Rancho

Rancho, released by Williams Electronics in December 1976, holds a special place in company history: it was the last game designed by Harry Williams, the company's founder, working alongside Chris Otis. By this point Williams had been building electro-mechanical pinball machines for decades, and Rancho -- an American West-themed, two-player game -- represents the twilight of Williams' EM era, arriving just as solid-state technology was beginning to take over the industry.

Rancho's layout includes two flippers, two pop bumpers with operator-adjustable scoring (100 or 1000 points), two slingshots, three drop targets, two kick-out holes, a spinning target, a standup target, and an upper right kickback lane. Players could choose 3-ball or 5-ball play, with an end-of-ball bonus and sound provided by three chimes and a knocker. According to the Encyclopedia of Pinball, the initial test run used a painted wood cabinet before switching to metal, reportedly out of concern that lightweight solid-state cabinets would be easy to steal -- though metal cabinets proved too costly and the idea was later dropped.

With 1,229 units produced, Rancho is a modestly scarce machine and a notable bookend to Harry Williams' pinball design career.