Solids N Stripes

Solids N Stripes, designed by Norm Clark and released in February 1971 by Williams Electronics, is an electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine built around a billiards theme, following in the footsteps of Williams' own 1966 two-player title '8 Ball.' The game reuses Clark's "split bank" concept for tracking each player's earned billiard balls, this time via two separate relay banks (one for balls 1-7, one for 9-15) so scores carry over from ball to ball instead of resetting.

The machine features two flippers, five pop bumpers, six kick-out holes, and two standup targets, along with a center up-post. Its signature feature is the ball-to-ball carry-over system, where lit billiard balls are displayed on the backglass to show which balls each player has earned; because balls can be earned in any order (unlike '8 Ball,' which required numerical sequence), the game uses relay banks rather than stepper units to track them.

The art and design of Solids N Stripes, by Christian Marche, are faithful representations of a classic pool hall, complete with intricate details and colorful graphics. Little is documented about the machine's broader commercial reception, but its ball-to-ball carry-over mechanism makes it an interesting piece of EM engineering history for enthusiasts who appreciate the era's contributions to the game.