Spanish Eyes

The add-a-ball version of this game is Williams' 1972 'Granada' but with a different playfield layout. This game can be configured for replay, add-a-ball, or novelty play. We previously showed Christian Marche as the artist for 'Spanish Eyes' but this game is not on a list of his games that he compiled in 1992. The actual artist is John Craig, who told us he was the sole artist for this game. He did the backglass and the playfield art and, although he does not believe he did the cabinet art, he said it looks to have been based on his designs. Craig shares with us his story of how he came to be involved with this game:I was walking up Broadway [in Chicago], near Sheridan, carrying a portfolio to teach for a semester at Mundeline College, and this guy with a thin moustache, leaning on a building having a smoke, says "Hey...you an artist? I wanna show you something." So we go in this big garage and I saw these guys silkscreening backglass and boards for pinball games. I tried not to look excited, but I was. He wanted to know if I would be interested and could do some art for a game called Spanish Eyes. I didn't like the theme, but I said I'd like to do it, hoping that it would lead to some more interesting subjects. This guy's name was Joe Mascheck and he was, I guess, their art director of sorts. I know I went out to the Williams factory for one of our meetings and I remember two things about that. One was this room, that once was like a lounge, but now was a lunch room, which once had a grand piano, but no one there could play, so it was a player piano. He talked about the days when there would be lots of women hanging around. Sounded like some private club. The other thing I remember was this little room with a row of 4 or 5 pinballs, which had no art on them, just the parts on plywood, and these guys who were paid to play them, looking for play appeal, and for bugs. According to my books, I was paid a little each time some of the art was done, from rough sketches in late June of 1971 through the final art in November 1971. I received $1000 for doing both the backglass and playfield. I was doing illustrations for Playboy [magazine] around this time too, and I remember doing a full page illustration for an article on pinball machines. The article to which Craig refers is "Great Moments in Pinball History" by Michael Laurence, appearing in Playboy, December 1972, pages 162-163. 'Spanish Eyes' and 'Granada' are the only pinball machines on which his artwork appears. Production Run Records for Spanish Eyes: 3905 total Sample run: 85 Production Start Date: Nov-22-1971 / Production End Date: Dec-22-1971 First ship date: Dec-1-1971 / Last ship date: Unknown, remaining 1 shipped out with production games. Production Run: 3820 Production Start Date: Mar-23-1972 / Production End Date: May-5-1972 First ship date: Mar-24-1972 / Last ship date: Mar-21-1973 Product History Record for Spanish Eyes: Quantity produced for USA/Canada: 2871* Quantity produced for export: 1034* Total quantity produced: 3905* BOM: $213.33 Price to Distributor: $460.00 *These quantities may be sales estimates.