Hot Line / Big Strike

A photographed electro-mechanical playfield in a gold-anodised cabinet, shot straight down with chrome side rails and worn, lightly scratched lacquer. The art is a strongly symmetrical geometric design in gold, red, blue, black and white: jagged lightning-bolt wedges in yellow, red and blue point inwards from both side rails, and the whole lower half is framed by a big black chevron. Dead centre is a large yellow square target bank containing nine round drop targets arranged as a five-pointed star with a pink and white bullseye in the middle. Above it, five round pop-bumper caps read 10 POINTS (four with red sunburst rings, one with a yellow ring, one white cap with blue starburst reading JIG). The word LINE is spelled out letter-by-letter in yellow hexagons on two rows, HOT above, with a red SPECIAL disc below. Two white instruction cards sit on the black lower apron, and a cursive Williams logo is printed between them.

Framed backglass with a cream art-deco zig-zag and triangle border in red, blue, yellow and green surrounding a large circular fishing scene. Top left carries a red script manufacturer name with a circular W emblem, and below it a huge red block-letter title BIG STRIKE in two stacked lines on a black stepped/foundation silhouette, outlined in white with black drop shadow. To the right a blue arc reads PLAY SKILL GAMES FOR FUN & RECREATION, with GAME OVER in pink below it. The centre circle shows turquoise sea: a grinning cartoon fisherman in a red-and-white striped cap and yellow shirt hauling a bent fishing rod from a yellow-and-orange cabin speedboat marked HOT LINE on the hull and BIG STRIKE on the stern. A small red dinghy with a second man sits upper left of the circle near a striped buoy. Above the boat a leaping marlin leaps right, a small flying fish flies left, and below right a spotted game fish leaps with a speech balloon reading YOU HAVE A HOT LINE!. A grey 4-window score panel shows 1 1 5 4, labelled PREVIOUS HI SCORE, with BR-BO-4 in yellow letters below. Coloured insert-lamp circles ring the lower arc. Bottom right a blonde mermaid with a red-bronze tail leans on a wooden piling; bottom left a pennant and fish emblem sits beside BALLS TO PLAY. Condition: minor scratches, edge wear and surface reflection.

Tall backglass framed by a dark blue-black wooden cabinet edge and a mirror-stripped inner border, with a blazing crimson sunburst of straight rays filling the whole background. Across the upper left, the two-line title HOT LINE in chunky cream-white block capitals with heavy black shadowing, laid over a broad red diagonal band. The centre is dominated by a huge round porthole-like medallion with a red rim dotted with small coloured circular insert lenses (red, amber, teal, yellow); inside it a grey-blue choppy sea holds a large yellow-gold four-funnel ocean liner listing steeply bow-up to the right, with a small orange-and-cream figure clinging to the bow rail and a white starburst glint on the hull. A blue-green marlin leaps head-first in the upper right, a tawny yellow lion crouches on a rock at lower right, and a pale grey shark swims in the lower left corner. A small mechanical score reel window sits centre-right, showing 0 6 2 3 on white reels in a grey housing. Below the glass a sliver of the playfield with an orange-tinted apron is visible.