Hi-Dive

Hi-Dive, designed by Harry Mabs with artwork by Roy Parker, was manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in May 1941. This single-player electro-mechanical game comes from the flipperless era of pinball, when players relied on plunger skill and careful nudging rather than flipper control. Its playfield is populated with 14 scoring bumpers that build the player's tally as the ball works its way down the table.

The game's signature touch is its backglass light animation, which depicts a man performing a back-flip dive into the water, a lively match for its high-diving, swimming, and recreation theme. The machine measures 51 inches long, 40 inches high at the front, and 65 1/2 inches high at the back.

Little is documented about its production run or the circumstances of its creation, but as a pre-war Gottlieb game pairing designer Harry Mabs with artist Roy Parker, Hi-Dive remains an interesting piece for collectors and historians of early pinball.