Kick up your heels — Williams’ Can Can is an electromechanical single-player wrapped in a lively theme of dancing and music, evoking the high-kicking spectacle of the Parisian dance hall, designed by none other than Harry Williams, the founding father of the industry, with art by George Molentin. With light-based scoring, it’s a woodrail-era artifact from a true pioneer of the craft.
The layout is a lively, engaging spread with a classic period feature: two flippers, three pop bumpers, a generous six passive bumpers, a pair of slingshots, and a gobble hole. That gobble hole is a hallmark of the era’s bold design philosophy — the daring, high-risk feature that swallows the ball for an award — while the combination of pop and passive bumpers promises a wildly bouncy, unpredictable ball that demands active nudging and quick reflexes. It’s a bumper-rich design in the classic mold, rewarding a player willing to brave the gobble hole for its prize while keeping the ball alive, all in service of the toe-tapping dance-hall theme.
Can Can 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 whose 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 can-can dancing theme captured a lively, glamorous slice of entertainment. For anyone who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its founding masters, it’s a worthy find. Brave that gobble hole, ride the bumpers, and kick up your heels. Some machines are a piece of the foundation, and this Harry Williams classic is one of them. Take the stage and drop a coin.