Dancing Lady

The 1966 Gottlieb Dancing Lady is a four-player electro-mechanical pinball machine that showcases the design work of Ed Krynski and the artwork of Art Stenholm. With a ballet, dancing, and nightlife theme and a confirmed production run of 2,675 units, it is best remembered as a machine of genuine firsts: it was the first pinball machine to have decagon score reels, the first with a scorecard holder featuring ball-in-play and game-over lights, and the first with playfield carousel roto-targets.

Dancing Lady boasts an engaging feature set: two flippers, four pop bumpers, two slingshots, five carousel roto-targets, four standup targets, and two kick-out holes, all of which reward precision and strategy. The backbox animation - a ballerina that spins when the motor turns - adds an extra layer of visual flair. The maximum displayed score is 1,999 points per player, and the tilt penalty costs the ball in play. Dancing Lady was also the first Gottlieb machine to adopt several features already in use elsewhere in the industry: triple coin chutes, an all-stainless steel front molding (lock-down bar), and an automatic ball-lift previously used by Bally, Chicago Coin, Williams, and Keeney.

The machine's development is unusually well documented. Sample games, like the one shown in the flyer, had a slightly shorter backbox and backglass than production games, with different colors around each player's score reels where production glasses used black, and much of the artwork - including the A-B-C-D outlane art - was redrawn and recolored for production. For collectors and enthusiasts, Dancing Lady offers both a genuine milestone in pinball hardware and a window into how Gottlieb refined its games between sample and production.