Let me take you on a journey...
Like most serious addicts I felt I must own my very own pinball machine. This way I could play myself to death without going totally broke. My search began with little success since pinball was illegal in Toronto in the early 1970's. However, private ownership was another story.
First, I found a "FOR SALE" ad in the local bargain hunter newspaper. Seeing that ad transported my thoughts into Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. I had visions of a beautiful machine that would satisfy my lust. But then a stroke of fear crossed my mind, "Could the machine already have been sold?"
After quickly phoning the telephone number printed in the ad, I was advised the machine was available at $350, but was not working. I did not know the value of machines in those days so it sounded good to me. It was in my glory of possible ownership that made my two hour car ride seem like minutes. My entire trip was filled with an ecstasy only equal to winning a million dollars.
Finally, I arrived at my destination and was shown the machine of my dreams. Well, not exactly. You see the machine was an old wood rail pinball in reality. However, I still wanted it, and offered to give $250 for it. Naturally I made out like the machine was not really worth $250. I almost convinced myself of that after an award winning performance. After a brief discussion, I became the new owner of a Williams 1954 Big Ben. Amazingly, I somehow got that pinball machine into my small Datsun 240Z sports car - mind you half of it was sticking out of the rear hatchback.
Finally, I got it home and after many days and hours of exploratory surgery through mazes of puzzling wires, I got it working. Believe me, when the machine first lit up I completely lost track of fifteen minutes of time. I gazed in amazement at every little detail of the entire playing field and backglass - admiring a brilliant piece of machinery that another human being had created with features that I had never seen before.
Don't believe me, eh? About now you probably think this guy must be nuts! After all, what can be so thrilling about an old wood rail pinball that could possibly compare to the modern digital pinball games? Well, let me take you on a journey through all the features of the playing field and you can judge for yourself about this game.
At the top of the playing field there are two bumpers and a kick out hole with a sequence of letters spelling "Big Ben". When the bumpers are hit different letters lite up. As the ball enters the kick out hole it spots the letter lite on the backglass where in big large orange letter "Big Ben" appears. If the complete word "Big Ben" lights up the kick out hold becomes a special hole awarding a free replay for the remainder of the five ball play. The letters spotted on the backglass remain spotted for the remainder of the five ball play. The letters spotted on the backglass remain spotted for the entire game. Next there is a bumper surrounded with different letters. Only one letter at a time is lit and will change as the ball hits other thumper bumpers located on the playfield. On the backglass there are four words painted "Two", "Three", "Four", and "Twenty". All four words can be spelled with the letters found surrounding the bumper.
In the center of the game, there are two drop holes where the balls can drop out of the playfield and disappear inside the machine. As a ball enters this drop hole, it spots the lit letter surrounding the bumper. That letter then lites up on the backglass. Example - Letter "T" would light-up in four locations- (T)wo, (T)hree, four, (T)wen(T)y.
Now for something truly unique- if you spell any of the above words, the machine racks up that amount in free games. Yes, you could win twenty games! I never have, but it is possible. (And what a sound it makes when accomplished, just like a machine gun!)
The other thing I forgot to mention was as the ball enters the drop hole, it ejects another smaller ball in its left hand side midget playfield. Again truly unique, it has four seperate chutes marked A, B, C, and D. The most important combination letter is A. As a ball enters a chute it permanently lights up the letter marked on it for the rest of the game. Listed below are the different combinations possible and what happens as a result. If the letters "A B" are lit-up, then two bulls eyes targets located on the playfield light up. When these bulls eyes are hit and lit, a free game is scored. If "A B C" are lit-up a total of four special targets light up. And if the combination of "A,B,C, and D" are lit up, six special targets are lit and any other ball entering a chute on the midget playfield awards one replay.
In the days when my machine was built, Williams only had one flipper located centrally at the base of the machine. However, just to the right of the flippers, there was a very strong sling shot type of rubber bumper that could shoot the ball three-fourths of the way up the playfield everytime it is hit. If the ball was to leave the two exit lanes it would also kick the smaller ball in the midget playfield into action. Of course the other way to win free replays was to obtain certain high score levels.
If you ever have a chance to play this game you would understand why my father and I once played the machine from six o'clock in the evening to seven o'clock in the morning. We didn't even notice the time pass away until it was ready for both of us to go to work. We ended up leaving for work right out of the basement only to return anxiously later that day to do it all over again. They sure don't make them like they used to!
P.S. - If any of you Coin Slot readers are ever in the area, you can play the machine by contacting me!
This game is mentioned in the McKeown Pinball Portfolio book, and at the time I first saw its picture, it was the most radical flipper game I'd ever seen. The single flipper, midget playfield, and asymetrical main playfield leave no doubt but that this is a mid-fifties Williams pintable. Whereas Gottliebs from this era are unmistably the forefathers of modern pins, and consequently easier to accept, playing the fifties Williams game and enjoying it is an acquired taste. Apparently, Big Ben's taste, once acquired, is addicting.
Big Ben was released by Williams Electronics on May 18, 1954. Previous to the game were a series of pintables which carried the industry's first digital score reels- an idea ahead of its time, as Big Ben is a 'bulb' machine, one which reads out its score by backlighting numbers painted on the backglass. This is one of the earliest, if not the earliest use of the midget playfield; it is not unique. Natkin & Kirk's All About Pinball (reviewed here in July 1978) shows a picture of Colors, post-dating Big Ben by some five months, a game possessing two such midget playfields, and the later-still Spitfire has two different midget playfields flanking the middle of the main playfield.
The numbers spelled out on the backglass which Mr. Balde describes are the ancestor of the modern match unit. In later Williams games, the end-of-ball spot number or letter would be concealed from the player until he drained, making it more random. Additionally, the stakes became higher- Spitfire has provisions for awarding as many as 200 free games at once- but to play the match also cost an additional nickel.