Tagada

The Tagada is a rare and enigmatic pure mechanical pinball machine from FRANGAL-AIR Industrie of Landas, France. Its exact year of production is unknown. This unusual game is a head-to-head pin table, roughly 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, where two players positioned at opposite ends of the playfield compete in simultaneous play against each other rather than against the machine itself.

What sets Tagada apart are its eight flippers, operated by heavy-duty metal split-shifter controls mounted at each corner of the cabinet, with each player controlling only the flippers facing their opponent. A single vertical-axis spinner sits at the raised center crest of the playfield, blocking direct shots from reaching the opponent's flipper gap. There are no posts, targets, slingshots, pop bumpers, or electrical components of any kind – players track Goals Scored along a numbered scale (1 to 9) on the cabinet's top edge, and manually load the ball onto a habitrail via a coin mechanism that accepts 2 francs per game.

The machine's rugged, all-mechanical design – down to the mounted ashtrays for each player – suggests a functional aesthetic built for bar or café placement rather than visual flair. Tagada is very similar, though not identical, to an unknown manufacturer's game called 'Flipp Shoot'. Little else is known about it, leaving enthusiasts eager for further discoveries about this unusual head-to-head pinball machine.