Fun-Fest

The Fun-Fest, designed by Norm Clark with artwork by Christian Marche, was manufactured by Williams Electronics in 1972, entering production that November. A four-player electro-mechanical game with a music, dancing, and singing theme, it is the 4-player companion to Williams' 1971 two-player 'Swinger', and its lively Marche artwork gives the game a suitably festive personality.

The playfield offers an engaging combination of features: two flippers, five pop bumpers, two passive bumpers, two slingshots, six standup targets, a kick-out hole, and a distinctive swinging target that adds a moving element to aim for. Ball-saving hardware is generous for the era, with a left outlane kickback, a right outlane ball return gate, and an up-post between the flippers. The game also carries an end-of-ball bonus and can be set for 3- or 5-ball play. A clever backglass feature - an extra score reel advanced each time the ball lands in the kick-out hole - awards the player an extra ball and a replay, with the award adjustable by the operator. The game itself was convertible between replay and extra-ball operation.

Williams' records for Fun-Fest are unusually complete: 6,025 units were produced across a sample run and two production runs between November 1972 and May 1973, with roughly 1,900 machines for the USA and Canada and over 4,100 for export. Those numbers make Fun-Fest a solid seller for its day and a well-documented example of Williams' early-1970s electro-mechanical output.