Cowboy

The Cowboy pinball machine, designed by Jerry Koci and manufactured by Chicago Coin Machine Manufacturing Company in January 1970, is a four-player electro-mechanical game from the tail end of the EM era. It carries the classic American West theme that had been a staple of pinball art for decades, and its two-player sibling is Chicago Coin's 1970 'Big Flipper', the same game with different backglass artwork.

The standout gameplay feature is the pair of 5-inch jumbo flippers, an unusual Chicago Coin trademark of the period, joined by four pop bumpers, two slingshots, two rollunders, and a kick-out hole. A center up-post, which Chicago Coin marketed as the 'Ball Saver', sits between the flippers to rescue balls headed straight down the middle.

One curiosity for collectors: surviving examples show the playfield light shields in two different color combinations, one red and green, the other two-tone green, and it is unknown why the difference exists or which is more common. The artist is likewise uncertain; Christian Marche was once credited, but the game does not appear on the list of his works that he compiled in 1992.