Pinball FX – Williams™ Pinball Volume 9 | Xbox Review

March 26, 2026 Scott Clark

Pinball FX‘s 9th collection of Williams pinball tables released last fall. As per usual, these are recreations of tables that exist in physical format and are from years past. Not that I’ve ever played a bad table from Zen Studios, but these are a fine addition to my collection. One in particular is a personal favorite of yours truly, and I was genuinely giddy with excitement when I saw it was coming to my favorite platform. No longer do I have to fly to another state to play these tables, nor do I have to keep dropping quarters into them.

“Pin-Bot” & “Taxi”

“Pin-Bot” is a 1986 table designed by Python Anghelo, and it is very popular amongst classic pinball enthusiasts. Towards the back of the glass is a 5×5 grid of colored lights. These can be illuminated by hitting the light above and to the right of it. Once all twenty-five lights are lit, a panel behind it rises, allowing you to shoot the silver ball into it twice for a multiball. Afterwards, a third shot can award players with a Jackpot.

The look of this table is very appealing and probably attracted a lot of attention in the 80s. I have very little nostalgia for this one, and I found it a tad frustrating to learn, but it’s far from a low-quality table. I think more experience with it as a kid might have made me enjoy this one more.

“Taxi,” designed by Mark Ritchie in 1988, has a slightly more interesting premise. As expected, you are to pick up fares and take them to their destinations by making the required shots and ramps. What makes this one stand out is who you pick up: Mikhail Gorbachev, Dracula, Marilyn Monroe, Santa Claus, and the above-mentioned Pin-Bot. This makes for some entertaining dialogue. This is a pretty tough table as well, but it’s slightly more accessible than “Pin-Bot”.

“WHO dunnit”

In my opinion, this is the reason to buy Volume 9. “WHO dunnit” is from 1995, but it’s stylized after a 1940s noir detective story. Your goal is to uncover the murderer by interrogating suspects and accusing the guilty. There’s a really clever usage of the LCD screen here, as you can literally read facial cues from the people you interrogate. You can tell which suspects are lying and which are telling the truth based on their animations. This reminded me a lot of L.A. Noire, which I played back on my Xbox 360.

Once you discover the murderer with a correct choice, you then have to chase the guilty party to the roof of a building and take them down. Obviously, the more successful you are in your accusations, the more chances you have to rack up high scores.

I didn’t discover this table until more recently when I played it in Portland, Oregon, but I fell in love with its design immediately. It’s very accessible and impossible to put down when you don’t best your previous score. Seriously, this table is that good and has become a favorite of mine.

Pinball FX – Williams™ Pinball Volume 9 Final Verdict

There you have it. You can’t go wrong with three quality tables for ten bucks, even if only one was super impactful for me personally. I’m sure others will appreciate “Pin-Bot” and “Taxi” more than I did. Regardless, this collection is a must-have for any Pinball FX aficionado, assuming the pricing structures have been corrected on the client.

To hear me talk more about Pinball FX – Williams™ Pinball Volume 9, be sure to listen to the August 25th, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 36:36 time stamp.

This review is based on an Xbox Series X copy of Pinball FX – Williams™ Pinball Volume 9 provided by Zen Studios for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Switch, and PC.