Unusual Williams joystick "spider"

joemagiera

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Got this from an ex-Williams employee a while back, finally had a chance to take a pic of it. Anyone ever seen Williams joystick spiders like this? Well, at least these won't get brittle rot and break! This is the back side of a standard Robotron control panel.

Williams_joystick_spider_r.jpg
 
Those were the prototypes. They almost singlehandedly sunk the whole optical joystick project. We all had a chance to try them and I don't think anybody liked them. Sometime a few months later they tried the rubber ones and they were much better.

ken
 
Those were the prototypes. They almost singlehandedly sunk the whole optical joystick project. We all had a chance to try them and I don't think anybody liked them. Sometime a few months later they tried the rubber ones and they were much better.

ken

Ken, I have not tried this on a game yet. What didn't people like about them?
 
Ken, I have not tried this on a game yet. What didn't people like about them?

They were noisy and if you really jammed it in one direction you could unhook the spring. I think a couple of people also broke the springs.

For me, they just didn't feel right. The movement wasn't smooth.

ken
 
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