The Willis Q*bert replacement control panel overlay has a unique offset design that we don’t see often with Willis overlays. Most of the Willis overlays tend to be very symmetric. The artist for this overlay changed things up a bit with the offset design, throwning the player one and two buttons outside the graphic. The biggest clue that this is for Q*bert would be the diagonal indicators for the joystick, that and the bright yellow color to match the cabinet. I guess the falling sphere’s represent the various creatures that bounce around in the game? Not sure. There is an appearance by the Willis men at P1 and P2, always a treat. Speaks to the repetitive use of some design elements, the other being the cratered moon, which thankfully doesn’t make an appearance here. The text logo © 1983 by WILLIS ™ is positioned in the artwork on the right, with “PART NO. 2011” in the lower right. Not sure if this is a streamlined version of the part numbers used for Wico, or if the Wico partnership ended and Willis just kept using part numbers for inventory control. The overlay is well made, with 5 color screen printing, die-cut contol locations and 3M materials. What I’ve come to expect from the Willis replacement overlays. This particular overlay is not very common, as I’ve only seen a few in my decades of collecting. So if you’re collecting Willis art its worth grabbing the next one you see! If you happen to have this installed on your Q*bert cabinet please share some images as I am curious to see how it looks.
From the original Tokens Only post dated 07-07-2012
Willis QBert cpo
The Willis replacement control panel overlay for Gottlieb’s Q*bert is an odd one. When I first saw the overlay I thought cool, Marble Madness! Then I found out it’s actually for Q*bert, hmm. I’m not sure what the dropping balls have to do with Q*bert other than the vague relationship to a hopping Q*bert character, but at least it has yellow. A very simple design that really wouldn’t make me think of anything in particular if it was installed on my Q*bert. The little Willis men make an appearance on the player one and player two spot. It’s a Willis piece and part of history, so into the vault it goes!
If you have any information about Willis Industries or would just like to comment about the artwork they produced, drop me a line I’d love to talk Willis!
Not much has changed since I first posted about the Willis Q*bert replacement overlay over ten years ago. I did have a chance to interview David Willis and gain some insight into the manufacturing process at Willis, watch for that to post soon!
