Few pinball machines capture a cultural moment like Williams’ Beat Time, a 1967 electromechanical that rode the cresting wave of Beatlemania. Designed by the legendary Steve Kordek with vibrant artwork by Jerry Kelley, its backglass features a mop-topped band — but with a twist born of legal necessity. Williams was still negotiating to license the Beatles’ name and likeness, so the game shipped with caricatured look-alikes fronting a band cheekily dubbed “The Bootles.” That deal never closed, and the result is one of pinball’s most charming and collectible curiosities, with fewer than three thousand made.
True to its 1960s roots, the gameplay is clean and straightforward — no drop targets here, just a smooth, skill-rewarding layout of pop bumpers, a rotating target, and dual outlanes. It’s the kind of uncomplicated, rhythmic machine that’s perfect for honing the fundamentals of nudging and flipper control, even as its backglass radiates all the excitement of the era.
Rare, historic, and dripping with mid-60s pop charm, Beat Time is a treasure for collectors who love the intersection of pinball and music history. For anyone drawn to the wood-rail age and the height of Beatlemania, this “Bootles” classic is a genuine slice of the Swinging Sixties.