The Games I

The Games I was a whitewood prototype designed by John Trudeau for Mylstar Electronics (marketed under the Gottlieb trade name) around 1983-1984, built around an Olympic Competition theme, but it was never placed into production. Trudeau himself has been blunt about the design, calling it "probably the worst layout I have ever done" and citing poor ball flow and no return shots to the top. He later reworked the playfield, and that revised game became simply The Games, which was produced.

As a four-player solid-state machine, The Games I featured two flippers, three pop bumpers, two slingshots, a standup target, a vari-target, a kick-out hole, and a rollunder spinner. Notably, the vari-target assembly was reportedly positioned in a spot where it wouldn't function properly, contributing to the layout problems Trudeau described.

Because it was never produced, The Games I survives only as a prototype and as a footnote in the development of its eventual successor, offering an unusually candid look at a designer's self-assessed misstep.