Williams’ Gorgar, released in 1979, holds a permanent place in pinball history as the very first talking pinball machine — a snarling, prehistoric beast (designed by Barry Oursler) that could “speak” a vocabulary of seven words, taunting players with a guttural “GORGAR… BEAT… YOU!” Paired with a pulsing heartbeat sound that quickened as play intensified, it was a sensory revolution at the close of the 1970s, and it pointed the way toward the talking, theming-rich machines that would follow.
The playfield backs up the showmanship with satisfying solid-state play. The highest-value single shot is the Snake Pit, where a stop magnet holds the ball while it scores up to 50,000 — its value built by dropping the GOR targets. Completing the GOR and GAR target banks raises the saucer value and lights pop bumpers (worth a healthy 1,000 each when lit), and the spinner becomes lucrative during a window tied to your bonus. The ultimate goal is to defeat Gorgar himself: hit 1-2-3-4 to light stars, then again to send a “walking” red arrow across the targets you must strike to vanquish the beast.
Historic, atmospheric, and still a blast to play, Gorgar is the machine that gave pinball its voice. For collectors charting the hobby’s great leaps forward — and anyone who wants to hear a monster threaten them in seven menacing words — it’s an essential and endlessly charming classic.