The Champ

The Champ, created by designer Harry Mabs with artwork by Roy Parker for D. Gottlieb & Company in August 1940, is an early and influential single-player electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine notable for being flipperless, predating the 1947 invention of the flipper.

The Champ's gameplay features a distinctive mechanic: a knob on the front of the game lets the player select, on the backglass, the number of the winning round, earning the indicated "skill points." This scoring twist proved popular enough with operators and distributors that the game was reissued the following year as The New Champ, suggesting the skill-points feature was actively used for payoffs at locations.

The Champ's boxing theme was a departure from more common carnival-inspired pinball games of the era. Its art and design reflect the period's aesthetic, and Harry Mabs would go on to become one of Gottlieb's most prolific EM-era designers, though the full extent of his later contributions is beyond what can be confirmed here.