Picked up a really rare Williams game this evening.

tbbk

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Picked up a really rare Williams game this evening.

This popped up super close to my house for cheap so I had to go get it.

I will bet none of you have one of these in your Williams row.

Somehow this is the second one I have owned. It works, needs some cleaning up, the monitor isn't the best. My last one was probably nicer.
 

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I've never seen one of those but judging from the cab I'd say that looks about the same era as Pong(maybe abitt newer). Gratz on picking up an old school paddle game ^^
 
Yeah, 1973 just one year after Pong. Although that was the era where every game was Pong. This one has either 2 players with one credit or four players with 2 credits.

Need to clean the pots or something the player one and two ones are all jumpy, while the player 3 and 4 ones are smooth.
 
Nice one! I just played this game at the Louisville Expo with my wife, we had a lot of fun with it. It's just a B&W TV in there!
 
My lineup from the Louisville Arcade Expo last weekend...

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Here is the back story. I got the Pro Tennis from a good buddy that was/is a second generation operator. Pro Tennis was the first video game they bought in the transition from EMs to video. He loved the game. Every time we were around it in his warehouse he would tell me about it, how much he enjoyed it, and even which position was his favorite to play. Eventually I ended up with it. When he finally decided to let it go I could tell it was a hard decision. He realized he would never do anything with it so it was best to let it move on. I actually had bigger plans!!

Fast Forward a few months. I scrubbed it down, blew what was easily 35 years of dust out of it, and got it up and running. I had 9 sets of controls so I was able to mix and match to get 4 clean spinners, 4 clean pots, and a clean set of carriage bolts. The tube needed a workout on my rejuvinator. It also needed some re-wire work here and there, a new fuse block, and new lamps throughout.

Off it went to the Expo. I arranged to have my buddy come out for the show on Saturday. He was in a bit of shock having been a operator all of his life and never having seen the collector side of the house. Once we made it over to the Pro Tennis he was actually looking at an old EM S.A.M.I. that an other collector had gotten from him and gotten running. I directed him to look left toward where the Pro Tennis sat. He was truly shocked. We played a round. He and his daughter right court and myself and a local left...and he plastered us!!! I had actually been playing it and felt I had gotten fairly good!! Once we were done I told him that I was giving it back to him. It was his. He did not believe it....kept asking if I was serious!!
He was amazed that every time we looked at the game, as old as it was, with later vids and all era of pins all around, someone was always playing it.
As we talked about it I assumed he had several of them and this one just happened to be the last one left. Turns out this game was the only one they bought back in the day. It was the very one he played all the time when he was younger and his father was still running the business.

It survived the weekend but developed a jump in the video. The TV (monitor) was rock solid but did have a minor fold at the top going into the weekend. I did not have time to "learn" how to work on them so I had to let it fly for the time being. I am rounding up a tube tester to check the vacuum tubes. I also got some tips from some fellow collectors as to other areas to check. I am probably going to pull the chassis and replace the caps. I am sure it full of paper caps direct wired location to location. So, for the time being its in my game room.

Do you happen to have a schematic pack with yours? I would love to get a copy if you do. Can you take a look at your game board and see if the T0-3 transistor in the power section (the bottle cap sized part sunk in the heat sink up by the edge connector) still has a part number on it? Mine is running just fine but I noticed the print is long since gone. I would like to know what goes in there should I ever have to replace it.
 

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It was only 5 miles away and he let it go for $50 so I said what the heck.

No schematics, just an empty envelope glued to the inside wall of the cabinet. I will check the board for you once I get it out of the shed and into the basement (gonna be tricky, only going to have like a half inch clearance after I take the doors off).
 
I have been watching it for a while too. I always assumed it was my old one. Didn't find out until today this wasn't the one I sold 5 years ago.

tta583 do you still have the extra controls? One of my spinners has a large discoloration on the base that I don't know if I will be able to make any better.
 
tta583 do you still have the extra controls? One of my spinners has a large discoloration on the base that I don't know if I will be able to make any better.

Post a pic so I can see what you need.
 
COOL!!


With a little luck i will be ending up with two super sprints tommorow. WIsh me luck bothy moving them and at least getting one working..
 
See how this spinner base has that large circle of missing chrome. Two of my bases are that way, and I was wondering if you still had a couple bases or whole assemblies that didn't have missing chrome?
 

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The transistor is labeled LM 309K 339.

My board is extremely clean. All the parts numbers are visible on everything. Let me know if you need any other numbers.
 
See how this spinner base has that large circle of missing chrome. Two of my bases are that way, and I was wondering if you still had a couple bases or whole assemblies that didn't have missing chrome?

OK, that part. I don't have a spare, sorry. The 4 on the game were corroded with no chrome left. My bet is they were worn like yours then left to sit for 30+ years with the protective coating gone. The other 5 were stored in a box and were in decent shape. Of those, 1 had a lot of rust breaking through. So, luckily for me, of the 9 I had just enough, 4, to make the game presentable.
 
The transistor is labeled LM 309K 339.

My board is extremely clean. All the parts numbers are visible on everything. Let me know if you need any other numbers.

Perfect!! Thanks! I think the rest of mine is readable. I looked it over thinking I was going to have to do some work in the power section. Other than the LM309K I want to say everything else was readable.

BTW. I had the empty envelope taped to the inside wall as well. Wonder what was in there??
 
What a fun game... never played 4 player pong before! Thanks for bringing it to the show. Super cool looking into the back with all those vacuum tubes. Sorry I stunk up your game with my sad TV Tennis skills :)
 
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