Collector Value Est.

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Not yet community-rated

Notable Features

Flippers (4), Slingshots (4), Hanging targets (8), Stop magnets (2), Rollover buttons (2), Spinning post (1). Player presses button on lockdown bar to cause the center ball shooter, which does not oscillate, to propel the ball into play from the outhole up through the flipper gap. When either the sun target or moon target is hit, a magnet under the playfield freezes the ball in front of the hit target until bonus points are counted down. Maximum displayed point score is 99,990 points per player. Sound: 1 bell, knocker On the backglass, the astrologers have "cufflinks" monogrammed with "N.C." and "S.K.", a probable reference to Norm Clark and Steve Kordek. Cufflinks with identical initials are also found on the backglass of Williams' 1966 '8 Ball'.

Historical Notes

'Planets' had been considered by some as a version of Williams' 1971 'Zodiac' made specifically for Italy. However, Federico Croci, a collector in Italy, reports that he has never seen a 'Planets' game there. He has browsed all of the issues of the two operators-only coin-op magazines of the time, and found no mention of either game. The flyer appears to be an altered 'Zodiac' flyer, still showing a replay window and USA coinage. The full backglass image shown here and credited to Duncan Brown is the glass from designer Steve Kordek's office and has no replay window. An actual-size playfield drawing from the manufacturer has surfaced for 'Zodiac' and a portion of it has been scanned for this listing. It shows that 'Planets' was intended for New York distribution. Planets appears to be Zodiac machines that have had their replay units disabled and the backglass changed out at the factory. We note the Model Number is the same for both games. The production run quantity of 704 that Williams documents for Zodiac likely includes Planets. Two examples of 'Planets' are pictured here, each game inexplicably carrying two serial numbers. One game has two tags showing numbers 99486 and 99584. The other game has tags showing 99609 and its cabinet is stamped 99611. These serial numbers fit the range of numbers used in the 'Zodiac' production run. The pictures show certain factory modifications in order to convert the replay game 'Zodiac' into the add-a-ball game 'Planets'. One of the games has pop bumpers that were added after it left the factory and a second post was added to the center spinning disk. While this playfield is therefore not "factory original", we include it here because pictures of this game are hard to locate. We have seen games with 1 spinning post and games with 2 spinning posts. The Instruction Manual drawing indicates only 1 spinning post.

Where to Play It

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