Madison Square Gardens

Madison Square Gardens, manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company starting in June 1950 and designed by Harry Mabs with art by Roy Parker, is a boxing-themed electromechanical pinball machine, one of 900 units produced. Coming just a few years after flippers were introduced to pinball in 1947, it is among the earlier Gottlieb machines to include them.

The boxing theme is cleverly realized through gameplay: a 'boxing ring' is formed by four one-way gates, with the two pop bumpers representing the boxers, while a backglass light animation depicts the boxers fighting as the game progresses. Players use two flippers to keep the ball active and work toward scoring within this boxing-themed layout.

Madison Square Gardens also marks a transitional point in Gottlieb manufacturing: it was one of the last Gottlieb games to use a coin slide mechanism before the company switched to drop coin chutes, using the coin slide only once more afterward, on 1951's 'Glamor.' This combination of an inventive boxing theme and manufacturing history makes it a notable piece for collectors of early Gottlieb EM machines.