The machine
Junk Yard is a Williams pinball machine from December 1996: a swinging wrecking ball, a bulldog in a doghouse, a toilet that flushes the ball, and a story about building a flying jalopy out of junk. Only 3,013 were made.
History
Junk Yard began with Barry Oursler, a Williams designer since 1978 whose Gorgar was the first talking pinball and whose Space Shuttle is credited with helping to save the business in the mid-80s.5 His first idea was a game that "recycled" ramps and toys from old classics. Then the wrecking ball came along, and a crane took over the middle of the playfield. The recycling idea survived in the Time Machine, which replays modes from earlier Williams games.4
Oursler co-designed it with programmer Dwight Sullivan, who had just led WHO dunnit with him; Sullivan became the project lead, shaped the concept and rules, and wrote the software with Graham West. The theme was only "collect junk in a junkyard" until dot-matrix artist Adam Rhine, looking at Pat McMahon's sketches of junkyard dogs, asked what you could build with the junk. A bath tub and a fan could make a vehicle, and a whole story followed.4
1996 was a hard year for pinball. Williams cut its release rate roughly in half and laid people off, and Oursler came back from a summer vacation to find he was one of them. The first prototypes were built in August without him, and they came in $50 over budget. Something had to go: a pop bumper and kicker under the Magic Bus, and a ball lock inside the bus, were removed. The holes are still in the prototype playfields.4
The first wrecking balls hung on a steel cable, with a magnet under the playfield to stop the swing. The cable frayed and broke on sample machines, so production switched to a chain, and the magnet was dropped.1,9 The wrecking-ball feature was patented by Oursler and Sullivan.6
The sound is by Kurt Goebel, his only pinball game. The main theme, an instrumental "Money (That's What I Want)", was Sullivan's idea, and the voices include Tim Kitzrow, the voice of NBA Jam.4,1,14 The art is by Pat McMahon, Paul Barker and Linda Deal.1
Williams left pinball in 1999. Barry Oursler died in February 2022, days after the story of his last game was finally told.4,5 The game lives on in Zen Studios' licensed digital version, in the machines fans keep running, and, we hope, a little bit here.
First playfield drawing: a three-hole skill shot and drop targets behind the crane.4
First project plan.4
Layoffs at Williams; Barry Oursler leaves before production.4
First prototypes, $50 over budget: the bus lock and a bumper are cut.4
Service Bulletin 92: the wrecking ball's cable becomes a chain.9
Release. 3,013 machines are built.1
Game software 1.2, the final version.12
US patent 5,833,236, "Wrecking ball play feature", is granted.6
Digital versions: The Pinball Arcade (2014), then Zen Studios' Pinball FX3 (2018) and Pinball FX (2022).8
That's what the 1997 Williams website called the team.3
| Concept | Barry Oursler, Dwight Sullivan, Adam Rhine |
|---|---|
| Design | Barry Oursler, Dwight Sullivan (project lead); Pete Piotrowski |
| Software | Dwight Sullivan, Graham West |
| Art | Pat McMahon, Paul Barker, Linda Deal |
| Dots | Adam Rhine, Brian Morris |
| Mechanics | Zofia Bil, Brad Cornell |
| Music & sound | Kurt Goebel |
| Voices | Tim Kitzrow and Williams staff |
The story
You are J. W. O'Mally, a young inventor who wandered into the wrong junkyard after closing time.
Spike, a bulldog with "a mouth full of ivory spikes", chases you through the gate, and a laugh echoes from the stacks of junk: "You're trapped in my junkyard. HA HA HA HA HA!" It's Crazy Bob. The only way out is to build something that flies.3
So you scavenge. A toaster and a hair dryer make a toaster gun that fires hot toast. A TV and a weather vane make a radar that finds fireworks. A bath tub, a fan and some bicycle wheels make a jalopy, which learns to swim and then to fly. You gather fireworks, save a girl from Spike on the way, and finally face Crazy Bob in outer space.2,3
An angel and a devil flank the display and argue about what you should collect next. The apron card puts the whole plot in one line: "Defeat Crazy Bob in Outer Space."2
The story was written by Dwight Sullivan and published in the manual and on the 1997 Williams website.
The toys
Junk Yard is a toy box, and each toy does something. Each photo of a real machine is paired with the same toy in our recreation.
A steel ball hangs on a chain from a yellow crane in the middle of the table. Hit it and it swings back into five toy cars on a raised base that the pinball can't reach: every car it smashes spots a letter of M-U-L-T-I-B-A-L-L. When the crane lifts, the ball rises out of the way and the centre lane opens.6,2
Getting the pinball past the hanging ball into that lane is called a sneak in, and it's worth three letters at once.
