Alpine Club

The add-a-ball version is Williams' 1965 'Ski Club'. The reverse side of the backglass shows the mountain climber is silkscreened fourteen times. However, the backbox insert shows only ten lamps were provisioned in the stepping mechanism to light the climber. This shows a decision was made by Williams to eliminate four steps in this carry-over feature. While this decision likely was made before production began, if anyone has a Sample or Early Production game, please let us know, so we can see whether it has ten or fourteen steps of animation. Near each upper flipper is a playfield hole where a lamp should be. There are no lamp sockets wired to these holes. Under the playfield, the end-of-stroke switch for each flipper required the space where the light socket would be. 'Alpine Club' was the first Williams game to have these features: � a hinged door on the front of the backbox for easy access to the backglass or to change bulbs. � a backglass marquee for advertising. � an automatic ball lift. � a one-piece lockdown bar. � the now-familiar plastic rectangular ball shooter escutcheon. � a coin return flap. � a new coin door designed to accommodate nickels, dimes, and quarters in a single slot. Prior to this, each denomination required it's own coin slot. This new design required a larger coin acceptor and a larger coin door than before. To accommodate the larger door, the front of the wood cabinet was extended downward. This drop-down cabinet style was used on subsequent games through mid-1966 when its use ended during the production run of Williams' 1966 'A-Go-Go'. Manufacturer data for Alpine Club: Quantity produced for USA/Canada: 873* Quantity produced for export: 327* Total quantity produced: 1200* Price to Distributor: $360.00 *These quantities may be sales estimates.