Harem Cat
About This Machine
The Harem Cat, produced by Universal Company, Ltd. of Oyama, Japan in December 1979, holds a unique place in pinball history: it was the first pinball game to use a video monitor for score display, a genuinely pioneering feature at a time when virtually all machines relied on mechanical reels or simple digital displays.
Beyond this landmark innovation, specific gameplay features and rules for the Harem Cat are not well documented. As a solid-state electronic six-player machine, it would have combined this early video-display technology with the microprocessor-driven scoring and control systems typical of the era.
The Harem Cat's artistic and thematic elements are largely undocumented beyond its name, but its historic video-monitor scoring display alone makes it a significant curiosity in the evolving story of pinball technology.