Williams Electronic Games Inc.

Williams Electronic Games Inc. was founded in 1943 by innovator Harry E. Williams in Chicago, Illinois, and became one of the world’s leading producers of pinball machines [1]. Under Williams’s early leadership, the company experimented with pioneering concepts like the tilt mechanism, which would influence pinball design for decades. During the mid-20th century, Williams experienced significant growth and changed ownership several times, notably becoming a part of the Seeburg Corporation in 1964 before being spun off as an independent company and ultimately going public as WMS Industries, Inc. in 1987. Through its 1988 acquisition of Bally/Midway, Williams cemented its position at the forefront of the arcade and pinball industries, producing a wide range of influential pinball machines throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

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Among Williams’s many significant releases was Gorgar (1979), celebrated for its use of a synthesized voice; Black Knight (1980), which introduced the innovative two-level playfield; and The Addams Family (1992, under the Bally label), which remains one of the best-selling pinball machines of all time. Despite these successes, the rise of video games and economic pressures led Williams to diversify into casino gaming, and by the late 1990s, pinball sales declined sharply. An ambitious effort to rejuvenate the market with the Pinball 2000 platform in 1999 did not meet expectations, prompting WMS to shutter its pinball division later that year. Although the company no longer manufactures pinball machines, its intellectual property—subsequently licensed to Planetary Pinball—continues to be revered within the industry, ensuring that Williams’s designs and legacy remain influential for collectors and enthusiasts worldwide.