Gottlieb

D. Gottlieb & Company holds a singular place in pinball history: it is the oldest pinball manufacturer, and its first machine helped create an entire industry. Founded by David Gottlieb in Chicago in 1927, the company struck gold in 1931 with Baffle Ball, a simple but addictive game that sold thousands of units and transformed a novelty into a nationwide craze. Baffle Ball didn’t just launch Gottlieb — it launched the modern amusement business.

Gottlieb remained at the forefront of innovation for decades. The company introduced Humpty Dumpty in 1947, the first pinball machine to feature Flippers — a breakthrough that reframed the game from pure chance to skill, fundamentally altering its character and its relationship with anti-gambling legislation. In 1950, Gottlieb pioneered electronic scoring with Knock Out, replacing the clacking Score Reels that had defined the Electromechanical era. Under chief designers including Ed Krynski and Gordon Hasse, Gottlieb built a reputation for clean, elegant gameplay and distinctive pastel-toned artwork.

The company was sold to Columbia Pictures Industries in 1977, beginning a series of ownership transitions that would ultimately prove fatal. Acquired by Premier Technology in 1984, then by Gottlieb’s former workforce in a management buyout, the brand struggled through the 1990s as the market contracted. Production ceased in 1996, ending a run of nearly seven decades. The Gottlieb archive — spanning thousands of titles from Baffle Ball to Barb Wire — represents the most historically complete record of pinball’s entire arc.