This $17.50 machine was designed by David Gottlieb himself. Once it was introduced, it was copied by a host of competitors. Back then, anything went. If someone saw a great game produced in quantity that was popular, it would be reproduced in a different color scheme or size, but the game was blatantly copied. This changed later. This machine put Gottlieb on the map as it was unique to this point, although somewhat archaic by standards today. Ten balls for a penny or nickel were the options you could buy with this machine. The object of the game is achieving the highest score you can. As the instructions show, shooting a ball on the baffle point doubles the score of the whole table unless you knock it off. If you score a pocket with a ball with the same color as the pocket, that doubles the score of that shot. Final tallies are added up by the player and highest scoring wins rewards dictated by the owner of the game.
Step right up and try your hand at a game of one or two-player basketball. Three versions of this game were made: a novelty, deluxe, and super model. The deluxe model is represented here, which incorporates a match feature at the end of the game for a replay, if lucky. The object of the game here is to shoot baskets. A red player and green player are present in mannequin form. The value of the baskets changes with each ball; and if the green player, for example scores a red basket, the red player gets the points. If you fumble the ball, you lose the ball for that turn. The upper “special when lit” baskets award 10 points randomly through the game as well as scoring the lower basket score. This left the one-minute timed game anybody’s game until the last minute. A classic arcade piece before circuit boards came about.
