Play Meter

Issue: 1975 August - Vol 1 Num 8

th t 'It in ntor
!ronltnu pd from page 181
PLA Y M ETE R: It was mo II confin d to th
lots ,
right?
WILLIAM : Right. You ouldn'[ put out a slot
an where in Il linoi in the old da s without going
through those gangs, But I was n v r inter t d in
sl tS , 0 it didn't pha
me ,
rlill
ovelt
was the greate t maker of lot
ma chines at the time , Then Jenning , then Walle ,
w the pi cture i ompletel diff r nt. Th
ill , no Walle , no J nning , Ju t Ball and
are making th e big lot now , nfortunatel
are
till in th hands of gangster in some areas of the
country ,
That ' s wh I had them tak th knock -off button off
th free · play unit. I fought for that when J wa
presid nt of thc oin Machin In tilut , I lried to how
th other manufacturers that it wa going to clo
up
our territor if we continued pa ing out mone u ing
the free -pia unit as a pa out de ice.
PLAY M ET E R: At one tim flipper game had that
n th m? I didn't know that.
WILLIAM : Oh , ure , The r a on I made it was be -
ause pingame w r going the wa of lot rna hines ,
pa ying out money ,
PLAY M ET ER : You ' re not r ferring to bingo type
game are you?
WILLIAMS : O,nO ,no . Regular one · ball pin table .
Y u hot one ball and if it fell in a pockt marked 10 , you
g t 10 cents . If it fell in 200 , yo u got 2; into 500 , ou
got :> , 1 cou ld ee th beginning of th end.
PLA Y METE R: YOLI fought against that ?
WILLIA M : I sure did b cause the gangst r would
gCt into it and e ntuall y , the towns would 10 e. Whi h
a lot of them did, an way .
That ' s wh we ha e 0 man y ru les on the books
again t pingames today , becau
of th e bad tabl
And the fr e · pl y unit we tried to limit to at mo t 10
free plays. J would rather see five , When I aw the
game going to mone and rede mabl
ti kets , I
thought , " How the h II an J mak
omething that
won ' t be red emed and will onl be an extension of
pia ,?"' And th t ' s when free -pia ca m .
PLAY METER: It was ce rtainl a re olutionar idea
and did a great deal of good for th indu Ir .
WILLIAM : It help d us win our ca e out here in
a liforni a . I wa on that stand for thr e olid w ek .
We had an ordinanc on the books that went on in 1939
th a t said pingam es w r a game of chance and
therefore illegal.
An way War ren Wolfe (an attorney) got the id a he
cou ld reop n Lo Angel on th con titutionalit is ue
th at a llowed a rich man to own one in his home . but
prohibited a poor man from going into a bar, depo iting
a ni kel and pia ing it. That ' not what won the ca e ,
though ; it wa th game of skill ver u chance i u
that did it.
Heavy artillery
, " he avy profits,
Enemy aircraft
are coming into
range . . you track
the target ... the
unique 3-button con-
trol panel gives you
three firtng positions-
three chances for a hit.
You press the firing button,
the enemy plane explodes!
Realistic jet sounds, explod-
ing shells and " hits", a 19"
monitor-
It's like you're
there . in the middle of the ac-
tion!
One or two " gunners w c an
play. Within operator-adjustable
game time, you win the battle by
shooting down more planes than
your opponent. Durastress' · test-
ed solid state circuits and built-in
easy accessibility for maintenance
means Anti-Aircraft is always com-
bat-ready-in any location.
Pul Anti -Aircraft In your battle
plan . Players can't resist testing their
shooting skills lime after lime! For all
th details your Atart distributor is the
man to see. Or contact us at ATARI. INC.,
2175 Martin Avenue, Santa Clara. Cali-
fomla, (4 ) 984 -1900.
[ ee nexi pagel
ircle 14 on r eader ervice card,
46
The)' co uld apply the ruling we rec ived in ew York
right now if the ' wanted to . I' m so anxiou that the
follow through on it. If you speak to an of the people
involved in th a t ca e in ew York. the y hould g t the
Los ngels verdict. whi h was appeal d b th cit and
taken to the a liforni a Supreme oun and which wa
upheld .
PLA Y M ET E R: How did ou g t inv Ived in that ca e
initially ?
WILLI A M : The law er for the di tributor a ked
me and thank od I did . You se I wa the onl
pingame designer working in Los ngel in 1939 , who
was still living and d signing. 0 I could how the
judge .
PLAY Meler; Ilow did ou go about con in ing- the
judge th a t it ",'as , in fact , not a game of chan e , but a
game of , kill ?
WILLIA M : Ju s t hone ty. We went through prac ·
tically every game that ha
ver b n built and w nt in
detail.
hene er the prosecuting allorne
would
object, th judge would ' et him down and tell him he
wasn ' t th e authorit ," Mr . Williams is the authority ." I
knew if I was honest with that judg , hi fairmind d ·
nes and int n e de ire to learn all there wa to know
about th mach in would help us win him over.
hy , he d la yed the trial two week 0 that he could
dig S I the 2 14 · page brief th attorn
had prepared . I
knew if he listened to th e t timon as c10s Iy as h read
the briefs . we 'd have a chance .
PLA Y M ET E R: What were ome of the detail the
allorneys asked ou to g t yo u to give p rtinent
testimony?
W ILLI A M : The main thing wa , " What i th
differen e b twe n a 19 39 gam and a gam toda ? " I
ha I myoid drawing and pi tur s and aid , " Here 's
how I design d th m . I had kill up at th top , our
honor . But a the ball progressed down the field , ou
had no control oth r than hilling of lh sid of th tabl
if the tilt was se t lib ral. Y u could guide the ball a
lillie , but it was most!
hanc .
" J;3ut now . designing the tables toda y with th
nipp r , you till ha e the kill at the top and with th
nipper , you ca n do all kinds f thing . " W had three
gam s in the courtro m and I d m n trated to him .
Th n I open d them up and howed th re w r no
hidden gimmick . The pros utin all rn
thought he
has me at one point be au e th game the
nt in had
those match numb r featur s ,
lie thought. " Oh , bo , I got him now , Here ' s a
I ro ntjnu~d on
pag~
5 11
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t.
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Pho ne 120 1 1 6 6·7030
,
ircle 15 on reader ervice card,
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ircle 16 on reader ervice card.
47

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