Close Encounters

This Close Encounters is an example of 'Gottlieb Made In Brazil' — an electro-mechanical machine assembled by Fipermatic Indústria Comércio Importação e Exportação Ltda in Manaus, Brazil, using components shipped unassembled from Gottlieb for its 1978 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' Manaus was a tax-free zone, making it cost-effective for Gottlieb to export knock-down kits for local assembly rather than complete machines, and this example does carry genuine Gottlieb-branded parts.

Gameplay includes two flippers, two pop bumpers, one slingshot, five drop targets, three roto-targets, three standup targets, and a spinning target, with a maximum displayed score of 199,990 points per player. Interestingly, operators of the export version had the option to equip the game with EM chimes or a System-1 soundboard for electronic sound, an upgrade offered at extra cost — a choice apparently reserved for Gottlieb's export machines of this period.

Curiously, this game's coin door housing is branded by Electro-Matic, a separate Brazilian pinball manufacturer, though it's unclear whether this is original equipment or a later operator replacement. Little is confirmed about any business relationship between Fipermatic and Electro-Matic.