Cow Poke

Cow Poke is a charming electro-mechanical pinball machine from Gottlieb's golden era. Produced in May 1965 with 1,256 units made, it was designed by Wayne Neyens with artwork by Roy Parker, and is an add-a-ball game, the format Gottlieb used in markets where replay awards were restricted. Its replay-model twin is Gottlieb's 1965 'Buckaroo'.

Cow Poke boasts a solid array of features for its time: two flippers, three pop bumpers, three passive bumpers, two slingshots, two roto-targets, and one standup target. The mechanical backbox animation, featuring a horse kicking a cowboy, adds real charm and spectacle to the game. Maximum displayed score is 9,999 points, and the tilt penalty was operator-selectable between game over or the loss of one ball plus the ball in play.

The American West theme, rendered in Roy Parker's classic artwork, perfectly captures the spirit of the era's Westerns. Its playfield invites comparison with Gottlieb's 1962 'Flipper Cowboy', and Italian operators were known to modify games like this for five-digit scoring, sometimes with a fake trailing zero and sometimes with a real added counter.