Buck Rogers
About This Machine
Buck Rogers, produced by L & V Mambelli (trade name Mambelli) of Cesena, Italy, is a conversion kit built on the hardware of Gottlieb's 1975 electro-mechanical game 'Tiger.' Its backglass and playfield artwork were taken from Gottlieb's own 4-player solid-state 'Buck Rogers' (1980), with the backglass cut down to fit the smaller EM backbox. Despite its digital-style scoring display, the underlying game is genuinely electro-mechanical, not solid-state.
As a single-player conversion, it repurposes an existing EM cabinet with newer licensed artwork, a common practice among Italian pinball outfits looking to refresh older machines with popular themes. Specific gameplay details beyond the base 'Tiger' hardware are not documented.
Buck Rogers illustrates the resourceful, patchwork nature of the Italian conversion-kit market, blending a mid-1970s Gottlieb EM platform with visuals borrowed from a later licensed solid-state title, making it a curious hybrid for collectors of Italian pinball oddities.