Basketball

Basketball, manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in October 1949, is a single-player electro-mechanical (EM) game from the early flipper era. Designed by Wayne Neyens with artwork by Roy Parker - two of the most celebrated names in Gottlieb's history - it carried model number 27 and saw a confirmed production run of 1,200 units.

The playfield offers two flippers, two pop bumpers, and two kick-out holes that capture the ball and eject it back into play. The machine's most charming feature lives in the backglass: a light animation shows a cheerleader performing an aerial somersault as points are scored, a delightful example of the animated backglasses that distinguished games of this period. A quirky factory detail is also worth noting: Gottlieb installed white flipper-shaped stationary bumpers on the outside ends of rebounds #9 and #10, which on many surviving examples have been replaced with round posts or relocated.

With its sports theme and Roy Parker artwork, Basketball reflects the look and feel of late-1940s Gottlieb production, when the newly invented flipper was transforming pinball from a game of chance into a game of skill.