Alive

Alive, manufactured by the Brunswick Manufacturing Company of Chicago in 1978, is a solid-state home pinball machine from the brief boom in non-commercial home models that accompanied the industry's transition to electronics. A four-player game with a music theme, it shows how solid-state technology, with electronic sound and digital score displays, was being packaged for the living room rather than the arcade.

Alive's playfield includes two flippers, one pop bumper, two slingshots, three standup targets, three spinning targets, an action ring, and a free ball return lane, all tracked on a 6-digit score display with electronic sound. Its most distinctive quirk lies at the bottom of the playfield: instead of the kick-out mechanism found in coin-operated games, a third flipper, identical to the player's flippers, sits next to the outhole and is used to flip the drained ball back to the shooter lane.

The game can even spell out simple words on its displays, flashing 'OUCH' when tilted, despite not having true alphanumeric displays. Little is known about the specific designer behind Alive, but its home-model engineering and playful touches make it an intriguing curiosity for collectors interested in the offbeat corners of the solid-state era.