Boston

The Boston pinball machine, designed by Harry Williams with art by George Molentin and manufactured by Williams Manufacturing Company in May 1949, is a handsome artifact from the early flipper era of electro-mechanical (EM) pinball. Its American history theme centers on colonial Boston: the backglass shows a man on horseback on a moonlit night, evoking the famous midnight ride of April 18, 1775 to warn that British troops were on the march, with a light shining from the bell tower of Boston's Christ Church in the background. Pinball trivia buffs note that since Paul Revere left Boston by rowboat before mounting his horse, the rider actually depicted leaving Boston on horseback would historically have been fellow patriot William Dawes.

Notable features include two flippers - still a relatively new innovation at the time - along with two pop bumpers, two passive bumpers, and three kick-out holes, each adding an element of surprise and unpredictability to gameplay. The scoring rules offer real depth: the two diagonal channels light for Special on the first ball only, and making numbers 1 through 6 lights the lower kick-out hole for a Super Special awarding five replays, but only if no replay had already been earned during play. A clever 'Handicap Equalizer' lights other playfield Specials on successive games played without winning a replay.

With its two-bell sound package and Molentin's colorful artwork, Boston is a fine example of Williams' late-1940s output, and its historical backglass subject makes it an attractive find for collectors and historians of electro-mechanical pinball.