Barracora

Roger Sharpe tells us that he and Steve Epstein designed this game and Barry Oursler built up the whitewood based on Roger's mylar layout. Pictured in this listing is a red cabinet version stamped with serial number 516389 on its backbox and lower cabinet. Inside the backbox, a paper tag is ink-stamped for a preceding game, Williams' 1981 'Pharaoh', and labeled with serial number 506267 which falls near the end of Pharoah's production run. The manufacturer's flyer for Barracora does not show the cabinet art but the serial number 516389 precedes all other known games in the production run such that we label this red cabinet game as Early Production. We have heard more than one story about the renaming of this game, causing the atypical placement of two alphabet letters on a single playfield insert. Pinball designer/programmer Larry Demar stated in an interview that the original name of the game was 'Las Vegas', eventually becoming 'Jet Orbit'. Artist Doug Watson told us that the name changed again when he created the art. Inspired by Swiss artist H.R. Giger, Doug drew a predatory fish morphing into a model's head "against a landcape of teeth", and he named her 'Barracuda'. He presented his drawing to Mike Stroll, President of Williams, who liked the art but felt the name 'Barracuda' had negative connotations. Mike and a few other people who were present were starting to think of an alternate name on the spot. Doug quickly suggested 'Barracora' as the woman's name, and Mike loved it. Doug proceeded to discreetly make naked 'Barracoras' on the playfield. Compare the backglass art to H.R. Giger's painting, "Li I". Information about the artwork can be found here.