Williams’ Palooka, released in 1964, is a genuine piece of pinball antiquity — a boxing-themed electromechanical from the wood-rail twilight that takes its name and spirit from Joe Palooka, the beloved comic-strip pugilist who was an American pop-culture fixture for decades. Designed by the legendary Steve Kordek, one of the most important figures in the game’s history, with artwork by Art Stenholm, it’s a window into how pinball played a full decade before the solid-state revolution.
The layout is pure early-60s craft: no slingshots, but a lively mix of pop bumpers, passive bumpers, a five-target drop bank, and a reverse wedge-head cabinet finished in the period’s signature Plastikote. The scoring centers on the drop targets — knocking down four of them advances the center drop target for increased points and a coveted extra ball. As an add-a-ball game, that extra ball functions almost like a modern ball save, letting you keep playing after a drain, while the top rollovers light the pop bumpers for livelier action.
A charming and increasingly rare survivor, Palooka offers a tactile, mechanical experience that predates nearly everything else in most collections. For enthusiasts who cherish pinball’s deep roots — and the work of a true pioneer like Kordek — it’s a delightful knockout from a bygone golden age.