Surf Champ

Surf Champ is an electromechanical pinball machine of unknown manufacture, built as a copy of Gottlieb's 1976 four-player 'Surf Champ.' At first glance it resembles the electromechanical Maresa game 'Surfer,' but it carries no manufacturer name on its backglass and uses a wedgehead backbox, with a surfboard motif on the backglass rendered with circles instead of stars. The lack of a visible replay unit and the style of its card holder suggest the game may be an add-a-ball produced by an Italian manufacturer, though it's missing the usual set of five unnumbered art elements (stars, beach balls, etc.) typically used on Italian add-a-ball backglasses to track added balls, leaving its true origin uncertain.

Thematically centered on surfing and water sports, the game's playfield features two flippers, two pop bumpers, and two slingshots for general scoring, along with a five-bank of drop targets, a kick-out hole, a spinning target, and five star rollovers feeding into an end-of-ball bonus.

Because it copies a mid-1970s Gottlieb design and its true manufacturer is unconfirmed, Surf Champ's exact production history remains a mystery — a solid-state version of the same title also exists from an unknown manufacturer, adding another layer to its story for collectors trying to trace its lineage.