I'd like a Nags but for the price of a Hot Line.

What?!?!

No 4 Roses on the list??

That's communist!

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hahaha

There are a few more games that have an opening "Special skill shot" (opening = prior to plunging)although all that comes to mind at the moment is Williams Jive Time. It's great when you learn the sweet spot on the plunger to get that Special (almost) every time. I know it's not a Special, but a number of Bally EMs in the 1960s have an opening shot where you try for a high-value lane, but if you first hit a nearby rebound switch or rollover button, the lane value drops. You gotta get that ball to go in an exact trajectory. Great feeling to conquer it.

People often say that multiplayer EMs had no ability to retain the playfield settings from player to player and that the games just reset after every ball. While I can think of examples where that is exactly true, I am going to be the annoying guy who plays with semantics and say that quite a few multiplayer EMs actually DID retain the playfield settings from player to player, and these settings did NOT just reset after every ball. Quite a few multiplayer EMs are like this.

What I think people mean to say is that these games did not allow each player to accumulate features that were not also available to the other players. That these games did not allow for private progression for each player but had features for shared progression. That it is the solid state games which retain for each player, not "from player to player".

Here's what I mean:

Whenever you have certain features, the next player's ball starts out with whatever the previous player left for him/her. Games like Williams 4-player Whoopee and Gottlieb's 2-player Sunset have 5 steel balls in the center looping feature that do not reset for each player. What one player does with that feature is there for the next player to deal with. Gottlieb's 2-player Wild Wild West (and maybe also Lariat) have the unique vari-targets that stay "pushed" until collected by either player. Games that have roto-targets may or may not spin at the start of a player's ball so what the last player left exposed is what the next player gets. Even if they spin at the start, the playfield is not identical at the start of each ball. Gottlieb's 2-player Seven Seas, the 2-player Mayfair, and Bally 2-player Twin Win each have two bonus ladders available to either player that stay until collected. You don't start over like at 1st ball. Community features, shall we say?

So, this is why I say that these playfield settings do indeed retain "from player to player". These carry-over features do not reset after every ball. Quite a few multiplayer EM games are like that. You can probably think of more. In this way, people who press off 2nd, 3rd, and 4th player are not exactly playing individual 1-player games on the same machine with no progression. I'm just seeking to counter that specific perception if you are not an EM player.

If you have never played a multi-player EM game with these features, except all by yourself, then you may not fully appreciate the built-in challenges they present in terms of competition game play. I can describe a certain 4-player EM game that is great fun and nobody talks about, but it is Gottlieb and this is a Williams thread.

Hoov, you might need to group games into cabinet styles (e.g., woodrail, the funky 'space age', reverse wedgehead, and then the square head), get the top 3-5 of each, and then have a bake-off. Once the list spans 10 years, it's tough!

I'll toss a vote for Nags too.

I always liked Beat The Clock-Friendship 7-8 Ball- Teachers Pet-Magic City.

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Really like Riverboat and Bobo.also have a Reserve that I haven't played in a while and it's a great game too.
Ted

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Speaking of Nags, I recently jazzed up the lights in the head with 2 GE flasher bulbs. The old bulbs blink faster than the newer ones.

I didn't realize Williams made so many great machines!

As does "Swing Time".

This one looks good. Apparently Big Daddy was not the first 60s drop target game.
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ROCKET is a cracking game... took me a few years to find one and its by far one of the best woodrails I own.
Had a PALOOKA but sold it on.. kinda regret that decision as it is a good game with metal drops and with a Diamond coat PF too!
SPACSHIP is #1 on my wanted list right now, ive only found 2 and neither were going to be prised out of owners hands much to my dismay.
Another great game is the 67 APOLLO... had it for years and would never part with it..

... Im a sucker for pre moon landing pinballs... pointy space rockets and girls in bubble helmets.. how can you resist?

bump Apollo/Blast off up the list they are both....well......a blast!

A friend of mine has a nice Space Ship that I sold him a few years ago and he may be cutting it loose (moving). I'll check and let you know.

That would be awesome... thank you. I am in Australia though and so long as your friend is happy to wrap the machine, I can organise getting it sent O/S.

