A-Go-Go
Williams, 1966
Apollo
Williams, 1967
Beat the Clock
Williams, 1963
Big Daddy
Williams, 1963
Doodle Bug
Williams, 1971
Grand Prix
Williams, 1976
Heat Wave
Williams, 1964
Lucky Strike
Williams, 1965You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider o-din.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
If you are asking pinside, look no further than the #1 game in the top 100.
https://pinside.com/pinball/top-100/em
Williams made many great games from the mid 50s thru the 60s and during that period I think they dominated the industry as for as gameplay and rules. They also had exciting features like drop targets and swinging targets that the other major manufacturers were not using during this time.
Quoted from AlexF:Heat Wave always comes to mind.
I traded mine for a decent Shangri La over the weekend. 
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. 
Although not mentioned as much as some of the others, in my garage Pit Stop is a defining Williams EM. It is where all the elements of what makes a great playing game come together, whether being played by one player or two players as designed.
Quoted from EMsInKC:Heat Wave gets a lot of love, but I've always felt River Boat was the better game.
I agree. And that's why River Boat stayed.
I didn't get into this hobby looking to buy one brand or another. Just the best playing games with good art work. Just turned out most of my collection is now Williams with their short flipper games dominating the EM line-up. It's not so much one defining game as the collection as a whole.
Single players-
Big Daddy
Trade Winds
River Boat
Rocket
Pinky
Arrow Head
Skill Pool
Beat The Clock
Struggle Buggies
21
Multi players-
Pit Stop
Lady Luck
Serenade
El Toro
Shangri La
A Go Go
Magic Clock
Jolly Roger
Eager Beaver
Others have come and gone, but the ones that keep getting played stay. And most of these get played all the time.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:But I really don't think there's a "defining" Williams EM. They simply didn't grab the public's attention like Bally games Captain Fan or Fireball, or Gottlieb's classics like Kings and Queens.
Which shows there really isn't "just one" defining game by any of the manufactures.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Fireball is Bally's defining EM game.
You mentioned it yourself Capt Fantastic. Then there's Wizard. And let's not forget...
The mid to late 60s were a good time for Williams sales wise, where in 1967 alone they sold over 28,000 machines. Over 4000 more than the nearest competitor.
But it wasn't one iconic game that put them where they were at. It was a bunch of good playing, eye appealing machines and the history of quality and gameplay they had already laid down.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Interesting. All I can think of is something happened in a test game to make them think it was needed. I guess a gate was stuck open and players were getting a free spinner shot on the launch. (so what?)
We spent a day or two pondering that. IPDB chimed in later with a little more detail about it.
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider o-din.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-signature-or-defining-em?tu=o-din and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Manlius, NY