Happy Days

Happy Days, manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in July 1952, is an electro-mechanical pinball machine that offers a glimpse into pinball's golden postwar era. Designed by Wayne Neyens with artwork by Roy Parker, this single-player game (Gottlieb model 67) carries a schoolhouse tic-tac-toe theme, with a confirmed production run of 1,150 units. Gottlieb evidently sold every one of them: a half-page ad in The Billboard from August 30, 1952 announced the company was "completely sold out" of the game.

The machine's features include two flippers, two pop bumpers, ten passive bumpers, two slingshots, and nine trap holes. The standout attraction is the backglass light animation depicting a tic-tac-toe board, tying the scoring on the playfield to the classic pencil-and-paper game. Unusually, the layout has no flipper gap and no outlanes, giving the game a distinctive feel compared to its contemporaries.

As a sold-out release from Gottlieb's early-1950s heyday and a product of the celebrated Neyens/Parker team, Happy Days is an appealing piece for collectors and historians interested in the wood-rail era of pinball.