Spot-A-Card

Spot-A-Card, designed by Harry Mabs with art by Roy Parker, is a flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in November 1941, just before the United States' entry into World War II reshaped the coin-op industry. As a pre-flipper, single-player title, it relies on skillful plunging rather than flipper control to route the ball.

Key gameplay features on this machine include its 14 passive bumpers, a hallmark of pre-flipper pinball design, along with an unusual detail: the bumpers are shaped like flippers, an eye-catching stylistic choice years before actual flippers arrived on pinball playfields. The backglass measures 22 by 20 inches and would have featured artwork typical of Gottlieb's early-1940s output.

Little further detail is documented about Spot-A-Card beyond its specifications, making it an intriguing subject for pinball historians. As a flipperless, pre-war Gottlieb machine, it offers a snapshot of the design conventions that were about to be transformed by the introduction of flippers just a few years later.