Double-Feature

The Double-Feature is a fascinating electro-mechanical pinball machine from D. Gottlieb & Company, designed by Wayne Neyens with artwork by Roy Parker and released in December 1950. With a confirmed production run of just 550 units, it is a genuinely scarce title from Gottlieb's early flipper era, carrying a 'Pageantry - Show Business - Women' theme.

Double-Feature's real historical significance lies in a single feature: it was Gottlieb's introduction of the "kicking rubber", the mechanism where a paddle behind the rubber kicks the ball away on contact, the ancestor of the modern slingshot. The feature had appeared earlier on Chicago Coin's 1949 'Super Hockey', but this game brought it into Gottlieb's lineup, where it would become a fixture. The playfield offers two flippers, one pop bumper, eight passive bumpers, two kick-out holes, and the two slingshots, which are unusually placed in the upper playfield.

The artwork by Roy Parker features colorful illustrations in keeping with the show-business theme. Beyond its basic specifications, relatively little is documented about this machine, but for enthusiasts it offers a rare opportunity to experience an early Gottlieb flipper game and the debut of one of pinball's most enduring playfield mechanisms.