Cabaret

Cabaret, designed by Steve Kordek and manufactured by Williams Electronics in December 1968, is a four-player electro-mechanical game with a lively nightlife theme of dancing, music, and singing. With a confirmed production run of 3,852 units, it was a solid seller for Williams in the late EM era.

The game holds a genuine place in Williams history: it was the company's first machine to feature a round up-post between the flippers. Williams did not originate the device - Rally's 1967 'Play boy' had it first, and Chicago Coin was building games with the feature by April 1968 - but Williams patented its own vertically adjustable version, and the manufacturer's flyer put heavy emphasis on the up-post as a selling point. Curiously, of two known promotional photos, one shows the up-post and one does not, and surviving sample games exist without it.

On the playfield, Cabaret offers two flippers, five pop bumpers, two slingshots, and a kick-out hole, with a Score Selector Disc in the upper left that changes scoring values across the entire playfield - a clever wrinkle that keeps players adjusting their strategy. The bonus is tracked by an extra score reel in the backbox rather than playfield inserts, and scoring tops out at 9,999 points per player, accompanied by the classic EM soundtrack of two bells and a knocker.