Defender

Defender, designed by Barry Oursler and Joe Kaminkow and released by Williams in December 1982, is a solid-state pinball machine built on the Williams System 7 platform. The game followed the earlier hit video game of the same name, bringing the outer-space fantasy theme to the pinball playfield. With only 369 units confirmed produced, it is one of the scarcer Williams titles of the early 1980s, and the production run notably used excess backboxes left over from Williams' 1981 'Hyperball'.

The playfield offers a demanding target-shooting layout: three flippers provide a high level of control, while five solitary drop targets and two 5-bank drop target banks reward precision and strategy. Two pop bumpers add rapid-fire scoring action to the mix. Sound and software were handled by Cary Kolker.

The machine's space-themed artwork was created by Constantino Mitchell and Jeanine Mitchell. Between its two-player format, its drop-target-heavy design, and its small confirmed production run, Defender is an interesting example of Williams' early-1980s output and a curiosity for collectors of video-game-adjacent pinball titles.