Ricochet

Ricochet, designed by Wayne Neyens with art by Roy Parker, was created by Gottlieb in November 1954 as a turret-shooting game themed around archery, riflery, and target practice. It is an extremely rare piece of pinball history: according to Neyens' own notes, only sample units were ever built, and test results were considered poor enough that the game was never put into full production. Surviving evidence -- including a promo photo, period distributor ads from 1957-58, and secondhand accounts of machines spotted in Canada, the eastern USA, and a 1959 Paris arcade -- suggests a handful of sample and test units did make it into the field, but Ricochet remains one of the scarcest known Gottlieb games.

Ricochet features four passive bumpers and eleven stand-up targets, which players navigate while using two flippers to control the ball. Its standout mechanic is an oscillating turret shooter mounted between the flippers: pressing the flipper buttons fires the ball from this turret into play, a dynamic and unusual shooting mechanism for its era. Maximum displayed score is 999 points per player.

The machine's design and art reflect classic 1950s aesthetics built around its target-shooting theme. As a game that barely escaped the prototype stage, Ricochet offers a fascinating window into an idea Gottlieb tried and ultimately shelved, later revisiting the concept with a differently-designed 1955 game of the same name.