Do Multi-Williams cabs get much play at parties?

jehuie

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So if I got or built one of these would I expect many "non-gamers" to give it a try when we have large groups of people over? I'm afraid the complicated control panel will keep people from trying it.

Interested in hearing the experiences of people who have them.

Also, I played one today and it was a JROK game but the sounds seemed wrong on some games. Is that normal for this board?
 
The sound is fine to my ears! If you are worried about play get an ArcadeSD board so you have a ton of variety past the William's games. Both boards are fantastic and work great with a MW panel.

Michael
 
I have an ArcadeSD machine (vertical) but it has a simple control panel. Just a joystick, trackball and a couple buttons. The MW panels just seem so busy....not sure if they will intimidate casual players.
 
So if I got or built one of these would I expect many "non-gamers" to give it a try when we have large groups of people over? I'm afraid the complicated control panel will keep people from trying it.

Interested in hearing the experiences of people who have them.

Also, I played one today and it was a JROK game but the sounds seemed wrong on some games. Is that normal for this board?

I have a JROK multi-williams and I would say it's one of the least played cabinet's in the basement.
 
I currently have a dedicated Joust and none of my kids friends had ever asked to play it. I asked some to try it and after a few games they thought it was a real fun game. My younger boys love to play it. It is easy to pickup and learn.

Robotron is simple too but more difficult. The number of enemies on the first screen alone scares off most people. The other games on the JROK board that were most popular in the arcades, Defender & Stargate, are too difficult and button intensive for the casual gamer. The other games are ones few have heard of so unless they just want to try something new they most likely will not be played.

The multi-williams control panel is a little intimidating as it has controls to support Stargate but also support 2 player simultaneous Joust. A casual gamer that is not familiar with the games would likely not even try Joust. For those already familiar with it and wanting to play, I have had to show them what buttons to use to flap.

For the non-casual gamer that loves Williams games, it is a must have unless you have the individual dedicated cabs. For the casual gamer, many of the games are just too complex and difficult. Casual gamers tend to gravitate to something with a simpler control panel and to games they are familiar with.
 
My former Multiwilliams was always really popular at parties, but it was never Stargate or Defender, about 90 percent Robotron, 7 percent Joust and maybe 3 percent Bubbles.

Of course my parties would inevitably have one or two people present who were fairly familiar with Robotron, and their play would get other people interested as well.

Can't ever recall it getting much action from women, the women would usually just hog the driving games, pinball machines and the candy cabinet (which for parties would either have Mickey Mouse Tetris or Uo Poko installed).

My current multiwilliams is 19 in 1 based. Haven't had a proper party since I put it together, The few guests who have played it have selected fairly random titles.
 
I get people to try Defender by telling them its one of the hardest games ever made. They'll play one 30 second game, laugh about it and avoid the machine for the rest of the night. I don't think any of the main Williams games appeal to people who didn't play them when they were in arcades.

Am I still going to have a MW? No doubt!
 
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