Coin Slot Magazine - #047 - 1978 - December [International Arcade Museum]
Sunday best and assume impeccable manners? Bally backglasses
look like near-pornography. Indeed, there are X-rated backglasses
popping up in some establishments.
Perhaps somebody thinks
these backglasses emulate the style, the pretty girls of Roy Parker's
work - but they share only the sex, lacking the sublety and humor
which was the true highlight of Parker's work. Pinball has always
loathed accusations of ties with organized crime and criminals,
so why was the Old Chicago backglass made? John Dillinger is no
subject for this industry to bring up. And what on earth is hap
pening to the woman on the left of Dillinger? Something good for
your daughter?
This won't go over with the silent majority.
Everything I've seen of Chicago Coin's work has the me-too
stamp of copied mediocrity. Sam Stern, late of Williams, has pur
chased Chicoin and is marketing his own STERN pinballs0 These
games are too new to be covered at this time.
There is no shame in owning a Williams flipper game made in the
50's! It would be best, however, to have none but the best of the
decade's offerings if this is to be your only game. Although most
of the games are fun to play, they are so unusual that you might
not be able to placate your desire for modern pinball play. 1952's
Hong Kong or 4 Corners, basically the same game, are amongst the
most pleasing games of all time. While they share a playfield
resembling a Bingo game in parts, along with a Bingo "card",
they also exhibit flippers, bumpers, and targets enough to rate
them as games of skill.
Unfortunately, 50's Williams games suffer a very bad design fault
To change light bulbs, either the light box must be dismantled, or
the backglass scraped up and out of position, inflicting grave dam
age to the artwork. Guess which method most operators used!
It is more difficult to find a Williams backglass in good condition
than a Gottlieb of comparable age. If you can find one in good
condition, though, do not fret for the future, since the above-
mentioned dss-mantlsng involves only six screws and about three
hands.
(Of course, whatever game you purchase, one of your
first projects should be to remove all bulbs from the Isghtbox and
replace them with No. 51 bulbs.)
com
.
m
:
m
seu is drab. The cabinetwork
u games
fro Williams
Play of the early 6Q's
m
d
-
e
e
fits in aesthetically
1960
load with
cad Plymouths and 1961 Dodges. Soccer
r
n
a
.
w
(1964) D
is o an enjoyable
with an "upside-down" light-
ww single-player
/w introduced
/
box. Williams
the drop target in 1962 on Vagabond
:
p
t
ht know what to do with it. Although there are many
but didn't
throwaway designs from the following years, there are some games
which have achieved cult status - e.g. 4 Aces (1970) and Spanish
© The International Arcade Museum
36
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