data East and the game had to be re-themed. One of the mostly notable features left from the Batman design is the police car (Batmobile) and City Jail (Batcave) on the playfield. The game also has a unique feature which allows players to steal the highest score among other players during everyone’s third ball. 

We are sorry to report, Williams no longer sells the Police Force hat that is advertised on the apron of the game.

  Scared Stiff is based on the first Elvira themed pinball from 1989 and features audio from actress Cassandra Peterson and was designed by Dennis Nordman. Many playfield aspects of Nordman’s original concept were removed before production for either cost cutting or reliability issues, yet we’ve added many of these aspects back in this particular game. The backglass depicts a stack of movie tapes with one stating "Black Friday" by "UM Productions". This commemorates a Friday when many Williams employees were laid off and the "UM" stands for "Upper Management". New games included a decal to place over Elvira's cleavage that could be used for family-friendly locations. The "Bad Head" reward on the dot matrix for Scared Stiff, is game designer Steve Ritchie drawn by artist Pat McMahon.

Slugfest is a pitch and bat game designed by Mark Richie. Before slugfest, most pitch and bat games had a running man unit that displayed the baseball field with mechanical players that would move from base to base. Williams wanted to implement new technology and opted out of using a mechanical unit and replaced it with a dot matrix display.

Slugfest was sold with the optional baseball card dispenser at the bottom of the cabinet. The game runs on the same computer board system as a standard pinball machine at the time. 

The game has a magnet under the playfield that allows the pitcher to throw different style pitches. If a player chose to play a one player game, the game will throw random pitches no matter what pitch the player selects.

Space Shuttle was released on November 1st, 1984, and is commonly known as the game that saved pinball.   After the video game crash of 1983, Space Shuttle brought renewed interest into the once failing pinball market. The game was designed by Barry Oursler with artwork by Mark Sprenger.  This game also does not feature a typical pinball knocker yet has a bell that rings during certain points of the game.

This particular machine came from Tip Top Tavern in Roseville, which was destroyed by a fire on Utica Road near Gratiot Ave. 

  Space Station is the sequel to the 1984 Williams hit Space Shuttle and both games were designed by Barry Oursler. The game features duel general illumination, which changes to green during “code green” multiball. One notable difference on this machine then most produced during this time is the absence of flipper inlanes on the playfield. When the game was in the design phase in January 1986, artist Tim Elliott stated that while he was painting the small shuttle on the right of the backglass, the actual Challenger blew up on the television in front of him.

 Star Wars Episode I was designed by John Popadiuk and the second (and last) machine to use the Pinball 2000 hardware platform. Released in June 1999, Star Wars Episode I was the last game manufactured by WMS industries (Williams and Bally) before the company announced the closure of their pinball division on October 25, 1999. The game was available as a conversion kit for Revenge from Mars, which included a playfield, game ROMs, manual, cabinet decals, translite and a manual plunger.

There is documentary about the designing of this game and the closing of Williams Pinball, called “Tilt - The Battle to Save Pinball.” 

Stars is an Outer Space themed game that was designed by Steve Kirk with artwork by Jorge Obregon. The game is operated by solid state electronics, yet the only sounds from the game come from a four-chime unit – much like an old doorbell. Stars is the first design by Steve Kirk while he was at Stern Electronics, which is marked on the backglass with his initials. 

Stars is an early example of a pinball having a post between the flippers. Stern programmer Alan McNeil stated that the mini—post screw between the flippers was known as a “Kirk Post” - for designer Steve Kirk.

 Strikes 'N Spares was released by the D. Gottlieb & Company on October 1st, 1995. The game was designed by both John Buras and Ray Tanzer and features two dot matrix displays. The game also has two pinball flippers that launch the ball towards a mechanical bowling pin unit, similar to what was seen on old coin operated shuffle alleys. The game can play three different bowling games: Regulation, Flash and Strike 90. 

Swords of Fury is a medieval themed pinball produced by Williams. The game features a mini playfield with drop targets and an unusual ball locking mechanism. The game is known for its dynamic soundtrack that plays during gameplay, which was done by composer Brian Schmidt.

The drop targets on mini-playfield progressively get slower to reset each time they are dropped, making duration of play on the upper playfield gradually difficult. “LIONMAN!”

  White Water was designed by Dennis Nordman and is based on whitewater rafting, which is reflected in the games very fast gameplay and hilly ramps. The primary objective of the game is to move your raft down the river to Wet Willy's in order to get the Vacation Jackpot. Upon doing research for the initial design, the idea of incorporating Bigfoot was based on a legend where Bigfoot was fabled to appear at night and stealing rafter supplies. The likeness of Bigfoot in the game is modeled after the designer Dennis Nordman. 

 Who Dunnit was designed by both Dwight Sullivan and Barry Oursler in 1995. The game has a 1940s murder mystery theme, very similar to the boardgame “Clue”. The game features five different murder mysteries when the player reveals clues when the player sends ball to the elevator, phone, or slot machine on the playfield. 

The game features real slot-machine reels under the playfield that run with three stepper motors, this was due to the fact Bally was manufacturing slot machines besides pinballs during this time. Voice-over artist Tim Kitzrow provided the voice of Detective Nick Spade.

The game features 'Midnight Madness' mode, which will suspend a player’s game at midnight and transforms the game play. In attract mode at the top of every hour, the game will chime like a grandfather clock and show the initials and score of the 'Midnight Madness" champion..

World Cup Soccer ’94 is based on the 15th FIFA World Cup, which was held in nine cities across the United States from 17 June to 17 July 1994.  The game was designed by both John Popadiuk and Larry DeMar.  The game features a Magna-Save, which magnetically holds from draining.  This is located on the playfield above the left flipper and is activated by an extra button on left side of cabinet.   The game also features a large, hemispherical soccer ball at the upper-right portion of the playfield which spins in both directions to alter the path of a ball striking it.  The gameplay also features a cameo appearance by Raiden, a character from the Mortal Kombat fighting series.