The cpo is screen printed with nice die cuts, but on plain white backing. The color scheme is appealing to me, but the mountain range has been done a million times, boring. Overall it is a simple, clean overlay. Not much excitement, but I guess its better than an old worn out original. Not really, but I’ll archive it anyway.

The artwork and color scheme on that game exude 70′s funk and I love it. The cp artwork was originally screened right onto the metal panels, just like on Asteroids and Missile Command. Unfortunately that means when it wears off, its gone forever. So besides being a replacement overlay and not a metal panel, the Willis piece just doesn’t fit well with the Atari cabinet artwork. Sure, the big “football” and a bunch of football players make it obvious what game its for, but so boring. Still has all the earmarks of a quality Willis piece and makes a nice addition.

Besides lacking all of the usual clues that identify a Willis overlay (can you name them all yet?), it is one flimsy piece of art. Cheaply made and probably one of the thinnest overlays I have in the archive. It is really just a stiff piece of paper with adhesive on the back. This overlay is also excessively large and while I’m OK with the simple geometric pattern, something more creative than a mirror image could have been done. Doing a quick test fit on the control panel of a similar Atari cabinet reveals that much of the artwork would be lost under the bottom of the panel, or trimmed away for proper fit. Perhaps it was made this large to accommodate a variety of cabinets. Regardless, it’s a bootleg whose origins will probably never be known. If you have any pictures of this installed on a cabinet or if you know any additional history, drop me a line!

Now I’m not saying that it’s super fantastic or anything, it just works well and looks better than the original in this case. Quality materials, die-cut button holes, part numbers and copyright info all in place. Another piece for the archive.

The original control panel overlay was reverse printed on a thick piece of plexi which made it quite durable but prone to scratching or graffiti. The reproduction was made in the same way Willis made all their products, reverse printed on lexan material with 3M adhesive. Quality production, with part number and copyright info, but too far removed from the feel of the original cpo. Another problem is the nose picking girl. I can’t imagine that when this piece of artwork was reviewed before production, no one caught that slight little problem? I mean it looks like she’s about to dig for gold. Add the hokey overall appearance of all the artwork combined and you get one dog of an overlay. Unfortunately this was a popular game and the reproduction overlay was likely made in mass quantity, spreading the horror over the greater collecting community. It will be added to the artwork archive, preserving the history one piece at a time.

I’m not sure why so much effort was put into this bootleg, perhaps it was for one of the foreign made knock-off pcb kits that were so popular with some operators. Maybe it was just for a local group of operators that had a half dozen or more Williams Moon Patrols needing fresh overlays. Whatever the reason, it is no excuse for such shoddy art work. Lots of color is nice and the font is pretty good, but that’s about it. I would like to see a picture of this overlay on a cab in your collection or in the wild. Drop me a line if you have any pictures or more information about this particular overlay.

The control panel overlay is for Champion Boxing by Video Ware, Inc., licensed by Sega. This game was released in 1983 by Sega, likely in kit form only for conversions. I don’t recall seeing the game on location and considering that Nintendo’s Punch Out was released less than a year later, I imagine Champion Boxing did poorly.

The artwork and color scheme leave a lot to be desired on this piece, but at least it was made with reverse screening on Lexan and backed with 3M adhesive. No die cuts on the overlay which strengthens the “kit only” idea. Let the operator convert some poorly earning game into Champion Boxing. The artwork was pulled right from the flyer but unfortunately they didn’t keep all the color which might have helped. Another piece for the archive.

If you’ve seen this game or have any more information, leave a comment please. Special thanks to arcadeflyers.com for the flyer image.

How do I know? There are lots of reasons, the first one is that Willis never copied existing work. I can only assume that because of licensing agreements they were forced to create new art for each piece they reproduced. Take a look at my artwork page if you want more proof. Similarities exist in some cases, but not direct copies. Another reason is the quality. This cpo is printed on some cheaply backed material, not the industry standard 3M stuff. It is also missing the manufacturers text, copyright info and die cuts which were standard on Willis reproductions.

While I was disappointed that this wasn’t a Willis overlay, it is still a unique piece. The one thing that struck me in particular are the odd, ragged black borders. Now the original Elevator Action cpo had rough borders, as you can see in the last image, however they weren’t as bad as this. It almost looks as if an original cpo was pulled from a control panel, ripping it on the edges. Then a photo was taken with one of those giant bellow cameras. Cutting edge back in the 80′s, this piece of equipment would allow a silk screen company to make screens directly from a giant photograph. A little touch up and removal of the Taito logo and bingo, you’ve got an unauthorized copy! Seems like a lot of work just to make an overlay. This one gets added to the archive. (Taito control panel image courtesy of KLOV)

This one is a standard space theme overlay, meant to be used with any number of space conversion kits or simply as a cheaper alternative to the pricey OEM* replacement parts. Operators were always looking for ways to save money and cheap, generic overlays were just one of those ways. Why spend $60 plus on a new overlay when you could by something generic for half the price. Even with declining profits, the games still required maintenance and cheap was the way to go.

Luckily this overlay was not used to convert a classic into some jamma abomination or other un-classic concoction. It has been made with quality materials, but with just two colors and no die cuts. Button hole locations would have been cut after application. I’ll archive this one before it tries to attach itself to some classic cp. Happy gaming.

*original equipment manufacturer

However, the original was reversed screened on lexan and the artwork was a little more refined than the Willis attempt. I keep thinking about prismacolor markers when I look at the details. The spinach can highlights and reflective surfaces look like something a student might do in an industrial design class. While this is not one of my favorite Willis pieces, at least the spinach can makes it pretty obvious what game the cpo is for. I’ll add this to the archive.