Yanks

Yanks, released by Williams Manufacturing Company on April 24, 1948, is a notable single-player EM pinball machine designed by company founder Harry Williams with art by George Molentin. Its baseball theme, model number 18, was a common motif in the sports-pinball genre of the era, and the machine cost 5 cents per play.

The game's key features include four flippers, ten passive bumpers, and two kick-out holes, along with a distinctive mechanical backbox animation depicting men running the bases — a feature IPDB notes is similar to the animation used in Williams' 1949 game "Star Series." A replay wheel allows for a maximum of 25 replays. With 4,000 confirmed units produced, Yanks was a commercially significant release for Williams.

The design and art of Yanks are characteristic of late-1940s pinball, and its mechanical backbox animation remains one of its most distinctive features among machines of its period. Its preservation offers a useful window into Williams' output in the years just after the introduction of the flipper.