Cross Town

Cross Town, designed by Ed Krynski with artwork by Art Stenholm, was manufactured by Gottlieb in September 1966 with a confirmed production run of 2,765 units. Its 'City Living' theme comes alive through one of the game's rarest treats: mechanical backbox animation, in which subway doors open in the backglass. Cross Town and its add-a-ball counterpart, Gottlieb's 1966 'Subway', were also the last Gottlieb games to feature the manual ball-lift, giving the pair a genuine footnote in the company's history.

The gameplay is where Cross Town shines. With two flippers set at a wide gap, four pop bumpers, two passive bumpers, two slingshots, three standup targets, and a rollunder, players have a variety of challenging and rewarding scoring opportunities. The center target scores 10 points or a paired point value, with paired values sometimes awarding a Special on a random basis, and lighting all the pop bumpers occasionally lights the upper side rollovers for a Special, indicated by the normally-dark ball guides lighting up. The game offers 3 or 5 ball play, a maximum displayed score of 1,999 points, three bells and a knocker for sound, and an unforgiving tilt penalty: game over.

The design and art are classic mid-1960s Gottlieb, with bright colors and bold graphics, and the playfield layout invites comparison with Gottlieb's 1961 'Flipper Fair'. For collectors of wedge-head-era Gottlieb games, Cross Town's animation gimmick and solid Krynski layout make it a notable find.