Big Sakem

Big Sakem is an electro-mechanical pinball machine manufactured by Ripepi of Messina, Italy in 1974. It is a one-player copy of Gottlieb's 1974 machine Big Indian, sharing the same American West - Native Americans theme and, in some surviving examples, the same drop targets and playfield light shields as the Gottlieb original — though the playfield and cabinet art differ. Both known backglasses read "Big Sakem" where the Gottlieb logo would normally appear.

Gameplay includes two flippers, two pop bumpers, two slingshots, three star rollovers, a 5-bank of drop targets, two standup targets, a vari-target, and an end-of-ball bonus — a feature set nearly identical to its Gottlieb counterpart. One surviving example even reuses the coin door, coin entrance housing, and apron from a genuine Gottlieb export unit.

It is not known whether Big Sakem was produced as an add-a-ball game. Little is documented about its designer, but its close resemblance to the Gottlieb original marks it as part of the wave of unlicensed European copies of American pinball machines that circulated in the 1970s.