There’s no licensed blockbuster behind Williams’ Fish Tales — just the universal comedy of the one that got away, and designer Mark Ritchie spins that simple premise into one of 1992’s most charming tables. The theming is all in the details, from an autoplunger shaped like a fishing rod to a rotary reel that locks your catch, and the whole machine leans into tall-tale bravado with a wink. Mark, the younger brother of flow-master Steve Ritchie, shows a lighter touch here, but the layout still rips along on a pair of criss-crossing ramps.

The scoring splits into two clear ambitions. Alternating those center ramps six times lights Monster Fish, a left-orbit hurry-up that grows bigger every time you land it, so the smart move is to feed the sixth shot from the left flipper to set up the right. The other path is the multiball: lock balls in the Caster’s Club, then chain jackpots fast enough to light the captive ball for 100-million-plus super jackpots. Hitting the fish standups spells “Tale,” and four of them kick off a lucrative 30-second Feeding Frenzy worth tens of millions.

There’s a video mode too — reeling in boats and people — and the playful detail that you can flip your way through it instead of using the gun if you prefer speed. With its easy charm, readable ruleset, and a couple of genuinely rewarding strategies to master, Fish Tales has aged into a beloved comfort-food classic, the kind of machine that’s as fun for a beginner’s first cast as it is for a regular chasing that ever-growing Monster Fish. The big one, it turns out, doesn’t have to get away.