Atlas

Atlas, designed by Wayne Neyens with artwork by Roy Parker, was released by D. Gottlieb & Company in May 1959. A two-player electro-mechanical game with a production run of 950 units, it takes its mythology theme from the Titan who held up the heavens, and its artwork also nods to the famous bodybuilder Charles Atlas, who took his professional name from the same figure.

The playfield offers four flippers, two pop bumpers, two slingshots, two gobble holes, two rollunders, two standup targets, and a Roto-target. A thoughtful design touch: playfield inserts near the flippers lit up whenever high Roto-target values came around, so players watching the lower playfield would know when the big shots were available. If both players matched the lit number at the end of the game, the machine awarded 2 or 10 replays (operator adjustable). A similar layout appears on Gottlieb's one-player Rocket Ship (1958) and four-player Contest (1958).

The backglass carries Gottlieb's famous slogan of the era: 'Amusement Pinballs, as American as Baseball and Hot Dogs!' Between Parker's characterful artwork and Neyens' player-friendly layout, Atlas is a solid representative of Gottlieb's celebrated late-1950s wedgehead output.