Flipper

Flipper, released by D. Gottlieb & Company in November 1960, is one of the genuinely pivotal machines in pinball history: it was the first add-a-ball game, introducing the concept of extended play. Conceived by Alvin Gottlieb, designed by Wayne Neyens, and illustrated by famed artist Roy Parker, it changed company founder David Gottlieb's firm belief that "nothing will replace the free play as a game attraction." After playing Neyens' finished production model, Gottlieb pushed to get the game approved in foreign markets like France and Italy, where a free play was considered a "thing of value" tied to gambling - and, as his son put it, the rest is history.

On the playfield, Flipper offers two flippers, three pop bumpers, two passive bumpers, two slingshots, two gobble holes, a standup target, and a rollunder, with a minimum of 3, 4, or 5 balls per play as an operator option. The outhole awards 50 points per ball, the maximum displayed score is 9,999 points, and sound comes from three bells and a knocker.

Flipper is also notable as a transitional machine physically: Gottlieb's changeover from wood-rail cabinets with square backboxes to metal-rail cabinets with the famous wedge head backbox happened mid-run, with reportedly the first 415 of the 1,100 confirmed units built as woodrails and the remaining 685 as wedge heads. The woodrail version was also the last game to carry Gottlieb's beloved backglass slogan, "Amusement Pinballs, as American as Baseball and Hot Dogs!" For collectors and historians alike, Flipper is a cornerstone of the Gottlieb story.