Domino

Domino is a solid-state electronic (SS) whitewood prototype designed by John Trudeau for D. Gottlieb & Company, built around a dominoes theme. It was never placed into production, and the playfield was later stripped and no longer exists, so its exact design year is undocumented.

The machine featured two flippers, three pop bumpers, two slingshots, a 7-bank drop target, six stand-up targets, a kick-out hole, and a roll-under spinner. By Trudeau's own recollection, the game looked a lot like many of his other layouts, and the dominoes theme proved a poor fit in practice -- few players, he found, were well-versed enough in the rules of the game of dominoes to connect with the theme.

As with several of Trudeau's unproduced prototypes from this era, Domino's theme choice illustrates some of the trial and error involved in finding subject matter that would resonate with players, even when the underlying mechanics were solid.