The big game kicks off — Williams’ Army Navy is an electromechanical single-player that captures the storied rivalry of the classic Army-Navy football clash, blending military and sports themes, designed by none other than Harry Williams, the founding father of the industry whose name graced the company, with art by George Molentin. With reel scoring, it’s a woodrail-era artifact from a genuine pioneer of the craft.
The layout is elegantly focused in the classic EM tradition: two flippers, three pop bumpers, a pair of slingshots, and two kick-out holes. There are no drop banks or spinners here, just the honest, chiming pleasures of keeping the ball alive, working the bumpers, and chasing the captured-ball awards of those kick-out holes. It’s the kind of clean, approachable design that defined pinball’s formative years, when the fundamentals of the flipper game were still being refined, and it rewards a player who keeps the ball moving and plays the bumpers and holes with care.
Army Navy is a lovely piece of history for the collector who cherishes the deepest roots of the hobby and the legendary figures who planted them. Harry Williams was a genuine visionary — his innovations helped invent the modern flipper game — and playing one of his designs is a small brush with the origins of everything that followed. The Army-Navy rivalry gave the machine a proud, competitive theme, one of the great traditions in American sport. For anyone who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its founding masters, it’s a worthy find. Ride those bumpers, work the kick-out holes, and root for your side. Some machines are a piece of the foundation, and this Harry Williams classic is one of them. Kick off and drop a coin.