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Williams Electronics is an American manufacturing company once famous for their [[UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame arcade]] {{Pinball}} and VideoGame machines. The company was started in 1943 by famed pinball engineer Creator/HarryWilliams as a manufacturer of novelty machines and pinball tables. Though the company fared well in TheFifties and TheSixties, Williams rode the transition to solid-state to become the world leader in pinballs for over twenty years.

Williams' earliest games were a fortune-telling game called ''Select-A-Scope,'' a shooting game called ''Periscope,'' and ''Sunny,'' a flipper pinball game. Their games were modest successes through TheSixties, though Creator/{{Gottlieb}} dominated the pinball industry. Their first video game was ''Paddle-Ball'', [[FollowTheLeader a forgettable copy of]] Creator/{{Atari}}'s ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}''. They struck gold with their second original game, a space-shooter by Creator/EugeneJarvis called ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}''. Williams soon followed that with ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}, Stargate, VideoGame/{{Sinistar}},'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Robotron 2084}} Robotron: 2084]]'', building a reputation for no-holds-barred action titles. At the same time, their pinball division transferred over to solid-state electronic pinball machines with great success; through the eighties, Williams released numerous innovative pinball games, such as ''Pinball/{{Firepower}}, Pinball/BlackKnight, Pinball/{{Comet}}, [[Pinball/{{Pinbot}} Pin*Bot]],'' and ''Pinball/F14Tomcat''.

Although arcade gaming declined in the mid-80s, Williams remained viable due to the strength of their releases. As WMS Industries, the company went public in 1987, and acquired competitor [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally/Midway]] a year later. For the next ten years, the company used the Midway label for video games, while it continued to manufacture pinball machines under the Williams and Bally brands.

In 1991, Williams entered the gambling and video lottery markets, a field which rapidly overshadowed their pinball and video gaming divisions. In 1998, shareholder pressure led Williams to spin off the arcade division as Creator/MidwayGames. Their pinball business hung on a little longer, until the lackluster sales of ''Pinball/StarWarsEpisodeI'' [[CreatorKiller prompted the closure of the pinball division]] so Williams could [[MoneyDearBoy focus solely on slot machines;]] the circumstances were later documented in ''Film/TiltTheBattleToSavePinball''.

Today, as WMS Gaming, the company deals exclusively in online gambling and manufacturing slot machines and is wholly owned by casino equipment company Light & Wonder (which also owns the descendent of Bally's slot machine making division). Pinball enthusiasts and video gamers, however, will long remember them for their arcade machines. Their pinball games are currently licensed out by L&W. Their video game library, meanwhile, rests in the hands of Creator/WarnerBros, the current owner of Midway's video game assets.

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!!Pinball machines released as Williams include:
[[index]]
* ''Pinball/BanzaiRun''
* ''Pinball/{{Barracora}}''
* ''Pinball/BigGuns''
* ''Pinball/BlackKnight''
[[/index]]
** ''Pinball/BlackKnight2000''
[[index]]
* ''Pinball/BramStokersDracula''
* ''Pinball/{{Comet}}''
** ''Pinball/{{Cyclone}}''
** ''Pinball/{{Hurricane}}''
* ''Pinball/{{Congo}}''
* ''Pinball/DemolitionMan''
* ''Pinball/{{Defender}}''
* ''Pinball/{{Diner}}''
* ''Pinball/{{Earthshaker}}''
* ''Pinball/F14Tomcat''
* ''Pinball/Fire1987''
* ''Pinball/{{Firepower}}''
* ''Pinball/FishTales''
* ''Pinball/{{Flash}}''
* ''Pinball/TheFlintstones''
* ''Pinball/FunHouse1990''
* ''{{Pinball/Gorgar}}''
* ''Pinball/HighSpeed''
[[/index]]
** ''[[Pinball/TheGetawayHighSpeed2 The Getaway: High Speed II]]''
[[index]]
* ''Pinball/{{Hyperball}}''
* ''Pinball/IndianaJonesThePinballAdventure''
* ''Pinball/JohnnyMnemonic''
* ''Pinball/{{Joust}}''
* ''Pinball/JunkYard''
* ''Pinball/MedievalMadness''
* ''Pinball/MonsterBash''
* ''[[Pinball/NoFearDangerousSports No Fear: Dangerous Sports]]''
* ''Pinball/NoGoodGofers''
* ''[[Pinball/PinBot Pin*Bot]]''
** ''Pinball/TheMachineBrideOfPinbot''
** ''Pinball/JackBot''
* ''Pinball/PoliceForce''
* ''[[Pinball/RedAndTedsRoadShow Red & Ted's Road Show]]''
* ''{{Pinball/Rollergames}}''
* ''Pinball/{{Sorcerer}}''
* ''Pinball/SpaceShuttle''
* ''Pinball/SpaceStation''
* ''Pinball/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
* ''Pinball/StarWarsEpisodeI''
* ''Pinball/StellarWars''
* ''Pinball/TalesOfTheArabianNights''
* ''Pinball/{{Taxi}}''
* ''Pinball/Terminator2JudgmentDay''
* ''Pinball/TimeFantasy''
* ''Pinball/{{Varkon}}''
* ''Pinball/{{Whirlwind}}''
* ''Pinball/WhiteWater''
[[/index]]

!!Williams pinball machines released under the name "Bally" include:
[[index]]
* ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily''
* ''Pinball/AttackFromMars''
** ''Pinball/RevengeFromMars''
* ''Pinball/BlackRose''
* ''[[Pinball/BugsBunnysBirthdayBall Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball]]''
* ''Pinball/CactusCanyon''
* ''Pinball/TheChampionPub''
* ''Pinball/CirqusVoltaire''
* ''Pinball/{{Corvette}}''
* ''Pinball/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon''
* ''Pinball/DoctorWho''
* ''Pinball/DrDude''
* ''Pinball/ElviraAndThePartyMonsters''
** ''Pinball/ScaredStiff''
* ''[[Pinball/GilligansIsland Gilligan's Island]]''
* ''Pinball/HarleyDavidson''
* ''Pinball/{{Indianapolis 500}}''
* ''Pinball/JudgeDredd''
* ''Pinball/MousinAround''
* ''Pinball/NBAFastbreak''
* ''Pinball/ThePartyZone''
* ''Pinball/PopeyeSavesTheEarth''
* ''Pinball/SafeCracker''
* ''Pinball/TheShadow''
* ''Pinball/TheatreOfMagic''
* ''Pinball/TruckStop''
* ''Pinball/TwilightZone''
* ''Pinball/WhoDunnit1995''
* ''Pinball/WorldCupSoccer''
[[/index]]

!!Video games published by Williams Electronics:
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Blaster}}''
* ''Bubbles''
* ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}''
** ''Stargate'' (a.k.a. Defender II)
* ''Franchise/{{DOOM}}''
** Platform/SuperNES and Platform/PlayStation versions of ''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}''
** Platform/PlayStation version of ''VideoGame/FinalDOOM''
* ''Inferno''
* ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}''
** ''Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest''
* ''Make Trax'' (licensed from Alpha Denshi)
* ''VideoGame/MoonPatrol'' (licensed from Irem)
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and ''Ultimate [=MK3=]'' (the 16-bit ports)
* ''Mystic Marathon''
* ''VideoGame/{{NARC}}''
* ''VideoGame/{{Robotron 2084}}''
* ''VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}''
* ''VideoGame/SmashTV''
* ''Star Rider'' (laserdisc game)
* ''Turkey Shoot''
[[/index]]
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