1982 Williams VARKON pinball machine

Here's a rarity! A client of mine brought me this horribly-neglected Varkon that he found under a tarp in a barn. Not kidding. It's one of 90 that were produced by Williams in 1982 at the height of the video game era and the low of the pinball era. This was Williams' attempt to capitalize on the success of video games while still producing pinball machines. Considering how few were produced, I'm guessing it wasn't a successful attempt.
Anyway, this machine required all kinds of work. Every single board was a disaster and some parts were missing. I managed to get it all back together and working really well. And wouldn't you know it? It's a really fun game.
At the time that this video was shot, the #3 target light at the top of the frame wasn't working and one of the displays has a segment out. The marquee and bezel were also missing. But I wanted to get a decent video in spite of these things, so here we are.
The rules are fairly basic... hit the 1 through 5 targets to enable the lower playfield. Get it up the ramp to begin play on the lower playfield. Hit the lower targets over and over. Build multipliers by spelling VARKON, etc. The ramp shot is really difficult to hit directly. I found it was easier with a backhand from the left.
Varkon was designed by Tony Kraemer with art by Seamus McLaughlin and sound/software by Bill Pfutzenreuter.
More information about this game can be found here: ipdb.org/machin...