Lawman

Lawman, designed by Ed Krynski with artwork by Gordon Morison, was manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in October 1971. A two-player electro-mechanical game with a confirmed production run of 1,750 units, it comes from the twilight years of the EM era, when Gottlieb's Krynski/Morison team was producing games at a remarkable pace.

Lawman's key gameplay features include two flippers, two pop bumpers, two slingshots, ten drop targets, three standup targets, and a return ball gate. The right side of the playfield boasts parallel lanes of serial rollovers, adding an extra layer of challenge to players' attempts at scoring high, and an end-of-ball bonus awaits those who can successfully navigate the game's obstacles.

The American West law-enforcement theme runs through Morison's artwork, and the design proved versatile enough to be sold under several names: Gottlieb released a four-player version as 'Sheriff' (1971) and a single-player Italian export as 'Texas Ranger' (1972), while the Spanish firm Maresa produced a single-player version called 'Dakota' (1972). For collectors, Lawman is a solid representative of Gottlieb's drop-target-heavy designs of the early 1970s.