Williams Slot Machines with Reels (Dotmation, etc.)
1995-2001 (pre-TITO)

One of the first slot machines produced by WMS, Top Gun is a game that is still worth playing today. With 243 payout lines, it offers a very high winning chance. Moreover, the betting limits are extremely low and range from 0.01 to 10.00 coins. There are 3 different bonus rounds and a.
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They began storming the slot industry by combining slots machines with their pinball “dot mation” display. They were also some of the first to use bonus features and the rest is history. WMS are user friendly for the technicians and player favorites for their great game themes.

Introduction.
First I would like to state that in regards to 1990s Williams slot machines, no one seems to be archiving any informationon these (Williams is not doing this for example). Hence this web page. Even though most pinball people hate Williams slotmachines (because pinball financed slot machine development during the early 1990s,and Wms gaming eventually overtook and closed the pinball division in 1999),I find the Wms spinning reel dotmation slot machines to be the best of this era.(Note WMS Gaming became a publically traded company in 1998.)These are all pre-TITO machines (TITO is 'ticket in, ticket out'). Meaning they take quarters and paper money, and have a hopper to payout quarters. Most new slotsafter 2001 are TITO and don't handle money, only tickets. To me a TITO machinesis not a slot machine, it's a money sucking credit cardish eating device, and is nothing I would want in my home gameroom.

Brief History.
In early 1995 Williams introduced their first spinning reel slot machine of the 1990swith 'Reel Em In' (aka Fishtales slot). This was a very successful game,using great sound and programming to cast (re-spin) the reels with fishingreel sounds for bonus effects. (If a lure symbol lands on the pay line,the reel studders and 'casts' the lure out, hitting the water with soundeffects. Then the reel spins backwards slowly like someone is reeling the lure back.Usually a 'fish' grabs the lure, and the reel shakes and spins like theplayer has caught a big fighting fish).Reel Em In was extremely successful for a first effort, and was well receivedat trade shows and casinos.This was followed up by some other great spinning reel slots like High Speed (themedafter the Williams pinball game, complete with the reels re-spinning like tires burning rubber,and cop chasing sirens), and Top Cat, amoung others.

Towards the end of 1995, Al Thomas of Williams came up with the idea ofadding a 192x64 dot matrix displayto their spinning reel slot machines. These Wms model 40x slot machinesare known as 'dotmation' slots because of the dot matrix display.Though I'm not exactly sure which was the first dotmation slot by Williams,it was probably X-factor or Piggy Banking.Note model 400 and model 401 and model 405 or 40s are Williams reel slots with or without Dotmation, model 250 are Williams sit-down reel slots, model 550are their video slot machines, model 360 are slant top sit-down video slot machinesversion of the 550, and Williams Bluebird is their newest Linix based video slot machine.

If you have a Williams slot machine (dotmation, reel only, or video slot) for sale pleaselet me know. Broken or working is fine (I can fix them). Please email me atcfh@provide.net

ROMs Needed.
Also if you have any ROMs or ROM files for the following Wms Dotmation games,I would really appreciate hearing from you: Batter Up dotmation,Monopoly Advance to Boardwalk dotmation, and Monopoly Roll and Win dotmation.

The elusive Williams Monopoly
Advance to Boardwalk
Dotmation slot machine.

What's the 'Best' Game?
I get asked a lot, 'I want a Williams slot machine, but which is the best onefor my home?' That's a hard question to answer, as it's like asking, 'which flavorof ice cream do you like the best?' But I will say this, I like the slots that havesome sort of interactive bonus round. All the Williams slot machines have bonusor dotmation animations that make them much nicer than a 'standard' spinning reel slot.(In my opinion, all other spinning reel slots like IGT are awful in comparison to Wms.) Justsome models get the player involved more than others.

For example, all these games have some sort ofplayer interactive bonus round: Jackpot Party (including Beach and Country), Perfect Match(very similar bonus round to JP Party), Stroke of Luck, Money to Burn, Jackpot Limbo,Mermaid's Gold, and Mermaids Treasure. I would consider all these games to be amoung 'the best'of the dotmation games as the bonus games are interactive (involving player sections and choices).

Next are the spinning reel slots that have non-interactive bonus rounds, hence 'sit and watch' entertainment (these too are incredibly popular and fun). This includesReel Em In, High Speed, Top Cat, Jackpot Stampede (those four are non-dotmation), Winning Streak, Piggy Bankin, Big Bang Piggy Bankin, Mega Multiplier, Palace of Riches, Riverbelle 21, Jackpot Stampede Deluxe, Safe Cracker, and Shopping Spree. And last there are those that don't have a bonus round, but just have lots (often hundreds) of cute dotmation animations that play between spins: Magic Lamp, Pharaoh's Fortune and X-Factor.Note *none* of these Williams spinning reel slots are 'bad'; they are all good. It's just what you like. And again *any* Williams dotmation is better than any IGT model from the 1990s.

Cabinet Styles.
The 400/401/405 upright models came in three cabinet formats: 9' top glass, 16' top glass, and 'round top'(just like IGT). All models were available with or without card-reader strips belowthe top glass (casinos use these to track players). The round top cabinets are considered the fanciest, but personallyI like the 16' square tops the best from a cosmetic point of view. Williams made thedotmation slot machines as late as 2001. (Late models were mostly made forthe Canadian market, as the Canadians put in big ordersfor Dotmation slots around 1999.) Williams also made sit-down versions called the 550 series.These are big things, and generally just too big for the home arcade. (But interestingly the Monopoly series only came in 550 sit-down format.)

Bonus Rounds.
On the dotmation slot machines, if the patron is a 'winner', most games go to a bonus mode whichplays on the dot matrix display (DMD). This was the first useof a bonus game in slot machines with a DMD, and its development is largely due to Williams' involvement in pinball. The creative talent of the pinball programmersand designers really shows through on these dotmation slot machines.Unlike 'regular' slot machines that just have three spinning reels, the bonus games provide a chance to increase the payout, and made the games more interactive and fun. In addition to giving players the chance to win more, these games are more engaging than traditional slot machines, incorporating funny audio and video features on the dot matrix display.

Games that don't have a bonus round instead have random award multiplier (2x to 15x), againincorporated through the DMD. Lots of great animations on the display keeps theplayers more engaged and dropping more quarters to see, 'what it will do next.'The earlier dotmation games generally don't have bonus games. The first dotmations, based on the Williams-assigned game number, are Piggy Bankin, X-Factor, Magic Lamp, Phoroahs Fortune, and have limited bonus features. Later gameslike Winning Streak, Big Bang Piggy Bankin, Jackpot Party, Jackpot Stampede Dlx, Jackpot Limbo, Mermaid's Gold, Shopping Spree, Perfect Match, Money to Burn, Stroke of Luck,Monopoly, etc, have some sort of interesting bonus game.

Even many of the non-dotmation mechanical reels have bonus rounds. For example Jackpot Stampede,High Speed and Short Circuit do 're-spins' when the bonus round is hit. These are incorporatedint

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