21

The 1937 Gottlieb "21" pinball machine (manufactured April 1937) is an early electro-mechanical (EM) game from D. Gottlieb & Company. It is a one-player, flipperless, 5-ball machine, reflecting the design conventions of pinball before the flipper's invention in 1947.

Gameplay on "21" relied on skillful plunging and playfield layout rather than flipper control, with players managing five balls per game to build their score. As a pre-flipper EM machine, it represents an earlier stage in Gottlieb's long history of pinball production.

Little is documented about the specific design and artwork of this machine, which is common for games from this early era. Nonetheless, its status as an early Gottlieb EM machine makes it of interest to historians and collectors researching the pre-flipper period of pinball history.