Play Meter

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©inmon of th e month
TILT~
The man who
gave it to as
At an age when many pioneers of other industries sit
comfortaby back in retirement with an honorary post on
their companies' boards of directors, Harry Williams,
founder of William s Electronics and United Manu -
facturing Co. , continues to dabbLe in the aspect of the
industry in which he got his start .
Although he soLd Williams to Seeburg in 1960, the
company 's founder still treks from his CaLifornia home
to Chicago reguLarLy to offer his creative taLents on
game design and concept .
The man who first gave electricity to the pinball
machine back in the Forties today continues to Look
forward and see that new gadgets and soLid-state
electronics wiLL pLay a key roLe in the future of the
pingame.
Not only did he get invoLved with games during the
early years, but Williams actually started the rebuild-
ing of pinball games during World War I/. " There was
a prohibition against buiLding new pingames; so I came
up with the idea that operators had to stay in business
and I rebuilt a/l the old games that were on the market
and form ed the United Maufacturing Company," he
explained.
Operators would send the company their old games
and ' 'we gave them a brand new game bilck, " Williams
said. The f irm changed the backgLass, the pLayfieLd, the
works . "The operators were in real dire straits during
th e war years, ,. he added, explaining that his service
may have kept many operators alive while their former
pinball maufacturers were busy 17&4nufacturing war
goods.
As the war drew to a close, Williams prepared to
build the first pingame to hit the 17&4rl&et, forming the
WiLiams company as he did so. In fact, he said, the
Williams game •• Suspense" was the first pingame to be
built and sold after the war.
His inventiveness has kept him and his company
busy through the years, even though he admits he
thought early pingames would never Last . Possibly what
made th em last was the ball motivation he and other
manufacturers f elt was needed. That's why Harry
Williams gave th e silve r ball a shock and continued to
make il jump and whiz until today .
Bul pingames are not th e only int erests Williams
holds. " Th e other stuff, " he said, intrigues him, too.
By "other stuff" he means the new possibilities ,:n
game design and concept that have developed beca use
of th e rapid expansio n of "com put er" technology.
And Williams has also bee n active in spreading the
wo rd Ihal pinball is fun and innocuous . He was h
prin cipal witness in th e Los Angeles court case which
res ult e ~ i." characterizing th e games as games of skill
lind stnkmg down a long-standing law that outlawed
Ih e m as games of chan ce .
bUI to get wh ere he is today, Williams had 10 start
somewhere lind thai is how we began our interview
wilh him .
PLAY METER: What got you into the games
indus try?
WILLIAMS: A game I s aw out in California made
by American Mineral Spirits called All -American
Baseba ll which had all of the plavers moving on the
fi e ld and the ummpire raising his hand --a very . very
bea utiful machi ne. American Mineral Spirits backe d
the inve ntor and made 199 of the m . the n decided to go
no further after investing half a million dollars .
PLA Y METER: So you picked up the ball from there?
WILUAMS: I acquired the dies to it in later years .
the n took it to Rock-Ola and had them produce it. They
des igned it down to a diffe re nt level and cabinet. In
fact. there are s till some of those on location .
Then I invented the firs t e lectrical pinball machine .
PLAY METER: That was after Ballyhoo and all that .
right ?
WILUAMS: We ll. Wiffle was your first pinball
machine .
PLAY METER: Who made that ?
WIlliAMS: Some Youngstown . Ohio . furniture
ma ke rs . That was during the Depress ion .
PLAY METER: Was it s imilar to Ballyhoo ?
WIlliAMS: It was a much nice r game . It sold for
5 100 a piece. Ball y's game was about 520.
PLAY METER: What gave you the idea to change the
concept ?
Williams; We ll. th e ball didn't do anything other
th a n hit nail s and fa ll into holes a nd I wanted to see that
ha ll moti va ted . So I ca m e up with Contact. the firs t
e lec trica l game .
PLAY METER: What made it different ? Did you
have pop bumpers incorporated il'l that game?
WILUAMS: Oh . no . bumpers came years lat er. The
kickout hole wa s th e fir st motivation of the ball on the
ta ble. Th e n tha t s tart ed a whole s tring of action
pla yfields . T he n I came up with the tilt .