Critical Mass
About This Machine
Critical Mass was a Gottlieb pinball prototype built on the System 80 platform in the late 1970s, but it never went into production and never received an official game number -- only a single prototype is known to have existed. Despite never reaching the market, it showcased ambitious, innovative design for its time.
The game featured a two-level playfield with a shooter lane running underneath it. Four flippers, three pop bumpers, two kick-targets, two kick-out holes, two drop holes, an 8-bank and a 4-bank of drop targets, a captive ball, and a roll-under spinner all combined for a dense, complex layout. Completing the eight red drop targets activated a lower-left kick-out hole to lock a ball, while completing the four green drop targets activated an upper-right kick-out hole; locking balls on the upper playfield opened a gated drop hole leading to a lower mini-playfield, where a ball's arrival released the locked upper-playfield balls for two-level multiball action.
Because it was never manufactured for sale, little of its intended artwork or theme survives. Critical Mass is nonetheless remembered as an ambitious, technically inventive Gottlieb prototype, and one of the creators, Eric Selak, has shared a detailed narrative and photos documenting the game's development.
Images (14)
Technical Details
- MPU:
- Gottlieb System 80
- Notable Features:
- Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (3), Kick-targets (2), Kick-out holes (2), Drop holes (2), 8-bank drop targets (1), 4-bank drop targets (1), Captive ball (1), Rollunder spinner (1). Two-level playfield. Shooter lane under playfield. Completing all four green drop targets activates the upper right kick-out hole to lock the ball. Completing all eight red drop targets activates the lower left kick-out hole to lock the ball. Upper left corner of playfield has a gate-protected drop hole leading to the lower mini-playfield. Locking one or two balls on upper playfield opens this gate to the drop hole. A ball reaching lower playfield releases the upper playfield locked ball(s) for two-level multi-ball. A VUK returns ball from lower playfield to the drain lane behind left flipper. Above the right outlane is a drop hole which serves as a free ball hole. A ball falling into this hole causes a light show and is returned to the shooter lane.