Black Knight (Williams 1980)

Black Knight / IPD No. 310 / November, 1980 / 4 Players

Manufacturer: Williams Electronics, Incorporated (1967-1985) [Trade Name: Williams]

Model Number: 500

Common Abbreviations: BK

MPU: Williams System 7

Type: Solid State Electronic (SS)

Production: 13,075 units (confirmed)

Theme: Historical - Knights

Notable Features:

Flippers (4), Pop bumper (1), 3-bank drop targets (4), Kick-out holes (2), Rollunder spinner (1). Magna-Save on both inlanes. Split-Level Playfield with 3 ramps. Left horseshoe lane. Bonus Ball, 2- or 3-ball Multiball.

Design by: Steve Ritchie

Art by: Tony Ramunni

Software by: Larry DeMar

Notes:

Black Knight' introduced 'Magna-Save' and the Bonus Ball concept where the player with the highest score won additional seconds of free play. Magna-Save was a feature where a user could press a button on either side and magnets would prevent the ball from draining via that outlane. It would stop and hold the ball and drop it into the inlane. The user had to perform some task to re-enable magnasave.

'Black Knight' was the first solid state game with a multi-level playfield. Examples of earlier games with multi-level playfields are Fisher & Coe Manufacturing Company's 1933 'Grand Central' and Chicago Vending Company's 1934 'Three Point'.