DISCO FEVER (Williams) Rubber Ring Kit WHITE

Free lunch and as many soft drinks/day as you could drink were available in the cafeteria for engineers and managers when I first arrived at Williams. Two very nice ladies cooked for us and the meals were very good very often. It was a smart move, because we would only stop working long enough to eat and play a few games of pinball. Before my time, there was an open bar in the cafeteria with alcohol and a barber shop right in the factory at 3401 N. California Ave. I wonder how much work got done when the bar existed?

It was fun to eat with everyone in the same room, and Mike Stroll would work the room like a proud host at a dinner party or a standup comedian. It made us all feel wanted and powerful. Everyone who reads this knows that in that era, we WERE powerful. We kicked ass and took names because we were a TEAM held together by bonds bigger than our own projects. It was a heady time, and Mike Stroll was the charismatic leader that steered us carefully and respectfully. Several teams were making hit games simultaneously, and we ruled the pinball world until it died, under many leaders. The main group of contributors stayed and worked together (even from different departments) for many years.

Mike Stroll may have pressed for curved flippers, but I doubt it; it was not like him to force a feature, especially if it was controversial. He gave us max freedom to do what we thought would get the most play. Mike could actually play pretty well and was deeply involved in the engineering aspect at Williams back in the day.

I adopted a philosophy about flipper placement after first observing pinball play in the early 70's at Atari. Games that had odd flipper placements GENERALLY did not make as much money as games that had more normal arrangements. There are Great Exceptions, including Capt. Fantastic, but even there, the basic 2 lowest flippers are in a very normal position.

"Standard" placement gives the player comfort in that recognizable and predictable play can be had on a given playfield, and flipper placement always has a huge impact on drain schedules and feeds to the flippers. Designers can never leave well enough alone, and when they don't, they end up with something like ST:TNG which I will always wish was not so brutal with side drains. Oh well.

In reference to "Dad" above, all games have a Dad. The Game Dad is the guy with the vision of a given game, and is not always the designer. The Game Dad can be an artist, a programmer, a mechanical engineer, or a game designer. Games with no Dad (and they happened) were doomed to failure. Someone must always carry the torch for every game as it's developed. The Game Dad reference was probably first coined by George Gomez. It seems real chauvinist. But I only knew one Game Mom. Pinball Mary at Atari. Her game wasn't fun and it died. I think it was because there was no Game Dad!

This is all the time I have at the moment. It's interesting to note that thoughts about Curved Flippers brought about the memories of so much more, just like it was yesterday.....

Regards,

Steve Ritchie