At first glance there’s no room for the mystery tag on the heaviest playfield ever, Williams Wild Card. Alas there is a staple with something ripped from it in the 2nd picture.

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Duncan Brown did a lot of archives for Williams after they closed. Lot of items for Steve Kordek.
Maybe he could put a help to the tag?

Here is a picture of the Toledo I had...

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#labelgate

Any help Inkochnito ?

frobozz is Duncan Brown.

I’ve got 40 or so WMS I’ll start looking at maybe someone slipped up.

Any thought to it being some sort of warranty registration card or something similar that the operator would send back to Williams as a way to register the game and to prove they know how to properly get into the game to service it?

1967 Ding Dong

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Got your PM. Jay from IPDB had already pointed me to this thread but sadly I got nothin' - It's pretty obvious is was something that was *supposed* to be ripped from the game before it made its way to the customer, or else you would have found one intact by now.

I'm pretty sure absolutely everyone who could possibly answer this is dead... just, you know, from age, not because they were killed to keep them quiet. Unless someone has spotted one of these on a SS game...then there are people I could contact who might possibly know. If they are only on EMs, then it's probably some checklist of relay bank switch adjustments or something.

Here's a completely made up theory, but based on knowing how pinball factories work. One of the first things someone would have done to a blank playfield at the beginning of the line was stapled a bunch of stuff to it - cards, ground braid, etc. (We know this is done first because so many things end up on top of the stapled-down stuff.) So maybe they stapled on a card with the name of the game or a sequence number or something on it.

Than that playfield makes its way down the assembly line, and at some ending point (maybe playfield test, maybe final test) that card is ripped off and stuck in a folder/binder/envelope to denote one game making it to that point in the process. Want to know how many playfields were completed that day? Count the little tickets. You can be darn sure nobody is going to forget to rip one of those off, and take a hit on their numbers for the day!

The fact that there are only two staples, not 4, is a really good indication that it was not intended to be on the playfield forever.

None to be found on my Gorgar or Honey.

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I’m just waiting on the one Pinsider whose Williams machine has more of the label left than just the little corner under the staples that would have some wording on it.

Then we can really make this thread catch fire.

I don't have an EM with a missing label. I have never had an EM with a missing label. Now I feel... cheated, alone, outcast... as I've never felt before. Now I want one.

Personally I was wondering if enough fragments from different machines could be gathered up and they could be assembled as a composite ala CSI.

ASSEMBLE AND ENHANCE!

A checklist that was torn off at final inspection of playfield.

Changed to stickers with SS generation.

I thought the same thing, but there are a lot of examples that have the "Tested" sticker right next to the mysterious area...maybe its a downstream assembly checklist that is signed off by each tech that is removed once the final test sticker is applied.

We must get this man his missing label so it can also be missing from his game!

I had a pretty vivid dream last night on what was on the mystery label…

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My Aztec has the staples but no label. Argosy has no indications that there were ever any labels in that area.

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Since we're guessing, could it have been some kind of parts bag? If so it would had to have been torn off for final assembly. Back later, I hear the choppers...

My 1958 Gay Paree has a serial number tag about that size stapled into the head box. It appears that Williams may have tracked the machine subassemblies thru manufacture that way. The tag matches the serial number stamped on the front of the base box. Just a SWAG. I’m not where I can get a picture right now.

Check the IPDB under Gay Paree. There is a picture of the inside of the head box. Tag is half hid behind the wiring harness

I thought the same thing when I saw the dashed line: lightbox id copy (resized).jpg

I agree. No idea why the tag was removed unless it was for accounting.

I examined a few of our games looking for the staples and fragments. All the 70s games had signs of them. One interesting one was triple strike. The area where the label would have been was mostly covered by another adjustment label and a jones plug (but the staples were still there). My uneducated guess is that the label was attached to the unpopulated playfield and then removed as the real assembly began. Maybe before it was silk screened with the identifying graphics? I would imagine that the bare boards could be tough to identify if you had piles of them...

Dave

They were put on after the grey paint, and AFAIK the front and back were painted as part of the same process, ergo I think the tags were applied to screened playfields. If they printed a strip of labels that all got the serial number and were perforated (or at least marked with ink "perforations" to show where to cut them apart) and one each was stapled in the head, body, and on the playfield, then I'm feeling better about my "tear off the playfield ticket and stick it in a folder" theory of this being a way to track production.

I have to wonder why such tracking tags would have been left in a backbox / cabinet but removed from the pf?

So my guess is it was for the final QC / playtest / audit check before the game was packed and shipped. The game has a S/N tag with a checklist and/or a place to sign off on inspection before shipment: Last guy on the line is assigned to perform the checks, rip off the tag, sign it, and file it. PF is probably raised during this check-off process so it's a good place to keep the tag until just before it's lowered the last time before the glass and lockdown are installed pre-shipment.

Think about it: the checklist tag left on the game, which we all see, is almost kinda meaningless: "Oh yay, somebody put various mark(s) at various places in the list (but not all them, ever notice that?) and the game still doesn't work. Whoo, some checklist, what do I do now?". Well, you call Williams, give them your S/N, they look it up, and hopefully find the teartag to confirm it passed inspection, who actually signed/certified the tear tag, and hopefully have an internal review. (This would also help ensure preprod/test/sample and/or factory-damaged/lost games aren't out for liability in the wild).

And perhaps it was even worded so that if you (probably only a distributor in those days?) - did get a game with that tear-off still attached, you call WMS, at which point they probably redeem the tag for some kind of apology refund or service credit or something. Point being in any case, incentive was there for these not to survive in the field.

That's the process I imagine, at least.

Imagine if Stern did that, haha....

No artist rendition!!! We must know before the appropriate label can be created.

"Where's Eddie? He usually eats these things."

I'll never tell.

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Nitpick - was the coin door setup ever printed anywhere but the coin door tag? (Or maybe it was the cabinet tag) - I don't think that would have been on a (mythical) playfield tag. But maybe that's like arguing what color unicorn fur is.

I wonder if it was similar to Data East tags.
Looks like the one lower left had perforations .
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Caution: This Williams Pinball Machine is an electronic device. Do not submerge in water.

Post #100 and still no real resolution - just sayin'