Caveman

Caveman, designed by John Buras and manufactured by Gottlieb in September 1982, is a landmark solid-state electronic pinball machine that combines pinball with a built-in video game. As one of the first machines to integrate true video gameplay into pinball, Caveman blurred the lines between the two dominant arcade formats of its day. A video screen is mounted at the top center of the widebody playfield, and video game time is won while playing pinball, with the video portion controlled by a joystick mounted on the lockdown bar.

The hybrid design creates a distinctive loop: players earn video game time through pinball play, and the Extra Ball is earned via the video game itself. The video screen also displays instructions during Game Over mode. On the pinball side, the machine features four flippers, three pop bumpers, two 4-bank drop target banks, two vari-targets, and two kick-out holes. This blend of traditional pinball mechanics with digital innovation makes Caveman a fascinating specimen for enthusiasts, and 1,800 units were produced.

The machine's prehistoric theme is rendered in artwork by a team including Richard Tracy, David Moore, Terry Doerzaph, and Jeff Lee - Gottlieb's video game artist, for whom Caveman was his first project at the company. The video programming was largely the work of Joel Krieger, finished by Frank Starshak after Krieger left the company, while Buras programmed the pinball portion. As one of Gottlieb's most unusual titles of the early 1980s, Caveman is a must-experience game for anyone interested in pinball history and innovation.