Widebody

Machines built in a cabinet roughly four inches wider than the standard body, giving designers a larger playfield to work with. The widebody format appeared intermittently from the late 1970s onward, used when a game’s design demanded more room than the standard 20.25-inch playfield width could provide. Widebody machines are heavier, harder to move, and require more Floor space on location — trade-offs that limited their adoption but gave designers like Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawlor the canvas they needed for ambitious layouts. The format never displaced the standard body as the industry default, but it produced some of the most celebrated playfield designs in the medium’s history.