Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. Williams was founded as the Williams Manufacturing Company in 1946 by Harry E. Williams. Williams initially was a manufacturer only of pinball tables. In the early 1970s, Williams branched out into the fledgling coin-operated arcade video game market, where it was successful for many years. Chicago, colloquially known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States and the largest inland city in the country. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Pinball is a type of coin-operated arcade game where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass case. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... Arcade can mean several things: Arcade (architecture) - A passage or walkway, often including retailers. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ...

Early history

In 1946, Harry Williams founded Williams Manufacturing Company in Chicago. The first known original amusement device made by Williams was an early-era pinball machine called Suspense in 1946. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Williams continued to make pinball machines and the occasional bat-and-ball game. In 1950, Williams produced Lucky Inning, their first pinball table to have its bottom flippers facing inward in the modern manner. In late 1958, Williams Manufacturing became known as Williams Electronic Manufacturing Company. In 1960, company founder Harry Williams designed his last pinball table as a full-time designer, the horse racing-themed Nags. 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Horse-racing is an equestrian sporting activity which has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times were an early example, as was the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. ...

In 1962, 3 Coin became the first Williams table to sell over 1,000 units (1,100, specifically). One year later, Skill Pool sold 2,250 units. In 1964 Williams was purchased by the Seeburg Corporation. The 1966 pinball table A-Go-Go, with its avant-garde 60s theme, sold a staggering 5,100 units. Early Williams pinball tables often included innovative features and pinball firsts, such as mechanical reel scoring and the "add-a-ball" feature for locations that didn't allow game replays. By 1967, Williams once again changed its name, this time to Williams Electronics, Inc. 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

By 1967, pinball was in the middle of its so-called "golden age", and the number of pinball units that sold began to increase dramatically. Popular Williams pinballs included Shangri-La (1967), Apollo (1967), Smart Set (1969), Gold Rush (1971), and Space Mission (1976).

Arcade Videogaming and Solid-state Pinball

In 1973, Williams decided to enter the fledgling coin-operated arcade videogame industry. Their first arcade videogame was Paddle-Ball. Williams was moderately successful in this new arena but their big breakthrough was the release of 1980's Defender, whose space alien theme and scrolling feature made it an instant classic. Williams' other notable arcade hits were 1982's Joust and Robotron: 2084. 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... This page is about the arcade game Defender. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the 1982 arcade game. ... Robotron: 2084 (often simply called Robotron) is an arcade game created in 1982 by the company Vid Kidz (Eugene Jarvis and Larry Demar) for Williams Electronics. ...

At the same time, Williams would enter the era of solid-state electronic pinball and come to dominate the entire pinball industry. Williams' first solid-state machine was Hot Tip (1976), which had originally been released with electromechanical reel scoring. The updated machine outsold its predecessor by nearly four to one. As the 1970s became the 1980s, Williams would release numerous innovative pinballs, such as Firepower (1980), Black Knight (1980), Space Shuttle (1984), Comet (1985), Pin*bot (1986), F-14 Tomcat (1987), and Cyclone (1988). This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

Industry Decline

By 1983, the entire arcade amusement industry went into a major decline. In spite of this, Williams managed to weather the poor economic conditions better than most. In 1985, Williams once again changed its name, this time to Williams Electronics Games, Inc. In 1988, Williams acquired Bally Midway Manufacturing Company, which was the result of the merger of Bally and Midway in 1983, and as a result, the parent company's name became WMS Industries, Inc. Williams would continue to manufacture pinball machines, while Midway would concentrate on video games (thus ending the Williams brand in video games) and pinball machines (under the Bally brand name). In 1992, the Midway division produced the licensed Addams Family pinball table (based on the movie of that era). Addams Family sold a record 20,270 units, which still stands to this day. In 1993, Midway produced Twilight Zone, which sold an impressive 15,235 units as well. 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Bally Manufacturing Corporation was founded by Ray Moloney in early 1932 when Ballys original parent company, Lion Manufacturing, established the company to make pinball games. ... Midway Games NYSE: MWY is a video game publisher known for such game series as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Spy Hunter. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Four major characters from the original television adaptation: Thing (foreground) with Uncle Fester, Morticia and Gomez Addams The Addams Family is the creation of American cartoonist Charles Addams. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Note, this page is about the television series and its two revivals. ...

But the writing was on the wall. After 1993, Williams never came close to matching the sales numbers of Addams Family or Twilight Zone. In 1999, Williams made one last attempt to revitalize pinball sales with its "Pinball 2000" machines that integrated pinball with computer graphics on embedded raster-scan displays. The innovation didn't pay off and that same year, Williams left the pinball industry to focus on slot machine development as WMS Gaming. In late March of 2005, http://www.pinballnews.com reported that Williams had exclusively licensed the intellectual properties and the rights to re-manufacture former Bally/Williams games in the field of mechanical pinball (including traditional pinball and Pinball 2000 style machines) to Wayne Gillard - Mr Pinball Australia. 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Slot machines in the Trump Taj Mahal A slot machine (American English), poker machine (Australian English), or fruit machine (British English) is a certain type of gambling machine. ...

Overall, Williams was one of the major forces in arcade amusement history. During the "Golden Age" of pinball, Williams was one of the three major manufacturers and also had success making coin-op arcade video games. For much of the later history of pinball, Williams simply dominated the industry even as pinball began to decline in popularity.

External links

• WMS Gaming website
• WMS Pinball Website
• The Internet Pinball Database
• The Killer List of Videogames website (KLOV)