Into the jungle — Stern Electronics’ 1980 Cheetah is a fast, fang-bearing solid-state four-player designed by the legendary Harry Williams, the man who helped invent the whole medium, working near the end of his remarkable career. With a confirmed run of 1,223, it’s a relatively scarce piece of early-’80s history, sporting three flippers, three pops, three slingshots, a five-bank and three banks of three-drop targets, three spinners, and a horseshoe lane — a busy, aggressive layout for its moment.
The strategy crowd has a favorite trick here, and it’s a gem: hold the upper-left flipper up and repeatedly shoot the lane behind it, a groove so reliable that there’s footage of pinball royalty putting over a million on the board doing essentially nothing else. That single lane is the engine of the game, the kind of repeatable money shot that defines a strong Cheetah outing. Beyond it, the bonus multiplier is a key element — advance it by hitting the upper drop targets or the lower-right set when lit — and completing the 1-through-5 sequence lights the Collect Bonus saucer along with other awards. Completing the upper-right targets with three of a kind lights the spinners or, with red, a Special.
Cheetah is a connoisseur’s early Stern, a Harry Williams design that rewards a player who finds that upper-left lane and rides it while feeding the bonus multiplier. There’s even a bit of community folklore about the backglass safari lady that’s become an affectionate running joke. For the collector who loves pinball’s pioneering generation, it’s a scarce, satisfying, fundamentals-driven machine. Hold that flipper, work the lane, build the bonus, and let the cat run. The legend of the upper-left lane awaits.