Description
Book Synopsis From early classics like Contact to marvels like High Speed, gaming publisher Williams dazzled arcade goers with its diverse range of quality pinball games. The age of video games catapulted the company into legend with blockbusters like Defender and Joust, and by the end of the 1980s it was the largest coin-op publisher in North America. Williams'' acquisition of Bally/Midway began a period of hits that included Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam, as well as the best-selling pinball machine of all time, The Addams Family.
The history of Williams spans nearly six decades and is filled with great games, huge gambles and technical innovations that impacted every aspect of pinball and arcade video games. With interviews of 40+ former designers and executives from Williams/Bally/Midway, as well as information from hundreds of contemporaneous news reports and documents, this book presents a never-before-seen chronology of how the small
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1. More Than Just Marbles and Pins
- 2. The Edison of Pinball
- 3. When Harry Met Sammy
- 4. Winds of Change Blow Through Chicago
- Gorgar (December 1979)
- 5. A Solid State of Affairs
- Firepower (February 1980)
- Black Knight (November 1980)
- 6. Welcome to the Video Age
- Defender (March 1981)
- Stargate (October 1981)
- 7. Heroes of the Golden Age
- Make Trax (November 1981)
- Hyperball (December 1981)
- Conquest (1982: Unreleased)
- Robotron 2084 (June 1982)
- Joust (July 1982)
- Moon Patrol (September 1982)
- 8. Crashed … But Not Burned
- Defender Pinball (December 1982)
- Sinistar (February 1983)
- Joust Pinball (April 1983)
- Blaster (December 1983)
- The Bigger They Are…
- Star Rider (February 1984)
- 9. It's Always Darkest…
- Space Shuttle Pinball Adventure (December 1984)
- 10. A New Dawn
- Sorcerer (March 1985)
- High Speed (January 1986)
- Pin*Bot (October 1986)
- Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest (December 1986)
- F-14 Tomcat (March 1987)
- 11. A Rose by Any Other Name … Still Makes Games
- Last Man Standing
- Banzai Run (May 1988)
- Taxi (August 1988) 174
- Narc (December 1988)
- Arch Rivals (May 1989)
- 12. License to Thrill
- Elvira and the Party Monsters (September 1989)
- 13. A New Golden Age
- Smash TV (April 1990)
- Pigskin 621 A.D. (August 1990)
- FunHouse (November 1990)
- High Impact Football (December 1990)
- The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot (February 1991)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day Pinball (July 1991)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (November 1991)
- Total Carnage (January 1992)
- The Addams Family (March 1992)
- Fish Tales (October 1992)
- Mortal Kombat (October 1992)
- 14. The Candle That Burns Twice as Bright…
- White Water (January 1993)
- Twilight Zone (April 1993)
- NBA Jam (April 1993)
- Revolution X (May 1994)
- The Pinball Circus (1994: Unreleased)
- Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (August 1993)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Pinball (November 1993)
- Cruis'n USA (November 1994)
- Theatre of Magic (March 1995)
- WMS Shoots for the Extra Ball
- 15. The End Is the Beginning … Is the End
- Tales of the Arabian Nights (May 1996)
- War Gods (August 1996)
- Power-Up Baseball (1996: Unreleased)
- Medieval Madness (June 1997)
- Monster Bash (July 1998)
- 16. A Skill Shot for the New Millennium
- Revenge from Mars (March 1999)
- Star Wars: Episode 1 Pinball (June 1999)
- 17. No Credit, No Continue
- 18. One Last Round at the Arcade
- Hydro Thunder (March 1999)
- The Grid (August 2000)
- 19. A Legacy Worth Preserving
- Chapter Notes
- References
- Index
