Playing For Keeps

Playing For Keeps is a solid-state electronic (SS) pinball machine made by Sega Pinball that pays homage to evolution and science. Designed by Tim Seckel with art by Gordon Morison and music/sound by Craig Beierwaltes, the machine notably introduced the Sega Showcase backbox - a metal cabinet with a front curved Plexiglas panel - making its debut here before appearing on other titles. Its playfield is an adaptation of the one used in Sega's 1995 'Apollo 13'.

The game was created for the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, which obtained a National Grant to produce it as an educational exhibit piece. Visitors to the museum received a customized token upon paid admission, which they could either keep as a souvenir or use to play the machine as a way to reinforce what they had learned during their visit.

Gameplay features an LCD score display, a relatively new feature for pinball machines of its era. Because of its unusual origin as a museum commission rather than a mass-market release, Playing For Keeps remains a lesser-known but historically notable machine, of particular interest to collectors and pinball historians for its unique backbox design and educational purpose.