Spike sits in a stone doghouse at the top right, on a plunger that makes him lunge at you. Shots up Spike Alley spell D-O-G; with DOG lit, a fork under the alley drops the ball into the dog hole and a video mode starts on the display.2
His collar carries the initials of the Junk Champion, the last player to collect all ten pieces of junk.3
A light-blue VW bus parked at the end of the long bus ramp. Every trip up the ramp is a bus ride, and ride counts unlock awards. When Magic Bus is lit, a post holds the ball at the top while the display spins through random prizes, including the famous "All of the Above".3,7
The bus was meant to be a real ball lock. It was cut to save money, but a rectangular mark on the side of the toy shows where its door would have opened.4
The far-left ramp ends in a toilet bowl. The ball spirals round it before it's flushed, and every spin adds to the Toilet Jackpot.2
Photo: Allen Shope, via the Internet Pinball Database (IPDB #4014)
Almost every hole on the table leads here. The fridge holds up to three balls and pops them back to the left inlane: the signature flow of the game.2
Photo: Jean-Pierre Renault, via the Internet Pinball Database (IPDB #4014)
Spike's face is on the spinner in the shooter lane. Each turn moves the skill-shot highlight, so a soft plunge is a skill.7
Photo: Maximilian Wegner, via the Internet Pinball Database (IPDB #4014)How to play
Junk Yard's rules are a story you play in order: collect junk, build inventions, play adventures to earn fireworks, then use the fireworks to launch into Outer Space. Along the way the crane, Spike and the bus hand out multiballs, video modes and prizes.
This guide describes the 1996 machine's standard rules (software 1.2). Point values vary with operator settings; the ones here are the commonly reported defaults.7,10
The five major shots, left to right: the toilet ramp, the bus ramp, the crane (centre lane), Spike Alley, and the sewer. Most modes ask for these.2
Plunge and watch the display: every turn of the spinner moves the highlight down a column of five awards, and you get whichever is lit when the ball settles. The first skill shot of a game always offers Collect Junk, Super Skill Shot, Collect Junk, 2× Bonus, Collect Junk. Super Skill Shot lights the sewer for a few seconds: hit it for 250,000, and each hit in a row adds another 250,000.7,10
There are ten pieces of junk, and you start with the toaster. The flashing item on the blueprint is the next one you'll get: move it with the left flipper before you plunge. Junk comes from the skill shot, the bus ramp when Collect Junk is lit, the toilet ramp when Choose Junk is lit (pick any piece with the flippers), winning a Spike video mode, and the Magic Bus.2,7 Collect all ten to become Junk Champion.
Turns the dog video mode into Save the Girl, and lets the yellow target sell fireworks for toast.
Lights the Radar Adventure.
Lights the Great Jalopy Race.
Lights the Great Toilet Adventure.
Lights Air Tactical Combat.
Lights the Time Machine at the sewer.
Recipes from the 1997 operations manual.2
Smash the wrecking ball into the cars, complete a lower car bank, or sneak in, to spell M-U-L-T-I-B-A-L-L. The crane lifts and a siren sounds: shoot the centre for three-ball Multiball. With the crane up, the centre scores the Jackpot (from 1,000,000). Then the crane drops and the centre lights the Super Jackpot (3,000,000), which you have to sneak past the ball to collect.3,7
Complete both red car banks to light the inlanes for the Crane Hurry-Up: hit the wrecking ball into a car before the value runs out and a two-ball Crane Multiball starts, where every car pays the hurry-up value.3,7
Spell D-O-G at Spike Alley, then shoot the alley again. Before you own the toaster gun it's Run From Spike: hammer the flipper buttons to outrun him. After, it's Save the Girl: fire toast through the two openings in a wall and hit Spike three times before time runs out. Hitting the girl costs you. Win either for a piece of junk.3,7
Modes
Each invention lights an adventure; start it at the sewer. Every success earns fireworks, and five successes complete it.2,7
| Adventure | Needs | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Radar Adventure | Radar | Lit shots move around the table; chase them. |
| The Great Jalopy Race | Jalopy | All five major shots flash; hit each checkpoint once. |
| The Great Toilet Adventure | Submerger | All shots award the Toilet Jackpot, which keeps growing. |
| Air Tactical Combat | Flying machine | Hit the wrecking ball into the cars to shoot down enemies. |
Collect the cuckoo clock and shoot the sewer: the display shows a time-machine dashboard, the date spins, and you land in a mode from another Williams game.3
| Date | Mode | From |
|---|---|---|
| 12-14-92 | The Mamushka: every switch scores big | The Addams Family |
| 01-13-93 | Move Your Car: shoot the centre, again and again | Creature from the Black Lagoon |
| 10-31-95 | Saucer Attack: a video mode; START is a smart bomb | Attack from Mars |
| 02-14-99 | Knight Mission: a run of lit shots | "a future game" |
Dates from DeVincentis' rulesheet.7 Look out for the rare Cow Attack version of Saucer Attack.13
Wizard mode
Collect all the junk and play all four adventures, and the sewer lights Outer Space. You're paid 50,000 for every firework (and a 10,000,000 bonus if you have 20 or more), a rocket launches, and a four-ball multiball starts with the balls relaunching until your fireworks burn down.7,10
The five major shots are lit. Each goes out when you hit it, but Crazy Bob keeps lighting them again. Put out all five to defeat Crazy Bob. Afterwards the adventures and fireworks reset (your junk stays) and the whole thing starts over.7
Secrets
Play it yourself. Our game runs the machine's original 1996 program, so all of this works the way it did in the arcade.