Blast Off

Blast Off, designed by Norm Clark with artwork by Art Stenholm, was released by Williams in May 1967. This single-player electro-mechanical game is an add-a-ball machine - the replay version of the same design was sold as Williams' 1967 'Apollo' - and it carries a crowd-pleasing extra: mechanical backbox animation in the form of a bagatelle game built into the backglass.

The gameplay features two flippers, four pop bumpers, a passive bumper, and two slingshots that keep the ball lively. Eleven rollover buttons and seven standup targets require players to develop strategy and precision to maximize their scores, up to the maximum displayed score of 9,999 points. The sound is pure 1960s Williams: a single bell, a wooden chime box, and a knocker.

Blast Off's outer space theme reflects the space-race fascination of the late 1960s, rendered in Art Stenholm's period artwork. With a confirmed production run of 4,635 units (a figure that includes 'Lunar Shot', the version made for Italy), Blast Off is an appealing collectible for fans of 1960s electro-mechanical pinball and its era of mechanical showmanship.