Roto

Meet the Roto, an electro-mechanical pinball machine designed by Norm Clark with artwork by Christian Marche, manufactured by Williams Electronics in October 1969. Roto is a two-player add-a-ball game, notable for its spinner-based extra-ball mechanism.

The Roto's key gameplay features center on its spinner mechanism, which awards extra balls for high scores and for successfully landing on a lit number 1 through 10. The playfield includes flippers, pop bumpers, slingshots, standup targets, mini-posts, and a kick-out hole, plus a left drop lane with a detour gate. The game also includes mechanical backbox animation via an arrow spinner, adding visual interest. The left and right outlanes each feature a pop-up mini-post and a smaller post that holds a drained ball in place so the spinner feature can complete before the ball returns to the outhole.

While the theme of the Roto is not specified, its design reflects the aesthetics common to Williams machines of the late 1960s. The replay version of this game is Williams' 1969 'Expo.' Interestingly, some details of Roto's history remain uncertain -- Williams' own documentation does not explicitly confirm it as an add-a-ball game, and known surviving examples are missing a few components found on Expo -- making it something of a puzzle for historians and collectors alike.