- credit
- Harry Mabs — Design
- credit
- Roy Parker — Art
- gameplay_feature
- Flippers ×6
- gameplay_feature
- Passive Bumpers ×10
- gameplay_feature
- Kick-Out Holes ×2
- ipdb.corporate_entity_name
- D. Gottlieb & Company
- ipdb_id
- 1254
- ipdb.image_urls
- ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/Backglass.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/Playfield.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/Playfield2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/1254f1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-4.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-5.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-6.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-7.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-8.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-9.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-10.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-11.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-12.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-13.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-14.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-15.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-16.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-17.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-18.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-19.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-20.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-21.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-23.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-24.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-22.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-26.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-25.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-27.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-28.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-29.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-30.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-31.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-32.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-33.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-34.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-35.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-36.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-37.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-38.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-39.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-40.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-41.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-42.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-43.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-44.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-45.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1254/image-47.png"]
- ipdb.manufacturer_trade_name
- Gottlieb
- ipdb.marketing_slogans
- "Announcing... The Greatest Triumph in Pin Game History - Sensationally New Player Controlled Flipper Bumpers..The player will Laugh! The Spectator will Roar! The operator will be Thrilled!"
- ipdb.model_number
- 1
- ipdb.notable_features
- Flippers (6), Passive bumpers (10), Kick-out holes (2). Backglass stop-motion light animation (Humpty Dumpty falls). Illuminated credit display on backglass.
- ipdb.notes
- Flippers were already used on many games prior to 1947, but they were non-electrical, entirely mechanical. Some games had eight mechanical flippers, such as Ad-Lee Company's 1932 'Double-Shuffle'. Most were "manually-operated" bats used on baseball games, one to a playfield. 'Humpty Dumpty' is the first pinball machine manufactured with flippers that were electromechanical. According to the book Pinball 1, David Gottlieb wanted to name this game 'Flipper' but a legal check found a patented countertop game that had a manual bat, Smith Manufacturing Company's 1932 'Flipper'.
Teaser ads for this game began appearing in The Billboard starting with the Oct-11-1947 issue. Gottlieb announced this game in the Nov-1-1947 issue and where a distributor advertised they were "now delivering" it.
Included in this listing is an image of a Billboard ad where a distributor enthusiastically thanks Gottlieb "for making the greatest improvement in the history of pin games". 'Humpty Dumpty' was out for less than a month at the time the ad was published, highlighting the immediate impact this game had on the industry.
Harry Mabs, a Gottlieb employee, is credited with inventing the EM flipper. Jerry Koci, who worked for Chicago Coin, claimed to have invented it, for which he received a patent. See Chicago Coin's 1947 'Bermuda' for more information.
A method of player-control other than flippers is found on Rock-ola's 1932 'Juggle Ball'.
- ipdb_rating
- 7.2
- month
- 10
- player_count
- 1
- production_quantity
- 6500
- technology_generation
- electromechanical
- theme
- Fictional Characters
- year
- 1947