"RESERVE" is one of those early 60s WMS EMs that I do not see much of, so can not really comment on its game play. Sam Harvey is the only guy that i know that has one, but never played it, but certainly a cool looking game.

Teachers Pet-I just found some old pics of one I had. I liked it!

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All I can say is that King Pin must be one awesome game as the backglass is very average! I would like to play one though.

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It looks like another great drop target game, but holy flipper scrub Batman!

Ha Ha! You are right about that.

It is the backglass that bowls back

I'd like to point out another great Gtb. multi-player Game since Jay, (IPDB), mentioned the concept, "Paradise" with the 10X, 100X hole values. I remember days of allowing my ball to drain once I lit the 100X, if my friend, (the other player), was closer to replay land. We were competing only until we were low on money, then we "Worked together" trying to earn replays as a team.

I'm casting my vote for "Apollo." Nice game that once you obtain the 3 advances, (hitting the center target when lit), the entire playfield starts flashing at you like a modern day Christmas Tree with virtually everything alternating in value, (side lanes, all 5 pops, mid-field targets, both outlanes). The mid-field targets alternate for direct special shots if you can get to this mode. Retropin's admiration for, "Pre-moon landing games," cracked me up. Never heard that one before but I like it! What a time that was.

I'd like to mention also that "8 Ball," while described on the database as a "Split Bank" Concept, is really not the case. The pool balls are racked up in succession, 1-7 for player 1 and 9-15 for player 2. All the game does between players 1 and 2 is transfer from a simple stepper unit, (like a replay unit), to another, to increment this feature. Sounds more like a, "Separate Player Sequence Concept," (I know I'm doing a little "Knit-picking)."

A real example of a possible split bank concept is "Solids and Stripes, ('71), where the same kick-out holes change pool balls from solids to stripes with each player, (unless you have to hit each ball in succession). It's an interesting playing game, but not a good looking one. Does anyone own this one?

I've owned several nice 60's Williams through the years and these are the ones I liked:

#1 - Teacher's Pet (x2)
#2 - Friendship 7
#3 - Pitstop
#4 - Blast Off

And here are some I couldn't stand:

Doozie
Ding Dong
Cue-T

And one with awesome artwork but just an average player was Magic Town.

I just hated the particle board some of the Williams games were made of and I didn't care for the large coin door/drop front cabinet on the Teacher's Pet either. But they did have some good players.

Tim

I find it fascinating that only a few in this thread even own a 60's Williams game.

I hope to. They don't come up very often here.

Hmm, the only particle board I've seen in a 60s Williams is the piece on the front of the light board? You know that separates the feature lighting. No where else that I'm aware of. I do remember the back of my Gold Strike cabinet was made of particle board. About the worst place for it as often times cabs are stored upright in a damp garage or basement. To be fair though 60s Williams cabinet paint sucks. It's very fragile and often flakes like dandruff.

Dan,

What we list may not be all we own.

Steve j.

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It's a pin game, Jim but not as we know it.

Everyone is hiding those 200 dollar 70's pointy people pins they own.

Not so far off!
But as well as I have a Nags I am restoring.

Yeah, for some reason especially on the front of the cabinet.

Wrong era. The pointy people didn't really show up until the late 60s.

Pointy people have a place in my game room and are hiding from nobody. This is one of the most played machines I own.
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I_P_D_B wrote:
I can describe a certain 4-player EM game that is great fun and nobody talks about, but it is Gottlieb and this is a Williams thread.

hoov wrote:
Please do - now I'm curious
Thanks for sharing this info. Jay - interesting.

Thanks for your patience. Here it is with an explanation of game play, Post #138:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/best-multiplayer-em/page/3

Jay

Not me!!

Love my beat up and barely survived Tradewinds. Wish I had 9 other 60's Williams so I could fill a 10 list.

right you are, restored a S&S years back - the ultimate split bank game... the bank was housed under the playfield... you talk about heavy... I had an accident while working under the hood, hit the prop stick, the playfield came down on my head - figures that's only happened once, with the heaviest playfield ever!!!

I own 51 WMS EM pins from the 1960s era,
2nd only to the 61 EM pins that GTB produced in the 70s.
IMHO there are many more great games made by WMS in that 60s era
than by anyone else in any other era
from the 50s or 60s or 70s on thru to the mid 80s early SS era.